Chapter 23 · Derek Knew

The text came through on Mom's burner phone. Three lines. No punctuation.

I'm at the planetarium. Alone. If the hunter comes you won't leave.

I stared at the screen until the letters blurred. My hands didn't shake. That was the worst part. I'd stopped shaking around Derek two years ago. Your body figures out fear doesn't help.

Cain leaned over my shoulder. Read it. Went still.

"It's a trap," he said.

"Yeah."

"He doesn't know about the planetarium. Your mother's letter—"

"He followed us." I turned the phone off. Pulled the battery. Stupid to think we'd been careful enough. Derek always found me. Always. "Or he's been tracking the phone. Or he bribed someone at the storage place. Doesn't matter."

Cain's jaw tightened. "We leave. Now. Forget the planetarium."

"He'll call the cops. Missing person report, remember?" I shoved the dead phone into my pocket. "He's got hospital records. Photos of me looking half-dead. He'll say I'm confused, sick, kidnapped by some drifter."

"Let him."

"They'll hunt you." I met his eyes. "You're already exiled. Guild's already looking. Cops'll hand you straight to them."

He didn't argue. We both knew it was true.

I grabbed the lockbox.