“I’m coming with you,” Logan declared.
I dropped my bag and looked at him, but Riley pretended he hadn’t heard a word as he popped the top on a Dr. Pepper. “Thanks, Hev.”
Sometimes it really annoyed me when he called me that. It was like he thought we were best buddies. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Logan. You might get hurt.”
“Sam is my brother. I’m coming.”
I sighed, not sure how to handle this. Logan wasn’t strong enough to come with us. He might slow us down, and if he got hurt, what would I say to Sam?
“You’re too weak to come. Do you want Sam to get hurt trying to protect you while he escapes?” Riley said bluntly.
He was a real poet.
“Fine.” Logan relented. Then he looked at me. “I don’t want to do anything to make it harder for Sam.”
I nodded and went over to him. “Sam’s going to be proud of you. Sit down. I’ll make you a sandwich.” I punched the button that dialed Cole and held the phone to my ear.
Riley sat down at the table and propped up his feet. “I don’t like mayo.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the mustard as Cole picked up the phone. “Can you be here in, like, an hour?” I said in way of greeting.
“Hey, sis, I’m great; thanks for asking! How are you?”
“Cole,” I said, exasperated.
He made a sound. “Sure, I can be there.”
“Bring Gemma.”
There was an uncomfortable silence on the other end of the line. I sighed and slammed all the makings for sandwiches on the counter. “I do not care what is going on between you two. Fix it. Don’t fix it. Whatever. But you will bring her. We need her. Sam needs her. And while you’re at it, can you stop at the store and get me a few things?”
“What am I, your errand boy?”
When I didn’t respond, he muttered, “Let me get a pen.”
When he gave me the go ahead, I rattled off a list of what I needed and he promised to be here soon.
Before I hung up he called my name. “Yeah?” I asked.
“What’s going on?”
“We’re leaving tonight to get Sam.”
Chapter Nine
Heven
Butterflies danced in my belly and fluttered close to my rapidly beating heart. Up until I spoke the words out loud, anxiety ate at my insides. Until now, flashes of crystal-clear memory of a dying Colin tortured me. But then something happened that pushed even the most awful events not away, but back, so I could breathe.
We were going to get Sam.
Sam was coming home.
I would soon sleep in his arms and know my first night of peace since he was trapped. Since we still had a bit until Cole and Gemma arrived, I left Riley and Logan with their food, fresh sodas and the remote to escape to my bedroom.
Once upstairs I washed my hair (yeah, I already showered but it looked bad), blew it out straight and even went over the ends and my bangs with my flat iron. Once my hair was glossy and smooth, I noticed just how bad my face really looked. It was blotchy red in some spots, my eyes were puffy with dark circles and the rest of my skin was pale. The paleness made the new scar on my left cheek stand out more than it probably would. With a sigh I reached into my makeup bag and pulled out all the products I hoped would make me look a little less… destroyed.
Once I had done all I could with my appearance, I grabbed a backpack from my closet and began to fill it with things I thought we might need. I wasn’t sure if I should bring the Treasure Map because it would be putting it in danger and sort of adding another bull’s-eye on all of our backs (if there was even room for more). I figured it would be best if I hid it here somewhere.
I pulled out my blood-stained bag and dumped out the contents on the bed and buried the ruined bag at the bottom of the trash. I grabbed up a few items right away to add to the backpack and reached for the scroll.
It wasn’t there.
I stifled my moment of panic and sifted through the junk on the bed. It was here somewhere. I never let it out of my sight. Why did I have to carry so much crap around with me? I never used half of it. But soon my forced calm dissipated because I still couldn’t find it. The scroll containing the Treasure Map was the biggest thing in my bag. It wouldn’t be hard to see; it would stick out among sunglasses and lip gloss.
I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead as I looked down at the floor, reaching under the bed and searching the corner where I had thrown the bloodied bag when I first got home. Then I searched the top of the bed once more, but I had to face the facts.
The scroll wasn’t here.
It was gone.
I started pacing, my breathing coming in short gasps. This wasn’t happening. I did not just lose the Treasure I was asked to keep safe. I did not just lose the Map that we’ve been protecting with our lives, the scroll that we had to go down in hell for, the reason Sam was trapped there still.
I wouldn’t be that careless. I wouldn’t.
Think! I told myself. I just needed to think. Where was the last place I saw it? I remember having it in my bag at the hospital when I went to see Mom. After that… everything was kind of a blur. She said awful things, Colin attacked me and I killed him… I gasped.
Colin! Everything fell out of my bag when he was attacking me. That had to have been when I lost it. Oh, God. What have I done?
I raced down the stairs and into the living room. Riley was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, staring at me with a cookie in his hand. Logan was on the couch, but he stood up when he saw my face.
“Sam?” he asked.
“I can’t find the scroll.” I rushed out. “Riley, please think. When you picked up my stuff off the ground after Colin, was it there?”
Riley’s brow furrowed. “What did it look like?”
“It’s a bronze tube, a cylinder. It’s kind of heavy. The map was inside.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t see anything that looked like that.”
I let out a whimper. “No.”
Riley pushed out of the doorway and came closer. “You’re sure you didn’t put it somewhere and forget?”
“Forget where the one thing that is keeping Sam alive is?” I screamed.
His eyes flashed silver. “What are you talking about?”
“The only reason Beelzebub’s keeping Sam alive is because he wants that scroll. If he gets his hands on it first, he will kill him just to make me suffer.” Then he would come for me, but that seemed like the last of my worries at the moment.