The Stolen

Chapter 29

Everything gets worse when Nico sees me.

You would have thought that in this pretty ball room filled with well-dressed, beautiful people, no one would seem frightened, but he does.

I guess the hair slightly covering my face wasn't enough. Looking around me, I can see that there aren't many redheads in the room anyway.

Ségolène looks at me as Nico lets go of her and the smile disappears. A frown appears on her face and she turns around, flipping her hair with her head tilted back.

I've finally realized that I look really different from the people here. Feeling self-conscious, I look down at my hands, which doesn't help at all, because my fingernails are dirty and my hands haven't been washed for ages. And knowing that I haven't taken a bath, I wonder why no heads are turning my way in disgust.

Nico approaches me, all trace of fear gone from his face, and a wave of confusion hits me. Why is he even here? Shouldn't he be locked away in a maximum-safety room? He tried to kill the girl who owns this whole place, maybe this whole planet, since I don't know what things are like outside the headquarters.

Actually, I do. I remember the desert, and the memory gives me shudders. There are probably other people out there right now, but not like me: they will never be found and carried to a so called 'safe place'.

Nico walks confidently, and even though he is an entire foot taller than me, I'm not as intimidated by him as I thought I'd be. I've been through worse, to be honest.

"What are you doing here?" He's nervous, I can tell just from his shaky voice. "And qué coño happened to your hair?" By the way he says it, I'm pretty sure that was a swear word in Spanish.

"I could ask the same thing about you," I say. "The first thing, not the hair thing."

He looks down at his feet with a smile, then his eyes meet mine. "You're avoiding my question. Mind answering it?"

"I asked you a question too," I say.

And, like a child, he responds with, "But I asked mine first."

I sigh. "What are we even doing? I'll admit it, I escaped a cell from downstairs just minutes ago, and I'm probably going to get locked again, but you are going to too!" Dark shadows are approaching us slowly, I can see them behind him. The light's at their back, so I don't see them clearly, just their blurry figures. I need to get some answers before I lose him again. "Nico, please, why are you out here? Tell me!"

His chocolate brown eyes wander around the room, and they focus on anything but me. "I escaped too. They haven't caught me," he says, looking at the right, then the ground.

We don't have much time. The dark shadows are becoming clearer. It's two men and one woman, all three dressed in suits. Their faces, I don't see clearly. To my surprise, they walk by us without attempting to take us anywhere, just looking at me sternly. "Are you lying?" I ask.

He still doesn't look at me.

"You are," I say, taking a step forward. "Nico, we're on the same side, you can tell me anything. How did you escape?"

"I-I didn't." He hesitates before continuing. "I never escaped because I was never trapped in the first place."

I'm confused. "Then how did they punish you?"

"What?"

"For hitting Brooke. How did they punish you?"

He still doesn't understand. "For hitting who?" Then his expression changes. "Oh... Inés. I still don't realize that you know her as Brooke." He chuckles, but nothing is humorous about this situation.