Love to hear your thoughts on chapters 19 and 20! Thank you for reading! - Rebecca

****

Ow!" I screamed as Ado sliced into my raw skin with the edge of a razor blade, after having soaked it for several seconds in rubbing alcohol.

Ado laughed at me. Apparently he hadn't become any less of an asshole since the last time I had seen him. He wiped my blood off on a towel and brought the razor back to my wrist for the second slice.

We were in the basement of Sage's diner. George had escorted us here through a twisting path in the woods that hadn't existed last time I'd been here—a path that allowed us to completely circumnavigate the hotel and its insidious residents.

Caryn, the sweet waitress who had had a bit of a crush on Brady the last time we were here, sat nearby, concealing a chuckle as she watched me grimace. She looked thinner than she had when I'd last seen her, and her light brown hair hung limply by her ears. But it was her pale blue eyes that showed the effects of the passing time the most—there was something dull and tired about them that made me look away in pity.

Sage hadn't said anything to me when we got here, ignoring my awkward attempt at a hug. Instead, she just let us into the diner, and Ado and Caryn took us downstairs while Sage stayed above to deal with any potential customers.

"It hurts like hell, doesn't it?" Caryn asked.

"It really does."

"You ready for the second cut?" Ado asked, relishing my pain a bit too much.

I felt woozy from the sting of the first slice, but I didn't want to admit that to Ado, who would have gotten too much pleasure out of my pain. He was a big-boned guy with dark skin and glinting brown eyes, who might have been handsome if his belligerent personality wasn't always getting in the way. Trying not to give him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm, I simply turned my head away, squeezed my eyes shut, and groaned something that sounded affirmative.

For some reason, this cut hurt twice as much. Maybe it was hitting a nerve.

"Shit!" I screamed, embarrassed immediately as I heard Caryn and Ado laughing again. But Adam, who had been sitting in the corner waiting, didn't seem to think it was funny. He walked up to me now, inspecting the damage.

"You're cutting too deep," he told Ado.

"It's the same as I was cut."

"Let me do it."

Ado gave him a look that said he wasn't interested in handing over the razor, but Adam didn't seem to care. He grabbed it from Ado's hand and then pushed him aside.

"I don't do well with pain," I admitted to Adam, looking around the basement of Sage's diner. The door the bathroom was open, and my eyes landed on the picture of President Koenig they kept over the toilet—the one with the bull's eye on it.

"No kidding," Adam sarcastically responded, taking Ado's seat. He then grabbed an extra towel, rolled it up, and handed it to me. "Bite down on this."

I did as he instructed, and closed my eyes while the searing pain of the third cut ripped into the delicate skin of my arm. Before I knew it, he was done.

I looked down at the three identical bleeding slashes on my wrist while Adam went to get some iodine and cellophane. When he got back, he poured the liquid into the wound, causing me to grab onto his arm in agony.

He held still a moment, letting the wave of pain pass over me. Then he wrapped the new scars up in the plastic, very tight, so no air would hit them.

I looked up at him as he did it, relieved that it was over. "Do you believe that I'm part of it now?" I asked.

He only smiled and nodded in response.

Ado, having been displaced to Sage's empty bed while he waited, seemed restless. "Where's your boyfriend?" he asked me, looking to stir something up apparently.

"He didn't make it this time," I answered, still looking at my arm as Adam finished wrapping it.

"Too bad," Ado replied. "I was hoping to see him cry again."

"Shut up, Ado," Caryn and I both responded in unison. I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"And his other girlfriend," Ado continued, really enjoying himself now. "How is she?"

Adam seemed annoyed at the interruption, which was causing me to stir in anger as he worked.

"Don't talk about Brady like that," I told him. "You don't know anything about him."

Adam glanced up at the mention of Brady's name, then snapped off the plastic wrap and threw the remainder of the roll onto a table.

Just then, the entire building began to rumble slightly and the fluorescent lights overhead flashed on and off a couple times. The rumbling grew louder and louder. I panicked, looking around to the others for some indication of what it might be. An earthquake, maybe? Adam was the only other one who seemed concerned, however.

"What is it?" I asked Caryn.

She shrugged. "Tanks. They pass by sometimes to try to scare us. Clear the streets."

"Yeah, can't you see I'm terrified?" Ado asked with his usual amount of sarcasm.

Despite the nonchalance our friends seemed to be feeling, Adam and I remained frozen in place. The shaking did not subside for several minutes, and it made the table I was sitting on wobble beneath me.

Just then, the door to the basement slammed open, and even Caryn jumped to her feet. I stood by Adam, who placed an arm between me and the door the way a mother might do to shield a child from hitting the windshield at an unexpected traffic stop.

I had to physically push his arm out of my way to see who was coming down the stairs.

Relief flooded over me when George's feet began to descend. But he had someone else with him, and it took me a moment to process the face that appeared before me.

"Kieren," I said, not able to hide the excitement in my voice. He made it down the stairs to ground level, and without even remembering that we were in a fight, I threw myself across the room and into his arms. His shirt and hair were wet, and I knew he must've come through the lake portal too.

He held me for a second, closing me up completely in his long arms, as his body relaxed with a dissipated tension. "Thank God," he whispered.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling away just enough to see his face.

"What do you think I'm doing here? I came to get you. I knew you were up to something, M, but if I had known what..."

"I'm so happy to see you," I couldn't help but gush. I didn't care anymore what had happened between us when I realized that he had come for me. Could this mean he was changing his mind about us?

"What is this?" Kieren asked, pulling my arm away and examining the plastic wrap.

"It's—"

"Did you cut her?" Kieren demanded suddenly, his gaze whipping up to Adam. He pushed me away and marched towards the table, where Adam was wiping off the bloody razor blade in the even bloodier towel. Adam put the blade down as Kieren got closer, taking a defensive stance.

"No, Kieren, it's not like that—" I started to protest, but he wasn't listening to me.

"What the fuck?" he asked now, his neck turning red with anger. Before I could stop him, he had made it to Adam, and he pushed him back with all his might.

Adam, of course, immediately recovered and took up a wrestler's position. "Try me," he said lightly. And that was all the encouragement Kieren needed to lunge at him again.

Ado actually cracked his knuckles with glee at the show he was about to watch, and Caryn plastered herself against a wall to get out of the way.

"Stop it," I shouted, running to try and break them up.

Adam had already managed to catch Kieren's punch midair and twist the offending arm into the same half Nelson he had pulled on me earlier. Kieren was in the process of turning into the maneuver to regain the upper hand when I managed to get my fingers on Adam's arm.

"Damn it, Adam, I said stop it."

It took both the men a second to stop when they noticed that any punch they might throw at that point would probably hit me instead. I placed my hands on Adam's chest to push him back, forcing him to look me in the eyes and see that I was serious. "Back off," I insisted.

Adam held up both hands, as if to say, "I didn't start it." But I kept pushing until he was several inches away. Then I turned back to see that Kieren was still glaring at him, and apparently disgusted with me as well for getting in the way.

"Kieren, let's go upstairs and talk," I said.

He finally looked down at me, although his forehead was still rumpled with rage and I was afraid he might make another leap for Adam. I came up and gently touched his upper arm to lead him away, and I was relieved when he let me.

"Come on," I said again, softer this time, and he followed me up to the diner. 

***

Keep reading for chapter 20! Thank you for COMMENTING! Your comments are the only way I know if the story's working or not. You're all amazing!