I tried to get a few hours of sleep, but it ended up being futile. My heart was still working like crazy to keep me primed and ready for whatever I was going to do, which meant sleep wasn’t really an option.

Instead, I sat up on the side of the bed. There were two definite paths in front of me. One was the path Henry had suggested: going to the police and telling them the full truth of what had happened. The other was taking care of things myself, as Athena was trained to.

Neither had great chances of success. It would take time to explain the situation to the police, probably hours. I knew Mia’s time was ticking down from the moment they targeted her. If she became more of a liability than an asset, that was it.

I rubbed at my eyes, feeling sick and weak. There was something deeply wrong with how I was raised.

If I went there myself, to free her through blood and sweat, I’d be fighting with people who were just like Athena. There wouldn’t be hesitation to shoot to kill. Especially since the director would probably give orders to do so.

Why did Mia have to get dragged into this?

I stood just to turn around and drive my fist into the mattress. The force pushed the entire bed backward and it banged against the wall.

My teeth ground together. There was nothing fair about this. There was probably nothing fair left in this world. If I went to the police, I’d be punished for what I’d done. I’d probably be punished for not admitting it to them right away and I’d probably be punished by society for being a monstrosity.

But if I took care of things myself, I’d just be proving that they should punish me.

What about my new family, though? They certainly didn’t want that for me. And no matter which path I took this was going to affect them negatively. On the one hand: I probably wouldn’t be coming back if I went there myself, and on the other: everybody would know they gave birth to a beast. 

I sighed, fist still planted against the mattress. My knuckles ached a little from the abrasion against the fabric. The pain almost felt good. Relieving.

If I went to the police, everybody would know, whether there was success in saving her or not. If I did things myself, the only people that had to know would be in that building, if they survived.

And on top of that, the girl that was Athena was eager to stretch her legs, to take a beating as she delivered her own. The only solution to such an absurd problem was going to be pure insanity, and I was ready to be a little insane.

For my entire time staying at the Ward house, I had a stash of things in case I needed to run. This is what I grabbed out from under the bed. It was an old backpack I found in the closet, a bit small for a go-bag, but not so small that it couldn’t fit a change of clothes and a large kitchen knife and about a week's worth of protein bars.

I also went about my room, putting things in order as the frenetic energy was building as I waited. I couldn’t leave yet, the best time to slip away in the night was going to be about four in the morning. Since I had to wait anyway I took the time to clean myself up, drink water and eat a protein bar without looking over my shoulder.

My phone vibrated on the bed as I sat with my back against the frame, legs crossed in front of me. I was going to ignore it but decided there couldn’t be any harm in checking. If Mom or Henry or even Dad had heard me moving around they might try to check on me, and that wouldn’t be good if I was gone. I needed time to move.

I blinked as the lock screen only listed an unfamiliar number. Spam texts didn’t usually come in late at night, so I opened the message and froze.

There was a photo of Mia there, looking very scared, handcuffed to a pole and gagged with an old t-shirt.

I knew the place immediately. It was the pit, where we were locked in when we had done something wrong. The dirty floor, the stains from human waste and blood, the tally marks scratched against the floor, and the almost vacant expression of terror on Mia’s face.

The following text only cemented the reality. ‘Are you going to cooperate?’ It was the kind of phrase the director would use. 

My hand shook. ‘30.’ I typed. That would give me thirty minutes to get there. It was a solid forty minute walk but I could move fast as long as no one stopped me.

The exclamation point came through barely five seconds later.

I pulled my weight up and put my phone in my bag. If the director wanted to stay in contact, I’d cooperate. He knew I wouldn’t go to the police. That was too deeply ingrained to be an option for me.

I fit my bag on my shoulders, pulled it tight so the weight was flush against my back and went to the window, un-wedging my security board and then pushed the glass pane up to crawl out. It was probably going to be the last time I did so. I was careful on the roof, I couldn’t wake anybody or this would be ruined. 

“Taylor,” a low voice said as I approached the edge.

I froze and turned slowly to see Henry sitting on the slope, obviously having been there most of the night. He looked cold and lonesome but his eyes were sharp as they bore into me.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

I shook my head and started to continue to climb down.

“Taylor,” he hissed angrily.

“You can’t stop me,” I snapped back. “I—I’ll kill you if you try.”

His face was uncertain but he crawled closer to my spot. “You can’t do this on your own,” he whispered. “I know you’re worried but–”

I pushed him back, throwing his balance off and then planted a clenched fist onto his chest so he couldn’t get back up. 

“I don’t have a choice,” I explained.

His heart was thudding under my hand as he stared at the body his sister had been in.

“If I’m not back in the morning, call the police,” I compromised. “But if they try to find me before then, I will disappear, do you understand?”

“Wha–?” he stopped as I applied more pressure to his sternum.

“Do I need to hurt you?” I asked.

He struggled to breath as doing so made the pressure hurt more. Then he nodded with an anxious swallow.

I released him and turned back to the edge of the roof.

“Please come back,” he said. “When it’s over. I know you’ve done bad things and I know what you’re about to do… just come back after.”

I didn’t look behind me before I slid down and pushed my weight free to fall the remaining few feet.

It hurt much like before, my knees struggling to catch my full weight, but then I was off to take care of things. I didn’t know what was going to happen but there was a reason I didn’t promise Henry I was going to come back.

AN: Sorry it took so long I got distracted with another story... and my furnace caught on fire, but not to worry, we have a new one now that shouldn't do that anymore.

Hope you enjoyed reading! I'll be pushing through more regular updates once the holidays are over.