“And you want me to ask them?” I ask, even though I am sure that is his point.
He grips the steering wheel harder. “Yes, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell Maddox about this. He is adamant that you go nowhere near the children.”
Reign’s eyes flicker to my ring and back, and this time I don’t mistake the anger in his jawline as it tenses. I don’t know why I haven’t taken the damn ring off, but now I wish I had before Reign saw it.
Considering I haven’t seen Maddox since I left his room, not telling him shouldn’t be an issue. “Sure. And, by the way, I am not keeping secrets from you about the kids or anything to do with them.”
He doesn’t answer me, not that I blame him. I do look suspicious. I change the subject before I say anything I might regret. “How is Arlo?”
Reign turns off on a dirt track in the middle of the forest. “Watching out the window for you like a lost puppy.”
Frowning, I lean my head on my bent arm against the window. “I’m sure that isn’t true.”
“I have no need to lie to you,” Reign states. “I care little about your feelings or his. But I answered your question. If you were to ask about the mental state of your friend, I would give you a much different answer.”
“What would that answer be?”
Reign pulls the car up in front of a clearing with storm drain in the middle, and nothing else around. “Arlo is one of those many people in life who cannot handle the chaos sent their way. He needs something he won’t get on this island or with friends like you.”
He turns the car off and looks me in the eye. “Arlo needs peace.”
“Your vampires broke him. He wasn’t always like this,” I explain. “And he will get better. I’m going to make sure of it.”
“I doubt it, but I will watch you try,” he replies before climbing out of the car. I follow suit, jogging over to his side and up to the storm drain, which appears to have doors. Reign places his hand on one of the doors, and it glows red before setting on fire. The fire spreads, making a large enough gap for Reign to step through. I pause for a second before stepping through the gap, and then turn around to see the fire snap shut, leaving a red glow for a second before it disappears. Reign walks down steps, automatic lights turning on the deeper down the stairs he goes. Watching my step, I head down the many, many stairs and into a big warehouse of some kind. The room is full of plastic boxes on one side and a row of cars on the other, all of them new and expensive by the looks of it.
“If you have all these cars, why doesn’t everyone use them?” I ask.
“They belong to my brother, not me. Only the vampires are rich enough to import what they like, and most prefer to run everywhere. Maddox included,” he comments, and I’m shocked to learn Maddox knows anything about modern life, let alone owns enough expensive cars to buy another island if he sold them. I shouldn’t be surprised they have a lot of money, the auction made that one very clear. Reign leads me through the boxes and past the cars to a big open plan space, and the children are all here. Some are sitting on the rows of bunk beds or on the floor. Others are on the many sofas, staring at children’s toys but not touching them. The kids are silent, which they should not be. Children are never silent, not a massive group of them like this.
A shiver runs down my spine.
I take a step closer, and at the same time, all of the children look towards me and Reign. They focus on me, and I watch as a small blonde girl walks over. She must be about six, and she has bright blue eyes.
“We will talk to Riona Dark alone.”
Her voice, although childlike, sounds much older than she is.
Reign tenses and leans down, facing the girl. “No, you will speak to her now, or we will leave. I do not allow children like yourselves to make demands.”
The girl looks back at the others, and suddenly they all move, making a circle around us. The girl steps back into the circle, turning her head to the side. “We will make you leave then.”
“Wait!” I shout before any of them can move, holding my hands out. I don’t want to see Reign fight these children, because at the end of the day, they are kids. I keep my hands held out. “Reign has done nothing but help each of you and help me. He is not the enemy, and neither am I. You said I am like you, but what are you all?”
“Vampires cannot know our secret,” the girl replies, looking between Reign and me. “You should know this. To speak to them is forbidden. They are cloaked in sin and broken.”
“Even humans are a little broken and sin a little too much,” I reply, leaning down in front of her. “What’s your name?”
“We are not given names, only told what to do and sent here,” she replies, and I sigh.
“By who?” I ask next.
“The one who speaks your name. They told us you would be here and that you could be trusted,” she replies. “That you would know.”
“I don’t know, that’s the problem. Can you remind me?” I gently ask.
She shakes her head. “No.”
I go to ask her another question when a phone rings out, and I turn to Reign. He looks pissed off as he pulls out an iPhone from his pocket and answers the call. There’s that phone Katy mentioned. I need to get hold of it, and then I can call my parents. A little hope fills my chest, but I know it won’t be easy to get it off him. “Got it. Be there in ten minutes.”
He puts the phone down and shoves it away in his pocket. “We have to go. Now.”
“Alright,” I answer, looking back for the girl, but all of them have silently moved back to exactly where they were before. “Do they ever do anything but sit there?”
“No, they seem clueless about how to act. How to be themselves,” Reign answers. “It’s almost like they have never seen toys or people. They always seem shocked at food, making me wonder what they were fed before.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help,” I tell him as we head back, and part of me itches to go back to the kids and give them each a big hug. They need love and guidance, and I think maybe then they could all be saved. “Please promise me you won’t hurt them. I know there is good in them, they are just confused.”
“You can see their confusion in action; we have one more to pick up,” he tells me, not promising a single thing, and a sinking dread fills my chest for what I’m about to see next.
And for the fate of these kids.
I stand in the crowd by the Jeep, watching as Reign walks over a pile of bodies to pick up a child sitting on top of a woman’s back, her blood and so many others dripping down his chin. The woman is clearly not alive, nor are any of the people lying around, by the looks of it. No one in the crowd makes a move towards the child except for Reign, and I wonder what exactly they have been doing to calm the kid before Reign got here. This kid is maybe eight or older with curly red hair and bright brown eyes. His shirt has a famous pig on it and his shorts match the blue top. He doesn’t have shoes on, but he does have yellow socks, which are now smothered with blood. Reign leans down and offers the boy his hand, and he looks at him for a long time before standing up off the woman and taking Reign’s hand.