Red Moon Rising

32. secrets

Chapter Song: Sirens - Bear Ghost

XX

Either he got lucky, or he knew where to look.

I pause and listen intently, holding my breath as my lungs ache from the cold air. The sound is coming from behind me, from the direction of the school. Where I stand now, my tracks should be obscured from the road. But the woods here are older, devoid of the scraggly undergrowth that would have kept me hidden. I can see for a long distance through the trees, and I can be seen, too.

I trudge faster through the snow, searching with a rising panic for a place to hide myself. But it wouldn't matter, if someone saw my tracks they would lead right to me. I recall Sam's words, that if anyone should find me, I should run. But run to where? I recognize with a lurch in my stomach that the engine is coming closer, and it doesn't belong to a car, but to a snowmobile. Am I supposed to outrun a fucking snowmobile?

What if Sam sold me out? The thought makes me queasy, but he is clearly afraid enough of Isaac that he'll cave to his will. If it came down to it, would he really choose me over his own safety? Would I even want him to? The snowmobile is near enough now that I can hear the way it chugs over deeper drifts, driving a steady course straight toward me. Fuck, I'm not ready to face this.

If I'm going down, I'll do it with teeth bared. I shed the heavy sweatshirt and let it drop into the snow, feeling the way the rising breeze cuts sharp into my soaked clothes. It's then that I catch the glint of sun on metal through the trees, and the snowmobile cuts away from the road to drop into the woods behind me. I begin to lift the edges of my shirt, but a hand waves at me, and I pause as I realize that it's Reiner driving toward me, his face wearing a look of worry I don't expect.

"Hey, Layla!" His voice rises over the sound of the engine as it sputters to a stop. He's twenty feet away from me, hands raised as he looks to where I'm preparing to shed my clothes. "Just wait a second, okay? I just want to talk."

"Turn around, Reiner," I manage. "Just go back home."

"You know I can't do that."

"I don't know shit, apparently. Am I not allowed to leave?"

"Just let me explain, please. If you attack me you know that you don't stand a chance with that arm."

"Fuck you."

"Hey," he soothes, seeming not to notice the way I bristle at his approach. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

"You know what's wrong."

"Tell me about it then."

I set my jaw, throat stinging at the memory of Isaac looking through me as he forced himself on me. "I don't have to explain myself. Just turn around and let me go."

When he's ten feet away, I take a step back and he finally pauses. "You need to talk to him."

"If he wants to talk why isn't he here himself?"

"He doesn't know yet. If you come back with me now I don't have to tell him you tried to sneak off."

"Bullshit, you think I'm going to believe that?"

"You don't have a lot of other options." His hands are still raised, but he takes another step toward me, eyes scouring over me as I give ground again. He's searching for weapons, sizing me up.

"You have two options, as I see it. You either let me go now or you drag me back without my consent."

He's better than Isaac at keeping a calm face, but I can tell that he's tiring of this conversation. The muscles along his jaw are tight, and even while his hands are raised I sense the tension in his arms. "I don't want to hurt you, Layla."