“Did she tell you why?” he asked, his voice scarily calm.
“She thought it would help you?”
He let out a single sharp laugh.
“I suppose I had that coming, didn’t I?”
Holly furrowed her brow, confused.
“I kept a lot of things from her. She suspected it, but she couldn’t fully call me on it. I should’ve known she’d go rogue. It’s my own fault.”
“What were you keeping from her?” Holly relaxed her grip on her legs.
Trevor said nothing. He wouldn’t even look at her.
“You took me to that wall thing for a reason,” Holly said. “You want me to know something. I feel it.”
Still, he said nothing.
Holly tried to reel in her frustration. This was what the Maiden wanted her to find out. This had to be it.
“Can I tell you something?” she asked.
“What?”
“The Maiden spoke to me about you.”
Trevor looked up. “What did she say? Probably something terrible.”
“No.” Holly laughed softly. “At least, I don’t think so. She said you were lost.”
“Lost?”
Holly nodded. “I told your sister as much. She agrees with the Maiden.”
“Is that why you haven’t kicked me in the balls yet?”
“Possibly,” she said.
“I’m not lost,” Trevor said. “Does the Maiden have an opinion on this discussion?”
“I haven’t heard anything from her since you brought me here.”
Trevor frowned. “Are you telling the truth?”
“What good would lying do me now?” she replied. “What more could I lose?”
“Your life, if you’re not careful.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No.” Trevor smiled softly. “A warning.”
“To be wary of you?”
Trevor shook his head. “If I told you I’m not the threat? A liar? Yes. A shameless manipulator? Also, yes. But I’m not the threat.”
Holly’s chest felt tight. At least she wasn’t the only manipulative person in the room. She wracked her brain for the right thing to say. She was so close to finding one of the many missing pieces of the puzzle that had become her life.
“Am I the threat?” she asked.
“Not right now,” Trevor said. “You might become one, though.”
“To whom?”
“Everyone.”
“Trevor.” Holly put her head in her hands. “If I have to deal with any more cryptic half-truths, I think my heart will give out. You know something, or you think you know something. I’m not sure which it is, but I need you to tell me. I can’t keep doing this.” Was that manipulative? Absolutely. But, it was also the truth.
“Would you believe me if I said I’m trying to protect you?” he asked.
“Considering that’s all anyone seems to want to do these days, yes, I would. I’ve got news for you. Keeping things from me doesn’t protect me. In fact, it hurts my chances of getting out of this without any permanent physical or psychological damage.”
“That speech sounded a little rehearsed.”
“It’s the third or fourth time I’ve given it.” She sighed. “I’ve lost count. All you firstborns want to do is keep me in the dark and make decisions for me. I’m over it.”
Trevor opened his mouth then closed it.
“What?” Holly demanded. “Were you going to deny it?”
“I was, actually.” He chuckled. “But I can’t. I kidnapped you and forced you to come here. That’s making your decisions for you to the extreme.”
“Thank you for finally admitting it.” She smirked. “Can you tell me why?”
“Fine, but you better get comfortable.”
Holly grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest.
Trevor gave her an odd look.
“What? You said, get comfy. This is comfy.”
“I know.” He nodded. “I just didn’t expect the result to look so…adorable.”
“Please, don’t call me adorable right before you explain why you kidnapped me.” Holly grimaced.
“In hindsight, I can see how that can come across the wrong way.”
“You think?”
“Stop being sassy and listen.”
Holly pressed her lips together and gripped her pillow.
“Did Elise tell you about our parents?” he asked.
“A little. She told me about her shifting power.”
Trevor’s shoulders slumped. “I tried to stop it; you know?” he said. “I didn’t want them to take her powers. It wasn’t right.”
“She knows. She told me as much.”
“Good.” He sighed. “Anyway, my parents moved to Golden Oak. I went with them because I thought, with enough time and pressure, I could convince them to return Elise’s power to her.”
“But that never happened, did it?”
“No,” he said. “For the first few years, things were pretty normal. Well, as normal as can be expected. One day, my father woke up, ranting and raving about the dark shifters. He was like a man obsessed. He went to every house, literally knocking on doors, trying to find people to support his cause. He stopped sleeping. He barely ate. It was total insanity.”
“What did you do?”
“I joined him,” Trevor replied. “I never thought anything would come of it. At the time, no one seemed motivated to do anything other than to go full bear for weeks at a time. Like big family camping trips, almost. It was kind of fun, except for my father. He tried so hard to go dark, but the transition wouldn’t happen.”
“Transition?”
“A dark shifter doesn’t just wake up one day and think, ‘I don’t want to be human anymore,’” Trevor explained. “It’s a long, painful process from what I’ve read. I’ve never seen it happen.”
“What about your followers?”
“They’re just a bunch of bitter people looking to ease the pain of the never-ending disappointment in their lives.” Trevor shrugged. “They seem soulless, but they aren’t. Not officially, anyway. They can still come back from it if they wanted to. We saw some of them while we were out today. Can you tell who they were?”
Holly flipped through her memories, trying
