Total pages in book: 238
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
Closing the door, I approached. “What is it?”
I looked inside, seeing a bed, posters and graffiti on the walls, and a lamp turned on.
“Didn’t Misha say he stayed down here for a while? After Annie?” Rika asked.
“Yeah.”
She walked in, picking up a sandwich or something, half-eaten and laying on a wrapper. “Someone’s here,” she said, squeezing the fresh bread.
Either the light was off when we arrived, or the door was closed, because we passed this room on the way in and noticed nothing.
Shit.
“Dammit!” Michael growled.
We ran back up the stairs, the flames orange and bright outside the shop windows as we raced into the park, searching for who was here.
We couldn’t let anyone be hurt.
And it would be fantastic if there were no witnesses.
“I know I saw someone,” Rika said. “Maybe a girl.”
“Like a little girl?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Shit! There!” Michael yelled, pointing.
We halted, sucking in air and looking through the swings and toward the fun house, seeing a small form standing way on top.
Jesus. She had to be thirty feet in the air.
Dressed in black, she had a long, blonde braid draped over her shoulder and a beanie on her head, but I couldn’t see well enough to know if I recognized her.
“You!” Michael yelled to her. “Come here!”
We ran and saw her spin around, disappearing off the roof.
She jumped down, the shoelaces of her ratty sneakers dragging across the ground.
“Get her!” Rika yelled.
Michael dug in his heels, shot toward the girl, and caught her arm just as she was rounding the corner.
“I got her!” he bellowed, sweeping her into his arms.
But then she bit his hand, and he dropped her, hissing.
“What the hell?” he barked.
She ran, slipping around the booths, past the roller coaster, and disappearing into the pitch-black forest.
“Shit!” Michael gritted out.
We stopped, breathing hard and knowing she was gone.
“Was she living down there?” Rika asked us. “She can’t be more than eight.”
I shot her a look. “Do you recognize her?”
“No.” She shook her head. “She’s not from around here.”
I stared into the trees for another moment, hearing Lev and David start with the hoses and putting our shit out.
“Some mayor you are.” I chuckled. “Little Newt from Aliens is squatting in your abandoned theme park, and you’re trying on wedding dresses.”
Rika slapped me in the stomach and then took Michael’s hand, inspecting the bite.
“She’s a fighter, huh?” she joked, grinning up at him.
He snarled. “She’ll be back. Can’t get far on foot.”
And it almost sounded like he wasn’t so worried about the little shit’s safety and well-being, just itching for some payback.
Sirens pierced the air behind us, and I looked over my shoulder, seeing the oh-so-familiar lights of a police car racing into the lot.
That was fast.
I looked to Michael. “Go. Hurry.”
He scowled at me.
“Go!” I whisper-yelled.
Don’t worry about me. Not anymore.
He held my eyes, but before he could argue, I started walking toward the ticket booths and the parking lot.
A single police officer, dressed in black in a thick jacket for the chilly October evening, talked on his radio as he looked around the park and the flames.
He noticed me, stopped talking to whoever he was talking to, and I could almost see the sigh.
“Will Grayson,” he said. “My favorite pyro.”
I pulled off my hat and gave him a smile. “Baker. How’s the family?”
“Growing.” He nodded, stepping toward me as I stepped toward him. “The wife is on baby number three.”
“Yours?”
He cocked an eyebrow, looking unamused.
I smiled wider.
“Are you going to make me handcuff you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “There are some people I wanted to say hi to anyway. Let’s go.”
Emory
Present
“Emmy, wake up!” someone called, shaking my body.
My eyes popped open, and I startled, turning over. “What? Who is that?”
It wasn’t Will’s voice.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes as someone turned on the lamp, and I looked up, seeing Rory and Micah walking around my room.
I reached for my new glasses and slipped them on. “What are you guys doing?”
“Will’s been arrested.” Micah tossed me some clothes. “He started a fire at the Cove.”
Huh? “The Cove?”
I held the clothes to my chest, trying to make sense out of what they were telling me, my chest slowly constricting.
He started a fire at the Cove? And he was now sitting in jail?
Son of a bitch. I growled, shooting off the bed. “One day! Not even one day back in town and he’s back in a cell!” I unhooked my overalls and pulled on the black, long-sleeved shirt. “Ugh!”
They spun around, and I dropped the overalls, slipping into the jeans and pulling on Alex’s sneakers before I tied up my hair into a ponytail.
In jail… Tears welled. Not again.
“Do you know who arrested him?” I asked.
“We don’t know this town,” Micah snapped, tossing me a jacket. “Damon is going to try to get him out, but we told him to wait. We wanted to get you.”