I did. I leaned against Grey, sagging against him for support. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said gruffly, putting one arm over my shoulder. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
“You lost someone,” I said, thinking back to Lorraine, Grey’s girlfriend when I’d first met him. “You do know.”
“I do, but that was different. In a way.”
“I thought we were meant to be together,” I said. “The reason I pushed Matthew away wasn’t because I didn’t love him. It was because we weren’t working. Not then, not in those circumstances. But there was this part of me that thought all roads led to Matthew, no matter what. And now...”
I raised a limp hand toward the body on the cold, marble table.
“I know,” Grey murmured, his lips touching my hair.
There was nothing romantic about the gesture. He was sympathetic, a friend, a listening ear. And he could understand what I was going through better than anyone.
“What comes next?” I asked. “How do I...”
“You don’t,” Grey said. “You’ll never get over it.”
I exhaled a shaky breath. “Then, what? I just keep on going? I know you think I need to get a move on, but—”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I don’t know how.” I turned toward Grey, pleading. “Do you have the answers?”
Grey took my face in his hands. “I’m so sorry, Dani. I hate to see you like this. But I can’t possibly have the answers for you; nobody can. I’m just here as your support.”
I fell against Grey’s chest, let him hug me. I rested there for a moment, a long moment. Eventually, however, something he’d said prickled at my skin. Slithered down my spine.
“But why are you here?”
“I just said—”
“For two months, you’ve been my support. Why did you come here, to The Chamber, today? What do you have to tell me?”
Grey winced as I backed away. “It’s not like that.”
“You didn’t come here to tell me something?”
Grey looked upward, expelled a sigh. “Apparently, you know me too well. I did come here with news.”
“What sort of news?”
“News that I thought you’d want to hear.” His eyes flickered toward Matthew. “News that I thought couldn’t wait, but now I see that I’m wrong. I shouldn’t have interrupted.”
“You’re here,” I said shortly. “Tell me.”
“It’s Sienna.”
My heart pounded in my chest. “What about her? Did you see her? Talk to her?” I couldn’t look at Matthew. Couldn’t stomach more bad news. “Is she okay?”
“The news I have heard is from a third party, a source I’m afraid I can’t disclose.”
“Why not?”
Grey’s eyes flashed toward me.
“Sorry,” I said. “Do you trust this source?”
He squinted. “Mostly. But in this case, I have no reason not to trust the information. And he has said that Sienna is alive.”
I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding. “Where is she?”
“I don’t have an exact location. I barely have a loose location,” he said. “But my source believes her to still be in the Dead Lands. Just promise me—”
“I’m going after her,” I said. “I hope you know that.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Grey let out a hiss of a breath through his lips. “I almost didn’t tell you because I knew that’s how you’d react. Please, Dani, don’t be foolish. Trying to follow Sienna into the Dead Lands is a death sentence.”
“What am I supposed to do then? Just wait for another of us to die?”
My hand gestured toward Matthew. “In case you’re counting, we’re already down one of the five people listed in the files. We are weak, susceptible. And not only that—Sienna is my friend.”
“Sienna disappeared on you,” he said. “You don’t owe her your life.”
“You don’t owe me yours, either, and you seem to be willing to endanger yourself to protect me.”
That shut Grey up. He looked taken aback and physically stepped toward the door as if my words had sent him recoiling.
“I just thought you should know.” Grey raised both of his hands. “All I’m asking is that you think first. Before you run into the Dead Lands. Because if you don’t...”
Grey’s eyes flicked toward the marble stone table. His unspoken point was clear. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up like Matthew.
“I don’t plan to let that happen.” My fists clenched by my sides.
“I’m sure Matthew didn’t, either.”
“I’m not going to give up until I find who killed Matthew.”
“I want to help you, Dani.”
I wanted to tell Grey that I didn’t need his help. Wanted to push him away. But as I looked down at Matthew’s closed eyes, his lips tilted into a stern line, I knew that I did need him. And the only reason I was pushing him away was because it hurt so badly to lose someone I loved.
“If you want to help me, then find out where Sienna was last seen.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“If you want to help me, then that’s what you can do.”
Grey massaged his forehead. “Fine. But I hope you’ll be smart about what happens next.”
“I’ll do what I need to do.”
“I’m going to take off,” Grey said with an unhappy shake of his head. “I’ll always be there for you, Dani. I’m patient. Don’t forget that.”
“Grey, please—”
But he was gone. I turned to Matthew, my eyes focused first on the zigzagging of the Residuals before I narrowed my gaze on him. His face, his hands, his body. So powerful just months before, and now so still. Not weak, but quiet. Lifeless.
I turned away, letting the door slam shut behind me.
As I stormed out of The Chamber, dawn was just beginning to break around me. A bleak fog sizzled over the cemetery, melting over the gravestones as shades of red and yellow and orange battled their way above the darkness.
I stormed through the borough, silence be damned.
I would find Sienna. I would get Primrose back.
And then I’d find the person responsible for murdering Matthew.
Chapter 2
The first step in my plan to return Sienna to the borough where she belonged was a stop at the morgue to visit her trusty friend—a monster named Ursula. I climbed the stairs and let myself into another silent room. The only sound was the labored breathing of the blobby, purplish figure bending over and shoving files into a new cabinet that lined one wall.
“Ursula,” I said, approaching the front desk with caution. “Is everything okay in here?”
Ursula straightened, startled. She glanced back at me. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Quiet in here.” I looked around. Nobody was there.
“People aren’t freaking dying,” Ursula said, as if that was a grave annoyance to her. “I’ve got nothing to do. It’s driving me insane. I’ve organized these files ten different times. It’s all ready for Sienna when she comes back.”