Chapter 81: Liability

Brick's steps take us back to the train and forward, just beyond the peak of the locomotive where the large patch of trees growing around the tracks are being attacked by a group of unhappy crew. He bypasses them, circling around until he slows and gestures for me to be quiet.

I join him, peering through the trees to see Chime, Ande and my friends, Poppy among them, in the middle of a meeting.

"You know I'm right." Chime's hand falls on Beckett's arm with a familiarity that makes my blood burn. "She's a liability at this point. They both are. If we turn around now, go back, tell the Crawlers where she is..."

I'm sure he'll toss her hand off, tell her to go to hell, stand up for me. But he doesn't. Beckett hesitates. In that moment, my heart snaps in half and the calm once again descends.

I step out so they all see me and watch Beckett's eyes widen. "I'm not giving myself up to the Crawlers," I say. "I can't go back. But I can see now I've been mistaken in who I can trust."