“You have,” she snarled. “And they know it. Your Alpha. Your witch. He took it from you, and then they came for us. They sent wolves after us, Robbie. They sent them to find us. I recognized one of them. We were already gone, but I stayed behind to watch. Santos. His name was Santos.”
“No,” I muttered. “No, that’s not… it’s not—”
“Lignite.”
“What?”
“Get to Lignite, Virginia. In Botetourt County. It’s a ghost town, but there’s a truss bridge there. Meet us at the bridge as soon as you can.”
“Why the hell should I do anything you’re asking?”
There was a voice in the background. It was quiet, and I couldn’t make out the words. “But—” Shannon said. “How could he—”
The voice spoke again.
“Fine, but if this fucks him up—Robbie. Are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“I need you to think. I need you to think hard. Can you do that for me?”
I closed my eyes. “Yes.”
“Before the witch came for you, before you were brought to Caswell, where were you? What do you remember?”
“He found me. Ezra.”
“I know that. But where?”
“I don’t…. It’s….” I pulled my hand away from the tree and pressed my fist against my face. The entire world smelled like smoky sap, and I was drowning in it. And where had I been when Ezra came for me? What had I been doing? I remembered him standing in front of me, telling me he needed me, telling me that I was special, that he would take me to a place I could belong, where I would never have to be alone again, and his words were everything I had ever wanted. Everything I ever needed. He told me I would do great things, that I was important, that I was exactly what he was looking for, that I I I I I I—
I was nothing.
Because there was nothing.
It was an empty space.
A void.
“Who am I?” I whispered.
“I will tell you,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything. That whole place, all you know, everything you think you know, it’s a lie. Robbie, I promise you, I will show you the truth. I’ll show you the way home. Don’t you want to know what’s real? I can give that to you. And they’ll be here to—”
“Who?”
“I—can’t. Robbie, just get here. Do you hear me? It’s not safe for you anymore. Get to Lignite. Get to the bridge. Do it now before it’s too late. Everything depends on it.”
“But—”
The phone beeped in my ear as the call dropped.
I looked at the tree.
Sap poured down the trunk.
It looked like it was bleeding.
I read once that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.