Thankfully, Journey stole Emerson’s attention back and pleaded with her to go back to bed with fake promises that she’d come back soon. The little girl agreed, rubbing her tired eyes, and began to walk away.
“Emerson, have you seen Sister Mary?”
Emerson turned back around for a second, her face falling. “Nowpe. She has been away for a couple of dawys.”
“Do you know where?”
“Nowpe. Sister Elizabef is worried.”
Fuck.
Journey stood up quickly. “Okay, sweetie. Go back to bed. I love you. And don’t tell anyone we were here, okay?”
She nodded. “I wove you, bye.” Her tiny hand, the one that wasn’t holding the teddy bear, gave me a little wave, and a smile fell to my mouth. I waved back, and when Journey turned and looked at me, a soft laugh left her.
“She’s cute, isn’t she?”
I blinked, confused over what the fuck just happened. There wasn’t a word in the dictionary that fit what I was feeling, so all I did was nod and follow her through the door to the laundry shoot.
The room was dark and smelled of cleaning supplies. I pulled my phone out, seeing the text I had from Gemma from an hour ago that said to ‘be careful wherever you two are going,’ and turned the flashlight on. Journey was bent down low, sitting on her knees in front of a square hole in the floor.
I gave her a look. “You think I’m gonna fit through that?”
She peeked up at me. “You have to. It’s the only way out.”
Okay, then. I guess I’m going down.
She began slipping her legs out from underneath her before I stepped forward. “Not a chance. I’m going first. I’ll catch you.”
I didn’t give her even a brief moment to argue as I quickly bent down beside her and braced my hands on both sides of the square cutout. “As soon as you hear me land, you jump.”I leaned forward, pecked her on the lips, and then squeezed my shoulders in as tightly as I could, scraping them along the wood.
My feet hit the hard floor with a loud thud, and jolting pain climbed up my spine before I shined the flashlight up the shoot, waiting for Journey. I braced myself quickly, and another second later, she was in my arms.
An exhilarated breath left her, hitting me square in the jaw. “That’s so much better when someone catches you.”
I chuckled, placing her on her feet, and then we were through the dark basement, passing by two washing machines, out the side door, and into the cold winter air. The cops were already gone by the time we made it to the side alley, so we nearly ran to my father’s motorcycle. Journey was putting the helmet on her head when my phone buzzed.
Isaiah: Get back.
Isaiah: Now.
I typed a text back and ignored the dread sitting nice and still in my stomach.
Me: On our way. What's wrong?
I climbed onto the bike, and Journey scrambled on a second later. Before I took off and tore through the street, thankful that there was enough loose embers and gravel on the road to prevent it from being too icy, Isaiah texted me.
Isaiah: Cops are here.
“Fuck,” I snapped.
I didn’t answer Journey’s question as I kicked us forward, and we were off to St. Mary’s.
I shutthe bike off at the gate and pushed it up against the iron rods, not even bothering to try to take it to the old cottage to push it under the tarp. We didn’t have time for bullshit like that. Our footsteps were quiet as we trudged through the hard snow, trying to walk as closely to the winding lane that led to the school as we could without being in a direct line of the front doors. Journey stopped dead in her tracks as soon as we got over the billowing hill. The red and blue lights were a caution if I’d ever seen one.
“Cade.” My name coming from her mouth sliced through the cool air like a whip.
“I know,” I said. “Isaiah texted me.”