I did as he said, and he climbed in beside me. I looked at the driver and froze. Shaun. What was Noah’s dad doing here? Noah hadn’t told me he was coming, too, and why wouldn’t he have taken the same ferry? Were we being busted? My heart sank. If Shaun told my parents I would be in so much trouble.
“What’s going on?” I asked, gulping and looking between the two men. They watched each other through the mirror. Wasn’t he about to bust us?
Noah took a deep breath, clenched his fists and looked out of the window as Shaun locked the doors and sped off. I gripped the seat in front of me as Shaun’s erratic driving had me falling to the side. He levelled off and started to drive properly. My heart was rattling in my chest. This isn’t right.
“Noah!” I said. “Look at me! What’s going on?”
He refused to face me, but I could make out him squeezing his eyes closed as he leant against the window. I started to feel sick. Noah had never made me feel anything but safe and loved before, but right now, it was like I was sitting next to a different person – one that scared me.
“Shaun, what’s going on?”
“We are taking you home, sweetheart.”
Beside me, Noah’s body tensed.
“Home? What do you mean home?” We weren’t getting back on the ferry. “Shaun, what do you mean?”
“Eternal Light, Scarlett. We are taking you home.”
My eyes widened. What? “I don’t…”
Suddenly everything slotted into place and my world spun off its axis. They are part of it. Whimpering, I pressed my fist to my mouth as bile shot up my throat. No, no, no. He lied. All this time Noah had been lying to me.
I couldn’t believe he was taking me back to them. After everything my parents said, after everything he knew about them, he was taking me to them. They were part of that cult and had come to England to get me. I was glued to the spot with shock.
Noah is part of Eternal Light.
No, he can’t be. He can’t!
“Noah,” I whispered, tears rolling down my face. “How could you?”
His jaw tightened. “Hurry up, Dad.”
“I can’t speed, son, you know that.”
“Shaun, please,” I said, finally moving. I poked my head between the seats, desperate to get him to listen to me. “They’re going to kill me, you know they are. Just let me go and I promise I won’t tell anyone. Please, I just want to go home. You don’t have to do this.”
“Sit tight, Scarlett, it won’t be long until we are back.”
I shook my head, hair flying around my face, sticking to my tears. Neither of them cared that I was going to die for no reason. Falling back in the seat, I looked at Noah wide-eyed.
This can’t be happening.
Had everything he said been a lie? He told me he loved me, but he couldn’t.
“Why did you pretend to love me?” I asked, far too calmly for the situation. I felt like I was in one of my dreams.
He’d pretended to love me. It hurt, so badly. He might as well be stomping my heart into the ground. “You didn’t have to take it that far. Did you want to hurt me before they murdered me? Was that it? Do you hate me?”
He stared out of his window, clenching his fist against his forehead. He looked in pain, and that made me want to strangle him.
“Noah!” I snapped. “You at least owe me an explanation. You didn’t have to take it that far! Why? Answer me, damn it!” I thrashed my arm out and hit his shoulder. He didn’t even flinch. I was so angry, so hurt that I felt like I was going to explode.
“Settle down, Scarlett,” Shaun said. “Noah had his instructions.”
“Instructions!”
“Shut up!” Noah shouted. “Both of you. Please, just stop talking.” He rubbed his forehead roughly.
“Did you ever live on that Island?” I asked in disgust.
He shook his head.
“Always in Ireland?” He didn’t have the Irish accent.
“Since I was seven.”
Wow. He made up a whole life. Just like my parents. Was there anyone in my life who didn’t lie?
“Was any of it real?”
He turned away again, and I wasn’t sure if that was a yes or no. As much as it broke me, I wanted to believe no, it was easier than knowing he loved me but did it anyway.
“You’re going to be fine, Scarlett. Your parents will explain better than we can so just sit quietly until we get there,” he said.
“But I’m not going to be fine. You know I’m not. My parents told you what those people are going to do.”
He blinked a few times, looking down at his feet. The blood drained from my face. He knew before that. “No,” I whispered, and his eyes closed again. Pain cut through my chest.
Noah knew they were going to kill me all along, and he still brought me here.
I have to get out. Gripping the door handle, I tugged at it until I thought it’d break. The door was locked. The window wouldn’t open. I’m trapped. No, no, no.
Sobbing, I pulled my legs up, curling into a ball and cried. My heart was splitting, pieces breaking off. Everything he’d said, we’d done, we had, set on fire and burned to ashes. None of it was real.
He’d played me, and I fell for it. That hurt.
I held myself tighter, holding my body together. How could he? Did he even care about me at all or was it all one big, fat lie to get me to his cult.