I don’t know what I expected—that she’d be surprised the Chief entertained ideas of murder? But she doesn’t even blink.
I swallow. “Except now we know it’s not just my friend in danger. The Chief’s sister, Rowan, has been kidnapping teens to use as sacrifices in a spell he’s doing tonight. He’s going to try to open up a portal so he can escape this place and overthrow the Family.”
The rebels break into chatter. Bishop tugs hard on my arm, but I won’t look at him.
“Hmm,” Zeke says, as if I were reporting the weather.
“You have to help us,” I plead.
She chuckles darkly. “Really. And why do I have to do that?”
Somehow I don’t think “Because it’s wrong to sacrifice teenagers” is going to be a convincing argument.
“Because we’ll help you get out of here,” Bishop says.
I spin to face him.
“Help us and I’ll talk to the Family about getting you out of here,” he continues.
Zeke barks a laugh. “And why would the Family care what some teenager has to say about me? I’ve murdered humans. You’re going to say something to change their mind about me?”
I pale at her words, but Bishop doesn’t falter.
“My uncle is in the Family—high up too. If I tell him you helped us stop the Chief from escaping and overthrowing them, he’d have to recognize that. He’d convince the rest of the council to let you out, or at the very least, to cut your sentences down to nothing.”
She doesn’t look convinced. She’s quiet for so long I expect her to launch her goons at us with every passing second, but she surprises me by nodding.
“Fine. We’ll help you stop the Chief, but the deal is you get us out of here—every single one of us—and if you don’t? We won’t stop hunting you down until you and every single one of your family members dies in the most brutal way we can think up. Have I made myself clear?”
An involuntary shudder passes through me. I want to ask how she’s going to do that from in here, but I get the feeling she’d find a way. It’s a risk, but it’s not like I have a choice.
I reach my hand out. She clasps it.
“Deal,” I say in a voice more confident than I feel. “And my name is Indigo.”
26
We drive in a caravan toward the Hollywood Hills. The rebels yip and holler over their music, a scary excitement radiating through the air. Zeke drives the car at reckless speeds, taking turns so hard it’s like she’s trying to get us into an accident. But no one else seems to care. I can’t believe we’ve put our trust in these people—the same people who recently beat the crap out of me and sold me to the highest bidder. Not for the first time, I wonder just what we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Bishop and I huddle in the backseat as the car bumps along. I lean my head against his chest, and he wraps his arms around me, resting his chin on my head. Strangely, it’s the most romantic moment we’ve shared in too long.
“Remember the time you attacked me in the sand dunes?” he asks.
Heat flashes across my cheeks.
Bishop chuckles softly, rubbing small circles into my arm. “Don’t be embarrassed. It was cute.”
If someone had told me a few weeks ago that I’d one day look back on the memory of Bishop rejecting me and laugh, I would have smacked them. And yet here I am, chuckling along with him as he holds me close. I wish we had more time—we don’t have enough good memories together.
All at once, in this singular moment in the back of a car full of sweaty rebels, I know: I want Bishop. I don’t know what happened with Cruz, why I let him get so close to kissing me, or why I would have risked everything in one stupid moment. All I know is that I want a future with Bishop, and only Bishop.
We peer out the dirty windows, on the lookout for an attack that could take place at any moment. But nothing happens except the sky grows darker by degrees. It should make me happy. Like Mom used to say, I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, whatever that’s supposed to mean. But something about the lack of action feels off, and my nerves are on edge more than if we’d had to pick off thousands of armed sorcerers on the way to the Chief’s headquarters.
After too much driving, the landscape finally morphs into the Hollywood Hills. I sit up straighter.
“All right, where is this place?” Zeke calls back. “All I see is forest.”
“It’s inside the mountains,” I answer. “The door is set into the trees.”
Zeke shakes her head. “No wonder we couldn’t find it.”
I scan the woods in the light of the full moon, looking for a sign of the headquarters, but everything looks the same. Trees, trees, and more trees. I worry we won’t be able to find the door in time, and panic tightens my chest.
“So am I just going to drive around forever, or are you going to tell me where to go?” Zeke asks.
“I’m looking,” I snap. “Just give me a minute.” I bite my lip and stare out the window as if looking intently enough will make the secret door pop up out of nowhere. If I just had a bit more light. A bit more time.
Finally, I see it.
“Stop!”
Zeke slams on the brakes so hard I crash into the back of her seat. Grumbling, I open the door and jump out. I expected the door to the compound to be invisible in the grassy hillside but instead it hangs wide open.
Two more cars screech to a halt behind us, and the rest of the rebels pile out, the crisscrossing headlights of our vehicles beaming across the mountain.
“They’re gone,” I announce, staring at the open door.
“How do you know?” Zeke asks.
“The Chief wouldn’t leave the door to his stronghold wide open and unguarded. The fact that he has means he doesn’t care who finds it or gets inside. Wherever they are, they expect the ritual to succeed and they don’t plan on coming back.”
“Great, so what now?” Bob Marley asks.
“Yeah, what now?” another echoes. A stir goes through their ranks. I need to take control before they start getting angry and taking it out on me for leading them here.