Page 36 of To Keep A Wolf
“I think I know where we can go.”
“Where?”
He doesn’t answer as he opens the door and steps out. When he looks back at me, I can see he’s hiding something.
“Levi,” I begin.
“Do you trust me?”
The question alone is enough to soften me. “Yes.”
He smiles softly and then shuts the door, leaving me alone with that speck of trust held delicately in my heart.
CHAPTER10
Levi drives, and Tripp busies himself in the back of the van with stupid road trip games. Neither one has brought up the things I told them before leaving camp. I suspect we all need time to process it. If Jadick’s been planning this for months, maybe years, like Kari’s story suggests, it means he played the Jades from the start. It means he’s been using them to get to me all along. It’s a mind fuck none of us is ready to unravel.
For almost an hour, we look for the alphabet on license plates. It’s a far cry from the tense silence of riding with my mother during one of her missions. Still, my thoughts continue to drift back to her as we drive, covering a distance I have no way to measure since I still don’t know where we’re going.
Levi surprises me by joining in Tripp’s ridiculous scavenger hunt antics. He’s not one for dumb games like this, but here he is, laughing and calling out the letter X on a road sign. I give him a strange look, and he frowns over at me before glancing back at the highway again.
“What?” he asks.
“I know you’re just doing this to distract me,” I say.
“Is it working?” Tripp asks from the backseat.
I sigh and settle into my seat. “Sort of.”
“We only have two letters left,” Tripp says. “Winner takes all.”
“All of what?” I ask, twisting around to look at where he’s seated on the edge of the mattress. We did our best to clean up as we broke camp, but it’s still a hot mess back there.
Tripp shrugs. “The glory,” he says simply.
I snort. “The only glory I’m used to getting on road trips like this is spotting the mark before my mother can.”
They both fall silent, our game abandoned.
Levi is the one to speak first. “You’re worried about her.”
It’s not a question.
But my good shoulder rises and falls with a non-committal sort of “yes.”
“She doesn’t know what he’s planning,” I say.
If she knew, would it change anything? I can’t bring myself to ask the question.
“She’s still on Jadick’s payroll,” Tripp reminds me.
I lean my head back against my seat and shut my eyes. “I know.”
More silence.
I’ve ruined the fun.
“She’s doing what she thinks is best for you,” Levi says quietly.
