Page 101 of The Puppet Master
Luna’s ceremony isn’t until tomorrow.
Unless she fucked up, this isn’t about her.
But my mind glitches, again.
Luna spitting in Aurelius’s face, barring her teeth, running her mouth. A whore too impure for purification. A product of failure—mine and hers.
It’s time to go.Now.
“Is there a ceremony today?” My brow furrows as Zephyr and I stand.
She shakes her head, as confused as I am.
“Are they ever spontaneous like this?”
Zephyr plucks the candle from its holder and looks toward the stairs. “Sometimes… When someone gets sick, they don’t always announce their send-off.”
Their ‘send-off.’
The woodchipper.
“You should go first,” Zephyr says, turning to me. “Keep your hood low and gostraightto the ceremony. There could be drones watching.”
“I thought you said?—”
“Things change,” she snaps, like she’s annoyed withmefor being naively hopeful. “They figured out that someone erased you from the database.Hencewhy this is the last time we can be together.”
The tension in her tone trips on her last words, neck arching with the emotion that slips. Two heartbroken faces in less than a day… And no time for comfort.
“I’ll be careful,” I say.
She frowns, red lips dipping low.
“See you in a bit, beautiful.” I go to the window where I came in. It’s high up on the wall, just a thin slot allowing light into the basement. I have to step on a chair to reach it.
“Sawyer, wait.”
I turn to look at her. She sets the candle back in the holder and wrings her hands in front of her dress. Her eyes shine with uncharacteristic nervousness.
“I have to tell you something.”
I hop off the chair and go to her. Take her troubled face in my hands. “Tell me after the ceremony, okay? We have to hurry.”
She forces a smile and nods before I kiss her forehead and go back to the window. She takes the stairs. Instead of walking to the front with the others, I scale around the back and pull my hoodie halfway over my face.
As soon as I touch the treeline, my legs break into a sprint.
Though, my mind stays at the compound. At the mysterious ceremony—the one I hope like hell isn’t Luna’s.
CHAPTER 25
ONE DAY BEFORE SAWYER’S ARRIVAL…
Trauma bonding is a phenomenon that occurs between a victim and an abuser after a period of “love bombing” followed by a sudden withdrawal or cruelty by the abuser.
The victim craves the affection she once received, so oftentimes, she works hard to be exactly what he wants, to do exactly what makes him happy. Such as keeping house, cooking homemade meals or screwing the abuser’s friends at his sex parties.
I think that’s how Sawyer Hansley did it.
