Page 114 of Psync
“You should have told me!”
“I would have when I was ready, but—hold on, didn’t you already know? I thought that’s why you came here.”
Juniper’s face went pale, and she climbed off his lap. “I came because I needed to tell you something important.”
The relieved smile that had been working its way across Eli’s face faltered. His eyes went to Haruka, who knelt beside him and took his hand. It was like a hit of instant serotonin. Whatever his sister needed to say, it couldn’t be that bad.
“What happened?”
Juniper’s eyes darted around the room like she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Then she took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Liam—the guy who kidnapped you. He’s out on parole.”
There was a ringing in his ears, and his sister’s voice became muffled. Eli had to focus to understand his sister.
“. . . at first Mom didn’t want to tell you, but he missed his meeting with his parole officer . . .”
There was another moment where things got a bit staticky, but he tuned back in to hear his sister say, “. . . you hear me, Eli? His house was empty. The police said it looks like he never stayed there after his first night back. They found a recent picture of you . . .”
And that was the last thing Eli heard before the static took him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Haruka
Eli was still in Haruka’s arms. And quiet. So terribly, horribly quiet.
Haruka was vaguely aware of the red marks his hands were making where he clenched Eli’s hands and tried to relax, but he couldn’t bring himself to loosen his grip.
He’d gotten so used to roaming freely in Eli’s mind when they touched. The silence he found there now was terrifying. Haruka was afraid if he didn’t hold on as tightly as possible, Eli would slip away from him forever.
“Eli!” Juniper’s voice was edged with hysteria, and she reached out to strike Eli’s cheek.
Haruka caught her by the wrist before she could make contact. “Don’t.” He had no way to explain to her that striking him was pointless. The boy had retreated so far inside himself even Haruka couldn’t reach him. Hitting him would only make Haruka want to hit her back.
And once Eli had recovered, he would be mad at Haruka for doing so. It was the only reason Haruka had been able to restrain himself earlier when Juniper had manhandled Eli.
She was his sister. He knew that, but he’d gotten used to being the only one who was allowed to touch Eli. When he saw someone try to touch him now, all he wanted to do was hurt them.
And as much as Eli seemed to like Haruka’s overly possessive nature, he knew better than to unleash it on the boy’s sister.
But if it would bring Eli back from wherever he had retreated to, Haruka would slap her across the room and apologize later.
He shook his head.
If it didn’t work, it would cause too many unnecessary complications. He was going to need Juniper’s cooperation for what he was about to do next.
“When was Liam released?”
Juniper stared wordlessly at her wrist, still trapped by Haruka. He released it but kept an eye on it in case it got any ideas. When she didn’t respond, he snapped his fingers in front of her face. “I need you to focus right now. How long as it been since someone has seen Liam?”
“Two, no, three days.”
Haruka’s chest tightened, and his skin prickled as adrenaline shot through him. Three days was more than long enough to find out where Eli was. Liam could have already taken him, and Haruka would have never seen it coming.
“You should have told us.” He snapped. His fingers twinged in pain, and he realized he was slowly crushing Eli’s hand. He’d nearly broken the boy’s hand, and Eli’s mind hadn’t given him so much as a whimper.
Juniper looked at Haruka like he’d turned into an alien before her eyes. “Us? I didn’t even know there was anusuntil five minutes ago.”
Haruka forced himself to soften his tone. He needed her on his side. “There is. I would do anything for him. Whatever you think, I need you to believe that.”
