“We’re here for my cure.”
“Your cure?” I laugh. “What the hell do you need cured?”
“Me, Indie. Me. I’m a fuckin’ disease. And we’re here for my cure.”
My mouth drops open. “What?”
“Donovan has it. Carter. They know how to fix us and if Nick is working on a puzzle, this is the big picture. Curing me. And Donovan, and Carter, and Merc—they’re the final pieces. That’s why we’re here. We’re gonna pick through the bullshit and get the answers I need to be normal. To be cured of this sick thing they made me into.”
“No. Wendy.” I grab her by the shoulders. Pull her in for a hug. She’s stiff, doesn’t hug me back, but she doesn’t pull away, either. “Sweetie, no.” I push her back so I can look her in the eyes. “You’re not a disease. You’re not sick. You don’t need a cure! You need answers! And Nathan and I are gonna take you to those answers. Right now. Let’s go.”
I turn, grabbing her hand, making her turn with me, but I’m too late. This conversation took way too long because there he is. Nick Tate. Walking up the garden path, head looking side to side, searching for Wendy. I look to my right and find Nathan coming our way as well.
We took too long.
We should’ve had this stupid conversation in the truck, because now Wendy is gonna—
“Nick!” she calls. “Over here!”
“He can’t come,” I whisper.
“The hell he can’t.” And she does not whisper.
“The hell I can’t what?” Nick calls. He’s still a few flower beds away, so it takes him another thirty seconds or so to make his way to us. He and Nathan approach at just about the same time.
“Indie wants to show us something,” Wendy says.
I roll my eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Wendy. Discretion!”
“Nick and I don’t have secrets, Indie. That’s not how we play the game. So whatever you want to show me, you can show him too.”
“What did I miss?” Nick asks. His condescending tone suddenly reminds me a lot of Adam. In fact, in this light, one might mistake him for Adam if you didn’t notice the missing tattoos.
“Tell him, Indie.”
“By all means,” I say, panning my hand towards Wendy. “Be my guest.”
“She found a nest of girls.”
Nick shoots Nathan a look, one eyebrow up. “I thought you said you lost them?”
“I said they were gone when we went back,” Nathan replies.
“But you know where they are now?” Nick counters.
Nate shrugs. “This isn’t about you or your hunt. It’s about Indie and Wendy and the cure.”
Nick’s face goes instantly hard. It’s like he changes into another person altogether. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“The cure,” I say. “Isn’t that what you and Wendy are lookin’ for? She told us that you’re here for Donovan and Carter.”
“And?” Nick says.
“And nothing. I don’t care what you guys do.” I hold up a finger. “As long as Donovan comes out the other end intact, and alive, that is. So if you have plans to hurt him, I suggest you make other arrangements.”
Nick crosses his arms. “What about this nest? How is this”—he pauses to glance at Wendy, but then quickly looks back at me—“the cure?”
Wendy’s got this all mixed up. The cure is not about her. Or me. It’s not about us. We’re good. The cure of them. The girls. And if we can cure them, we can get answers. “We need to question them,” I say. “We need to find out what their purpose is. And we need to cure them to do that.
“Their purpose?” Nick asks. “What the fuck do you think their purpose is? They kill people.”
“Just like we do,” Wendy says. Her tone is light. Almost sing-songy.
Nick shoots her a funny look. “No, Wendy. Not the same at all.” But his tone is tired. Like he’s so over this argument.
This is an old fight between them. He kills girls like us. Like her. And she can’t wrap her big brain around it.
“How do you even know about this cure stuff,” Nick asks.
“What do you mean?”
He’s so done with me. His eyes go lazy and low as he sneers out his words. “Who told you about the cures?”
I think about this for a moment, because I don’t really know. Then I look at Nathan. But he gives me a little shake of his head. A little command to drop it.
Which is fine with me. Because I don’t know anything.
So instead, I say, “We don’t have time for this. We get one night with no Adam or McKay. One night, that’s it. And we need to make the most of it. So are you comin’ or not?”
I expect Nick’s answer to be an immediate, Fuck yeah, I’m coming or something of that sort. But he actually hesitates and looks back at the house.