Chapter 608 Chapter 608
It felt like every muscle in her body went numb, a heat moved through her, and she wondered if it was from the shock. “It’s been that long?” She whispered it, more to herself than him. “Eighteen years.” She lifted her hands and put them over her face for a second while processing that. Dropping them, she leaned forward, “I was gone eighteen years?” She looked at the wall behind him and did the math quickly, “I’m twenty-six years old?” Sitting back, she shook her head. “I thought ten, maybe twelve. It was so hard to keep track without winter and snow.”
“You didn’t know how much time had passed?”
She shook her head and then shook it again. “No. It was so hard to tell.” She motioned up and down her body. “I mean, I knew I was maturing, but didn’t think it was that long.” She looked at the plate and wanted to eat more, only because you never knew when you were going to eat again, but her stomach was in knots right now, and she wasn’t sure if she could eat. Reaching over, she stacked the meat and then the other two items in neat piles and hoped that when she was taken out of this room, she could fit it in her hand. “I didn’t,” she looked at him and slowly shook her head, “I didn’t know it was that long. I really need to speak with the King, please. He needs to know.”
“Know what?” His voice was so quiet it was hard to hear him.
“What I’ve seen. What’s happening.”
“He knows our kind are being taken.”
She stared at him without seeing him. “Good.” She leaned forward again. “I know where they’re taken.” She frowned, “the girls. I-I don’t know about boys.”
“Where?”
“I need to tell the King.” She nodded. It had to be the king.
“Look, Journee, it’s me or them.” He pointed to the window.
She looked at the men, who seemed to be standing closer to the window now. She turned back to Asher. “How do I know I can trust you?” She looked at the men. “Or them.” Looking back at him, she put her hands in her lap. “I don’t even know where I am.” She was having trouble focusing on speaking. Eighteen years. How had that much time gone by? She’d missed it completely. Shaking her head, she pushed it from her mind. Later she’d have all the time in the world to cry about it.
“We all work for the Alliance.”
She looked back at him. “The shifter Alliance?”
He gave her a strange look and nodded. “Raymond,” he pointed to the window, “the big man out there? He’s head of the Alliance security.”
The Alliance, she’d heard her parents talk about it. When she had been on the island and told to stay away from the main camp, she hadn’t listened, and a few times over the years, those awful men spoke about the Alliance—and not in a good way. Which told her that if they wanted nothing to do with them, the Alliance was who she needed. She sat back and looked down at her hands for a moment. Eighteen years. How many of those had been spent getting back? Was the camp still there? She looked at him. “Have you closed down the camp?”
“Camp?”
She nodded. “One with women and girls. Have you found it? Am I too late?”
“We haven’t closed down any camp.”
“Okay.” She nodded and then blew out a breath. “I’m not too late.” Panic flooded her. She grabbed the bottle of water and took a quick drink. She hated thinking about it, but it had to be done this time. Putting the lid back on, she looked across the table at him, “that day,” the expression in his eyes changed immediately; he knew what day she meant. “I followed them. They had Emi and Lisa and so many others.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I still see my parents.” She opened them, “and yours,” she whispered. Sucking a breath through her nose, she blew it out slowly, trying not to let the emotions take over. “I followed them. It was hard to stay out of sight, so they couldn’t smell me.” She remembered how hard her heart had been beating that day. “I-I don’t know what I thought I was going to do, but I wanted to free my sister and the others.” She shook her head, “fantasy of a child, I suppose.” It took her a moment to get out of her head so she could tell him. “I snuck up behind the van when they were getting in it and balanced on the bumper and the,” she flicked her hand, “the thing for trailers.”
“Hitch.”
“Yes. I was so scared I would fall off, or someone would come behind them and see me.” She shook her head. “It was reckless, but I just—I couldn’t just stand there and let them take everyone away.”
Asher pulled the chair closer to the table and leaned on it, watching her.
“I almost fell off a few times, and then I thought, how was I going to not be seen when they stopped?” She put her hand on her chest, she could still feel that panic. “I could hear someone inside crying, and that helped me hang on.” She remembered how cold it had been. “When they stopped, I hid underneath it.” She huffed out a breath. “I don’t think I took a breath the whole time they were moving them. I was so afraid.”