Chapter 56 56
Annabeth's POV:
So we went to the Emberdale Mall, which was a generous name for what was basically a food court with four options, and about thirty stores that were either closed or selling phone cases. Small town mall. But it was ours, and Mara and I had spent enough hours there to know every corner, every bench, every spot where the wifi actually worked.
We got iced lattes from the Starbucks kiosk near the entrance. Mine was a plain iced Americano, and Mara got something with caramel and whipped cream and probably four hundred calories that she drank without guilt.
"Okay, confession," Mara said as we walked past the shoe store. "I kind of stalked your Instagram to see if there were any pictures of Kaelen and you together but your account is basically dead. You haven't posted anything in like a month."
"Been busy."
"With your mysterious intense workout routine that gave you abs in three weeks."
"Yep."
"You know that's weird, right? Like, that's objectively weird."
"I'm aware."
She let it go again, but I could see her brain working behind her eyes, connecting dots that didn't quite make a picture yet. Mara was a lot of things, loud, dramatic, obsessed with conspiracy theories and paranormal stuff, but she wasn't stupid. She knew something was off with me and it was only a matter of time before she started asking questions I couldn't answer.
We spent maybe two hours wandering the mall. Tried on sunglasses we couldn't afford at the accessories kiosk, smelled every candle in Bath & Body Works until our noses went numb, split a plate of terrible nachos at the food court. Mara told me about a true crime podcast she'd gotten into that was about some unsolved disappearances in National Parks and how she was now convinced that there was some kind of government cover-up involving missing hikers.
"People just vanish, Annabeth. Like, their shoes are still on the trail and they're just gone. No body, no evidence, nothing. You can't tell me that's normal."
"There are a lot of explanations for missing hikers that don't involve government conspiracies."
"Name one."
"Falls into ravines, animal attacks, exposure, getting lost and—"
"Boring. I prefer the cryptid theory."
"Of course you do."
This was good. This was normal. My chest felt lighter than it had in weeks, the constant weight of Kaelen and the bond and the Order lifting just enough to let me breathe. I'd missed this, missed her, missed having someone who didn't know about dragons or bonds or secret organizations. Someone who just knew me as Annabeth, the girl who liked biology and couldn't cook and had strong opinions about the correct way to organize a bookshelf.
We left the mall around four, the sun already getting low because November days were short and depressing. Mara was carrying a bag with a candle she'd bought, "Mahogany Teakwood" or something, and I was carrying nothing because I'd spent the afternoon trying to feel normal instead of buying things.
The parking lot was half empty. My car was in the back row because I had pulled in late and all the good spots were taken. We were walking across the asphalt, Mara mid-sentence about some TikTok drama involving a creator who'd faked going to Harvard, when I saw them.
Three men standing next to a black car, two rows over from where we'd parked. And one of them was the man from the bench. Same expensive clothes, same graying temples, same smile that looked like it had been manufactured in a lab. He was leaning against the car with his arms crossed, watching me.
Not looking in my general direction. Watching me. Directly. The way you watch something you've been waiting for.
My whole body went cold and then hot and then cold again. The fire kicked up in my chest immediately, that automatic response I'd been training with Marcus to control, and I had to clamp down on it so hard my teeth hurt.
"—and then she got exposed on Twitter and the comments were BRUTAL, like I almost felt bad for—hey, are you okay?" Mara stopped walking and looked at me. "You just went white. Like, literally white. Are you sick?"
"I'm fine." My voice came out wrong, too tight. "Actually, shit, I think I left my phone inside. On the table at the food court."
"What? Do you want me to—"
"No, no, I'll go get it. You go to the car, start it up, put the heat on. I'll be right back." I was already digging in my pocket for the car keys. Found them and shoved them into her hand. "Two minutes."
Mara looked at me with that expression again, the one that said she knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out what. "Are you sure? I can come with you."
"No. Go. I'll be fast."
She took the keys and started walking toward the car, glancing back at me once over her shoulder with her eyebrows scrunched together. I waited until she'd turned the corner around the row of cars and was out of sight before I turned back toward the men.
They were still there. The man from the hotel had straightened up from his lean against the car and was watching me with that same patient expression he'd had on campus, like he had all the time in the world. The other two were younger, bigger, standing on either side of him like bodyguards.
My heart was going so fast I could hear it in my ears. My hands were shaking and I shoved them into my jacket pockets so the men wouldn't see. The fire was right there, right under my skin, begging to come out, and like a month ago I would've been terrified of it. Now I was terrified of using it here, in a parking lot where Mara could walk back any second, where there were security cameras and other shoppers and no way to explain why a teenage girl had just set three men on fire.
I walked toward them anyway. Didn't run, didn't hesitate. Marcus had told me once that predators could smell fear and the only defense was making them believe you weren't prey.
So I wasn't prey. At least not today.