Hollowed (26 page)

Sounds great to me.
"
Sir, yes, sir! Though please tell me we
'
re not heading out right this instant.
"

"
No.
"
Oliver toes off his shoes as though to prove his point.
"
We all need rest. You need to eat, and not all of us heal so quickly.
"
At that his
gaze
flick
s
to Daniel, who feigns obliviousness.

"
I
'
ll take sleep first.
"
I get to my
feet, already hearing my bed—
and shower
—
calling my name. Daniel looks like he might follow me, but I wave him off. Not because I don
'
t sleep better when he
'
s with me, but because I think Oliver
'
s more capable of getting him to rest the way he
needs to
.
And I guess...
I kind of want to be alone for awhile. I have a lot of information to process.

"
Hey,
"
Oliver says. I linger at the door.
"
Are you going to be all right?
"

Sure, I guess. I like to think I
'
m tougher than I look. A few breakdowns here and there, maybe, but nothing I haven
'
t handled so far.
"
Yeah, I
'
m
super
. Good night, boys.
"

I don
'
t sleep. Shower, get into bed, close my eyes? Yes. But no sleep.

My brain is running a hundred miles a minute with all the things that
have
happened over the last twenty-four hours. Ever since I last woke up and Daniel told me Oliver was missing.

There
'
s Noah and his witchy-ness. I saw magic,
real magic,
right before my very eyes. The knife he used to cut Artie and rot his flesh, the fog he must have summoned in order to help us escape and the seal he used on the door
..
. If I were smarter,
if I hadn't been so distracted,
I would
'
ve asked questions. Maybe Cole knows more about the witches that he can tell me.

Second, there
'
s Joel and the fact that he didn
'
t turn me. If he didn
'
t, who did? I can
'
t even think anymore that Cole and Oliver would lie to me. The idea is so stupid. But Oliver did say a bite could be all it took, even though it was a one in a million chance. Maybe Joel
'
s bite
did
turn me and he didn
'
t know it.

There
'
s so much more. Ruby, her relationship with Noah. I wish I knew how to contact her shy
of aimlessly wandering the streets in search of her
; she could be anywhere. If I had just a few minutes, I could ask about her past with Noah. She probably doesn
'
t even realize he and I know each other, and I wonder what she
'
ll say when she finds out that I
'
m head over heels in love with him.

M
aybe I can leave that part out
for now.

I'm still dwelling on it when something jars me out of sleep. Sleep? Yeah, I must have finally dozed off at some point, because the vibrating phone on my nightstand definitely woke me up. I grasp for it blindly in the dark.

"H'llo?"

"
Briar,
" Ruby says.
"Were you sleeping?"

A burst of adrenaline jerks me upright in bed. "Yeah, no, it's okay. What's up?"

"
Can you talk? I just wanted to check on you. I heard Artie got himself killed."

"Noah killed him."
I regret the words as soon as they're out of my mouth. The heavy silence make
s
me think I shouldn't have brought him up.

"
You've met Noah,"
she
finally
murmurs in a voice so distant and sad it reaffirms my thought that Noah was completely wrong about her. This entire thing between them has to be a misunderstanding. Even back at the café, she looked so unhappy talking about him. She
misses
him. Who wouldn
'
t? If they would just talk...

Though w
hat would that mean for me? Where would I stand if the two of them made up?
If they got back together?

"Yeah,
well, no. I mean, I didn
'
t just meet him. I already knew him.
"
I have to be honest with her
, there's no way around it
.
"
I dated him."

Silence.

"Ruby?"

"I think we should talk."

"We are talking."

"
In person, I mean."

I frown, running a hand through my hair. "Where are you?"

"Look outside.
"

Shivering,
I shove the blankets aside and head for the window, peering down into the parking lot. It's too dark to see much, but I think I spot Ruby, staring up at the building
from the sidewalk
.

Duh, she already told me she knew where I was staying. I could ask her to come up, but I don't wan
t Cole or Oliver interrupting. Though m
aybe I can talk her into staying, maybe the boys would be willing to help her like they've helped me.

"I'll be right down."

Five
minutes later I join Ruby
outside
, bundled up against the chill. Still a few hours until dawn. Ruby
wears
a thick jacket and has on one of those scarves she's known for, and she gives me a smile when our eyes meet.

"You're looking a little pale," she says. "When did you eat last?"

