Page 57 of A Malicious Menagerie
“It’s just, if we don’t do this…”
“What?” Nan asks gently. “What will happen?”
“They’ll be trapped—all of them. Delia and Chase included. And you and me…” I suck in a shaky breath. “They’ll make us disappear.”
Nan looks horrified. “To where?”
Into a sea serpent’s bellyseems like too blunt an answer. “To wherever we won’t be a ‘problem’ for my boss anymore.”
“Anna…” Nan shakes her head slowly. “This is just too much. I need some time to process it all.”
She doesn’t want to believe me. I can’t blame her. Still, her denial hurts.Doesn’t she trust me? When have I ever given her reason to believe I would make up a lie this big? A lie that would hurt her this much? “Of course,” I say, but my voice is hollow. “I’ll take you back to your room.”
Nan is quiet as I wheel her back down the path, but I can almost hear the gears turning in her head.Please,I whisper internally.Please believe me.
As we approach the door that will take us back into the nursing home, my eyes fall on a familiar figure. My feet stutter, and the wheelchair skids a little across the loose gravel.
“Anna!” Nan chastises, frowning up at me. “What…” She trails off when she sees my face, no doubt white as a sheet. Her gaze follows mine until she locates the towering bald man leaning beside the door with his vicious scowl aimed at us. “Who is that?” she whispers in a trembling voice.
“Someone my boss sent to make sure I don’t sneak you out,” I reply in a low murmur.
“My God,” Nan whispers, her eyes rounding with horror. “You were serious before.”
“As the heart attack I’m asking you to fake.”
As we pass him, I can feel his gaze on my face like a dozen needles made of ice. Only once the door closes behind us, leaving the brute outside, do I let go of the breath I’d been holding. “Do you believe me now?” I whisper urgently.
“Yes, but Anna, I don’t…” Nan swallows audibly before trying again. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“You’re the bravest person I know,” I tell her, squeezing her shoulder gently. “You can do it. I know you can.”
I don’t say it, but I know she can hear the unspoken words.
Because you have to.
26
The Plan
Between Colby, Nathan, and me, the beginnings of a plan start to form. Now, we just have to get everyone else on board.
The kelpies are easy. After all, they’ve already made it clear that they’re eager to go. “Anna,” Fionn says teasingly when Colby and I relay our plan to them, “you are such an angel. I could just kiss you for all you’re doing for me and my dear sister.”
“I’m gonna have to pass,” I tell him bluntly. Breathtaking beauty aside, I probably see Fionn similarly to how Ciara does—as an annoying older brother. Besides, there’s only one man I want to kiss… even though that’s likely to be the last thing on his mind when he realizes what I’ve been plotting. I gesture to Colby beside me. “Honestly, you’d probably have more luck with Colby than with me.”
Fionn eyes the security guard consideringly, and I stifle a laugh when Colby takes a massive step away from the kelpie. “Nah,” Fionn declares at last, brushing off the suggestion. “I’ve no desire to take my baby sister’s sloppy seconds.”
Ciara elbows him in the ribs, Colby shudders, and we make a pact. The kelpies are in.
Delia is similarly easy to convince, if a little more hesitant than the siblings. “What if you get caught?” she asks quietly, her dark brows drawn in consternation.
“Then at least I’ll go down doing the right thing,” I bluster. In all honesty, I’ve been carefully avoiding any thoughts of what could go wrong. If I let myself start down that rabbit hole, I’ll fall and fall until I’m nothing but a spiraling, panicky mess.
Delia looks unconvinced. “Anna… I don’t deserve this.”
I gape at her. “So you… what? Deserve to be kidnapped and held prisoner? To be forced to kill people?”
“I…” She trails off and just stares at me, lost and so desperately alone.
