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“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Oh,” I murmured, my shoulders loosening. Well, that’s a relief. ?“Your father?”
Elias shifted, looking like he regretted revealing that information. “Robert,” he confirmed. “The one in charge.”
Oh. So that was how he got involved in all of this.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
I eyed Elias warily. He seemed uncomfortable speaking to me. But he was doing it anyway.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
My god, I was about ready to start banging my head against the wall if I didn’t get the voice to stop soon.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Where am I?” I asked abruptly.
Elias furrowed his brow. “What?”
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Where am I?” I repeated.
Maybe that was the way to get the voice to shut up. Maybe if I knew the answer to its question, it would finally let me rest.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Do you really think I would give up our location to you?” Elias replied.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
Tears of desperation stung the back of my eyes.
“Are we still in Colorado?” I said.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
Concern flashed over Elias’s features. “You know I can’t answer that.”
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”
I was considering screaming just to drown it out. “Is this your house?”
“Ask all the questions you want,” Elias said. “I can’t tell you anything. I’m not even supposed to be talking to you right now.”
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
Where are you?”
I gripped the sides of my head again. I just wished I knew how to make it stop.
“Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
Where are you? Where are—?”
“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” ?I finally screamed back in my mind. “~I don’t know where I am! In a basement, in a house! I don’t know where! Just please shut up!”~
And just like that, the voice was silent. My exhale of relief came from deep within my soul as every muscle in my body finally relaxed. A painful weight was lifted off consciousness.
“You doing okay over there?” Elias leaned forward, looking ready to jump down from his spot on the washing machine.
I sighed and brushed the hair out of my face. “I’m fine. Just a really bad headache
—”
“I’m…tell…anything…please…”
I froze. The voice was back, but it was quieter again, no longer making my brain rattle. I could barely make the words out.
“Concentrate…who…recognize…”
It was like I was having a conversation with someone with horrible cell reception.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Elias was still studying me, his lips downturned.
“You’ve got a funny look on your face.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I replied. “Tired.”
“You should try to get some sleep. I’m not sure what my father has planned for you, but you’re going to want all your energy for it.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
He was right though—it was probably in my best interest to try to get sleep, but I was already so sure I wouldn’t be able to get any rest without Ace by my side that I wasn’t even going to try.
My time would be better spent studying my captors, coming up with escape plans, and searching the room for possible weapons.
With a nod, I tucked my face back into my knees—being careful of my broken nose
—making sure he couldn’t watch my face anymore. I heard his quiet TikToks start up again a moment later.
Now that the voice in my head didn’t hurt to listen to and wasn’t repeating the same thing, I was interested in what it had to say.
I knew it was ridiculous, but part of me hoped it really was Ace talking to me somehow. It was a long shot, but if Ace was a werewolf, who was to say he couldn’t also communicate telepathically?
Yeah, I was losing it.
The voice sounded again. “Please…tell…see…”
I concentrated even harder, my heart pounding with hope as I spoke into my mind.
“Ace?”
“Yeah…me…Ace…”
The air exploded out of my lungs. It took everything in me not to burst into tears.
I still had no way of knowing if it was actually him or just a hallucination, but I really didn’t care. The voice sounded like Ace and ~claimed~ to be Ace, and that was enough to give me hope.