CHAPTER 15
It takes Daedric four weeks to nurse Elysia back to health and another three weeks to make it around the scorched Yosemite National Park to President Kane’s love nest. Seven weeks I can hardly remember. When we get there, it’s just as Daedric described it: a small cabin tucked safely away in the middle of a dense forest. The trees and grass are severely parched, but the lake that lays steps from the cabin is clear and sparkling.
“See?” Daedric says. “I’m a man of my word.”
There’s one bedroom with two sets of twin bunk beds. Eve and Elysia have agreed to share a bunk. The rest of us pick a bed and my throat thickens at the thought that Isaac and I will never again share a bed.
When everybody’s gone taking a dip in the lake I begin pulling the filthy clothes out of my backpack and laying them out on my bunk. The cabin has a real washing machine with real soap.
“You don’t have to do that,” Daedric says, as he enters the room.
“Do what?”
“Pretend you’re going to stay,” he says.
Suddenly the room is closing in on me and I sink onto the bed. I lean forward clutching my chest as Daedric’s boots swim in my vision. He kneels in front of me forcing me to look him in the eye. I close my eyes. I want to rip out my heart but I don’t think I have one.
I left Isaac behind. What kind of heartless person am I?
Daedric lifts my chin. “I’ll go with you.”
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Left Behind: Book Two of the No Shelter Trilogy.