I shrug, falling into step alongside her as we head down the street. I won't let her take me far, but up to the corner and back should be fine. "It's on my to-do list."

Ruby gives me a long look. "You're stressing yourself out, aren't you? You always did things like that. Forgot to eat before a test or made yourself sick with nerves."

This is a little more than nerves, I think. This is life or death. The survival of me and everything I hold dear. Still, I shrug it off like it's nothing. She links her arm with mine, giving it a squeeze. The gesture makes me smile.

"Come on, we'll grab a bite to eat while we're out."

A bite to eat. Cute.

"We can't go far," I say, letting her lead me down the
sidewalk
toward apartment complexes. Deserted this time of night, save for a few people lingering outside of a liquor store and polluting the air with the rank scent of cigarettes, beer
,
and weed. Too far from the hotel for comfort. I dig my heels in, forcing Ruby to slow her steps as well.

"
You wanted
to talk to me about Noah. So...
talk.
"

She
loosens
her grip on my arm. I try to read the expression on her face, but it
'
s somewhere between uncertain, wary
,
and sad.
"
You two were involved?
"

"
For the last few months.
"
I look away, trying to shrug off the feeling of guilt that I
'
ve somehow taken something that b
elonged to her. Of course, if I ha
d
known
... Ruby hadn
'
t even told me she had a boyfriend before she disappeared.
"
Not anymore.
"

Her eyes narrow.
"
He turned on you after he found out what you were, didn
'
t he? I
'
m so sorry, Briar. I didn
'
t know until after I was turned how much he hated vampires.
"

I draw my arm away from her grip, hands shoved into my pockets.
"
He said he tried to give you a chance.
"

Ruby scoffs, eyes rolling.

"
...but that you had changed too much. You were attacking and killing people.
"
Why am I bringing this up now? I can
'
t possibly believe any of that crap Noah told me.

"
That
'
s what he said?
"
Even though Ruby
ha
s always been a better liar than me, she
'
s not a pro. But the way her gaze sobers and looks so lonely
tells me s
he isn
'
t faking this. Noah was wrong.

Impulsively, I wrap Ruby up in a tight hug. She startles, arms hanging limply at her sides like she doesn
'
t know what to do with them.

"
I know you wouldn
'
t do it,
"
I mumble.
"
You aren
'
t like that. You
'
re a good person. I
'
m not going to stand by and let him or anyone else hurt you anymore.
"

Slowly, Ruby
'
s body relaxes and I feel her arms slide around me. The big sister hugs I
'
ve missed so much. She draws her head back enough to look at me, the smile on her face nothing but hopeful.

"
Let
'
s run away, Briar. Let
'
s take off right now. Away from this city, just me and you.
"

Me and Ruby.
Getting the hell out of here and away from all the danger and drama.
When I saw her a few days ago, I would have j
umped at the chance. But now...
with so much at stake, can I just abandon Cole, Daniel
,
and Oliver after everything they
'
ve done for me? More than that...
"
I
'
m afraid to leave Mom and Dad. What if Maverick and the others...
"

Ruby shakes her head.
"
They won
'
t touch our parents. As soon as they realize you and I have skipped town, they
'
ll leave, too. But by then we can be long gone
. They
'
ll never find us
.
"

It
'
s a different song than the one she sang
the other night
. Wasn
'
t she worried about Mom and Dad, too? A little lump forms itself in my stomach.
"
If I say no, will you be mad at me?
"

Her perfectly arched brows knit together.
"
I would be confused and ask why.
"

"
A lot of reasons.
T
here
'
s Mom and Dad, and the p
eople Maverick
'
s been killing. The boys and Noah are all wrapped up in this; I can
'
t just ditch them.
"

Ruby
'
s crystal
blue eyes narrow, scrutinizing
.
"
You should stay away from Noah.
"

"
What if this is all some big misunderstanding between you and him?
"
I say.
"
If you two got together and you had a chance to explain the truth...
"

"
He wouldn
'
t believe me.
"

"
Why not?
"

"
Because that
'
s the kind of guy he is.
"

"
Funny, he believed me.
"
I wasn
'
t turned on purpose. Noah could have shrugged that fact off, but he was sincere in his reaction that he hadn
'
t known and he didn
'
t assume I was lying. Why wouldn
'
t he believe Ruby, the girl he loved?