Hourglass (Hourglass 1)

Five minutes later Michael parked behind the science department.

“I’m going to go get John Doe. Sit tight.” He opened his car door before I could protest.

I followed him to the back entrance. We hadn’t talked about this part of the trip. “Hold on,” I argued in a whisper. “There’s no way you can get the body out of the building and into the car by yourself.”

“Sure I can.” He frowned at me as he sorted through the keys in his hand. “I know how freaked out you were when you heard about the cadaver. I’m not going to ask you to help me carry it.”

“No, because you don’t have to ask. We’re a team, right?” I held up my hand for a fist bump.

“Em—”

“Right?” I said, knowing we didn’t have time to fight about it. Michael knew it, too.

He gave me a fist bump back and we headed into the building.

Fifteen minutes after we retrieved the cadaver—Michael wrapped it up before I could see anything, and then assigned me the feet end to carry—he stopped the car in front of the gate to the Hourglass. It was closed.

“That gate’s never closed. This means we’re going to have to approach from a little farther away than I wanted.” He pulled off onto the side of the road before killing the headlights and enveloping us in darkness. I started to open my car door, but he stopped me. “I want you to stay here.”

My mouth dropped open. “What?”

“I think it would be a good idea if you stayed with the car.”

I turned to face him, even though it was pitch-black. “You’ve lost your mind.”

“I’ve been thinking about this. You did what I needed you to do by getting me back here. You could just wait, leave the car running—”

“Shut up. I’m serious, Michael.” I would not back down. “Shut your mouth. Why do you keep leaving me out of the equation? If you think for one second I’m going to let you go to that lab by yourself, you’re as crazy as I am. Sorry, as crazy as I thought I was. No way.”

He tried again. “But—”

“No. You can’t make me stay here. Do you want me to lie to you and tell you I will? Knowing I’ll just follow you? All by myself? Alone and unprotected?”

He sighed in defeat. “Why won’t you let me keep you safe?”

“I don’t need a hero, Michael. I thought you recognized that I can handle myself.”

“It’s different this time. The stakes are life and death. I got you into this, and the least I can do is make sure you get out of it in one piece.”

“I made the decision to help you all by myself. I know you have my back. And I have yours.”

Michael reached out, wrapping his hand around the back of my neck and pulling me fiercely to his chest. “I’m scared to death. If I were by myself, I think I’d be fearless. But not with you beside me.”

“Good. Because fearless is stupid.”

“I’d retract that statement. You’re one of the most fearless humans I’ve ever met.”

I grunted. “Get out of the damn car.”

We shut our doors quietly, and he tossed me the keys. I tucked them into my jacket pocket and zipped it up. The trees were covered in ice, making the grounds look like some kind of magical forest, entirely too enchanting to be the scene of a murder. I shuddered.

“Cold?” Michael whispered, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

“No.”

He gave me a little squeeze. “We’ll go around back. I want to see which cars are in the parking lot.”

“Why?”