Looking up, I gasped. Clover very quickly stabbed the knife into Poppy’s side. Poppy stumbled, one hand clutching the wall for support and the other holding the knife wound. Blood seeped through her fingers and she started hyperventilating. She looked so scared—scared to die.
Jumping up, I grabbed Rose and pulled her with me. We ran behind the table. He was between the stairs and us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Poppy hobbling toward us, her face twisted in pain and tears streaming down her terrified face. I swiped the tears from my cheeks quickly and stared at him. His menacing face looked like pure evil, like there was no humanity left in him at all.
I didn’t want to leave them behind, but I had to do something or we would all die down here. If I could just get into the house, then I could find something there to stop him. His face softened and he smiled. “It’s going to be okay. Don’t be afraid. We’re doing this together, as a family.”
“We are not a fucking family!” I snapped and gasped. What have I done? Keeping him on my side was harder than I thought. He turned his whole body to face me, and I knew while his attention was on me, Rose had a chance. “Run,” I whispered under my breath. Go, Rose!
He walked around the table slowly, and I stood my ground. I planned to kick him between the legs when he got close enough. That was what Henry used to tell me I should do when guys came up to talk to me. “Kick them hard and don’t slow down. Follow the kick through.” Those were my brother’s words, and I planned to follow them—for once.
Clover moved in front of me. I’d never been in a fight before, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be any good at it, but I felt strong now. My hate for him was busting from every pore in my body. I clenched my jaw, determined. He retracted his arm, and I knew he was about to hit me. I stopped breathing as I flung my own arm out, successfully blocking his blow.
I couldn’t believe I’d blocked him, but I didn’t have time to gloat. I pictured every horrible thing he’d done to me and all the other girls, and with as much strength as I could muster, I shoved my fist in his face.
Gasping as pain shot through my hand, I jumped back. Clover stumbled to the side, shooting his arms out to steady himself. I knew I was going to die, and I wanted it to be while I was fighting back, showing him I didn’t want what he had done to me. I wanted him to know how sick and evil he was.
“You little bitch,” he spat in a voice that was so angry and aggressive it didn’t sound like his own. I took a deep breath, positioning myself better, ready to follow Henry’s instructions and kick with everything I had left.
Adrenaline pumped through my body, and I went to raise my leg. Rose grabbed me and pulled me back. Shit, no! Why was she stopping me? Why hadn’t she left when she had the chance? My eyes widened as his fist raised and slammed down on my face.
My vision blurred, and I blinked hard. I was shoved backward hard and slammed into the wall. My head smashed against the bricks, and I fell to the floor. A black mist fell over me, and I couldn’t see. I rubbed my eyes and ignored the throbbing pain in my head. Where is he? Where are they?
Pushing myself up, I narrowed my eyes to try to see what was going on. I felt like I was falling. This time it was peaceful. There were so many voices around and loud screams, but I couldn’t focus on anything. The only thing I could smell was the usual lemon, but it wasn’t that strong anymore.
I was drifting, floating. The pain was subsiding. Suddenly through all the noise, I heard a loud bang, followed by thuds. Flopping down on the floor so I was lying, I tried to see who had come in. The darkness clouded my view even more. I felt exhausted. I just wanted to sleep. Closing my eyes, I felt someone move me. “Stay with me, Summer. Everything’s going to be okay. You just need to stay with me.” Summer?
All I could feel was movement, no pain. I was being carried. Carried by someone that called me Summer. Was I dreaming? I fell further and then there was only darkness.
32
LEWIS
Thursday, March 3rd (Present)
I pulled up at the hotel and rubbed my eyes. For the past few days, I’d been driving all over the country checking out possible leads and sightings of her. The police covered it too of course, but the longer she was gone, the more I lost faith in them. For seven months, since she disappeared, I had been in limbo and I couldn’t move on until I knew what happened. Someone knew where she was.
I yawned and got out of the car. London was an impossibly large place to find one girl, and I doubted Summer was here, but I wasn’t going to risk not looking.
The police search for her had slowed down even more; there weren’t many officers still on the case, and the search was now funded by donations and volunteers. It meant we would have to go back to work to get the money, only part-time, though.