Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CAT

I 'd phoned Ford's End's police station three times, and so far, the reply was the same. Duncan was being questioned, and he'd be released in forty-eight hours, at which time I could come to collect him. Until then, stop harassing them.

I didn't stop harassing them. I called another time for good luck just as the station was closing for the night and received the same information.

"Shit," I breathed when the call ended abruptly. Duncan was spending the night in a police station because of me, because I'd put Virgil's safety above his. What made me even guiltier was I'd do it again. Setting up Duncan for Jillian Pendleton's murder had got me a video call, and I was convinced I'd find something, some clue, in the background behind Virgil. There had to be something.

I opened the recording again, zooming into bricks and pipes like they'd tell me where Virgil was.

Pipes… there had to be maps of the pipes laid around Ford. I couldn't shake the feeling that Virgil was being kept nearby. What if there was an old war bunker? It would fit the dank, closed-in feeling I got from his surroundings. It was a leap, but I didn't care. I needed to do something, and researching bunkers on Ford's End was something productive I could hold onto.

I'd been struggling to find any sort of plans or schematics of the school for half an hour when my phone vibrated. I jumped out of my skin.

"Shit."

Tannie.

I dragged a hand down my face, trying to cobble together some sort of composure, and then hit answer.

"Have you heard from Virgil?" he asked the second I picked up the call, his usual drawling voice absent. It was replaced by an acute worry that made my throat close up.

Had I heard from Virgil? What could I say? If Tannie panicked, if he learned what Nightmare had done, he'd try to reach Ford's End. And when he couldn't gain access to the island, he'd start world war three. Nightmare was bad enough now without being provoked by my brother.

"Yeah," I said, screwing my eyes shut at the wobble in my voice. Everything is fine, everything is normal, everything is fine. "He turned up at Ford unannounced last week. Apparently, he took a sabbatical from university." It sounded like bullshit to my ears, but I couldn't let my brave brother find out the truth. I couldn't let Nightmare hurt him, too.

I understood Misery so perfectly right now. If there was a tonic I could take to keep my family safe, no matter how risky, I'd take it.

"He's there," Zoltan repeated, sounding confused. "Our studious, ever-serious big brother left university for a sabbatical?"

"I don't understand it either," I said, hating the lie, hating that it grew with every word out of my mouth. "He won't talk about why he left; I think someone broke his heart."

"Put him on the phone," Tannie said with a huff. "I'll get this sorted out."

"He's not here," I said quickly, my heart beating rapidly. The walls of my room began to blur as an anxiety attack rose, clamping around my chest.

"You just said he was…"

"Here on the island, but not here here. He's down at the village talking to one of the GPs about getting a placement."

"At—seven p.m. at night?"

Oh, god. I was so bad at lying. I scrambled for a response, my chest tighter and tighter. "Well, he couldn't go before now; they had patients to see to."

Tannie made a sound of agreement. "Fair point. But that guy's acting sus as hell. Get him to call me when he comes back."

"I will," I lied, grateful to be done with the lies. "Love you, Tannie."

"Love you too, darling sister. No dropping out or taking sabbaticals for you, okay?"

"Okay," I rasped, tears stinging the backs of my eyes.

"You got this," he told me, hearing the tears but misinterpreting their cause. "Even if there's a bog monster or flesh eating snails, you got this."

"I got this," I repeated in a whisper.

"Do you need me to text you a slew of inspirational memes?" he asked seriously.

"Yes," I replied in a small voice.

"Consider it done. Don't worry too hard. I'll get everything sorted out with Virgil."

I had no reply to that. I ended the call, barely holding back the gasping, desperate breaths until I hit that red button. I clutched my chest, bowing over on the bed as I went to war with my own breathing.

I needed to get it together, needed to find control. I had a bunker to search for and a brother to find. But as usual the anxiety won.