Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Something else is going on.
I’m walking into a minefield.
And I’m doing it gladly, to save Falcon Bellamy.
33
FALCON
Never have I felt more pulled into multiple directions at once than I do in this moment.
I don’t want to leave my sister, but where is Savannah? Savannah’s the woman I love, and she should’ve been back from the bathroom twenty minutes ago.
I look into Raven’s eyes.
“It’s okay,” she says. “Go.”
“Ray…”
She smiles—a weak smile that’s forced, but she does it for me. “I see it in your face, Falcon. Mom and Dad will be back. Hawk and Eagle are here. Robbie’s on her way. I’m fine. Go. Find her.”
Thank you, I mouth to my sister, and I leave her room.
The bathrooms are at the end of the hallway, near the alcove where the vending machines are. I race toward them, my feet already feeling numb.
That sixth sense I got on the inside? The one that saved my ass more than once?
It’s like a crow pecking at the back of my neck, telling me to beware.
It’s pecking hard now—so hard I absently touch the back of my neck to check for blood.
No blood of course, but I massage the muscles, try to ease the pecking.
Doesn’t work.
And then the door is in front of me. The women’s restroom.
Can’t go in there.
Everything in me tells me not to go in there, yet I have no choice.
I crack the door. “Savannah? You in there?”
No reply.
“Is anyone in there?”
Again no reply. Not that I expect there to be one. Most women, when a man yells into the women’s restroom, aren’t going to reply.
A moment later a woman exits, her face pale and her lips trembling.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you, ma’am. I’m looking for my girlfriend. She left nearly half an hour ago to go to the bathroom, and she never came back.”
She cracks the bathroom door open. “I don’t think there’s anyone else in there. You can go in and look now if you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
I walk in then. “Savannah?” I look under each stall.
No feet.
No one at the sinks.
Then I look inside each stall, just to make sure no one is sitting on the toilets, hiding.
They’re all empty.
Where is she? She wouldn’t have gone into the men’s room. Perhaps she went to a different floor, or down to the first floor to get a snack.
I walk briskly through the hallway to the other end, where the elevators are. But I don’t have the patience to stand and wait for an elevator. I open the door to the stairwell and race down six flights of stairs to the first floor.
I repeat my actions in the ladies’ bathroom by the cafeteria.
No Savannah.
Then I go to the cafeteria, rake my gaze over every corner.
No Savannah.
Until a light bulb flashes in my mind.
Giancarlo.
Perhaps she went to see how he’s doing, to make sure he’s still on the mend, so she’s not looking at a manslaughter charge like I am.
If that were the case, why wouldn’t she just tell me?
I race back up the stairs to the fourth floor where Giancarlo is, walk briskly to his room, peek inside the cracked door.
He’s still lying there. Still with an IV in his arm, still hooked up to his machines.
He’s alive.
Thank God.
But no Savannah.
He’s asleep, and the only thing left to do is go back up to Raven’s room.
Let her know that I can’t stay with her tonight.
I have to do it quickly. I could easily just call Hawk and have him relay the message, but this is my sister. My sister who may be…
No. Can’t go there. It’s a virus. Just a virus.
I take the stairs again, this time to the sixth floor and back to Raven’s room.
My mother gasps when she sees me. “Falcon, what happened?”
I don’t know what she means, until I realize I’m sweating, perspiration dripping down the sides of my face.
“Took the stairs. Ran up and down them.”
“Did you find her?” Raven asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know where she could’ve gotten off to. We came here together, in my car.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Raven says. “Go. You go find her, Falcon.”
“But I need to stay here with you. I promised.”
“I’ll stay the night,” Hawk says. “You go. Go find her.”
I go to my sister’s bedside, kiss her fuzzy head. “Whatever this is, Raven, you do not let it get you. Do you hear me? You going away is not an option.”
“I’ll be okay, Falcon.”
I simply nod, and then I back out of the room.
As I walk to the elevators, I don’t know what to do.
I, Falcon Bellamy, don’t know what to do.
It’s an odd sensation, something I’m not sure I’ve ever felt.
Eight years ago, I knew what I had to do. I had to protect my brother.
A few days ago, I knew what I had to do. I had to protect Savannah.