BLUE BLOOD

54 | '0216'

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Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.

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I frantically pulled every book my fingers could touch off the large bookshelf, hoping to trigger the opening of a secret passage. If I could escape this manor, then I could get to the journal.

"How long did you plan this?" Avery coughed, chained up behind me. He's been silent, but I think he couldn't help himself. Maybe I should've gagged him.

Books thudded around me, littered over the floor. No, no, no. These books were just books. I gritted my teeth in frustration before deciding to answer. "Since I was locked in this room. The layout makes it only possible for there to be a secret passage that leads to an escape."

"So you did everything you could to untie yourself," Avery let out a chuckle, closing his eyes in torment.

"Who do you think I am?" I arched my eyebrow as bitterness tinged my words. "Sasha Laurence?"

Avery stayed quiet, rationalizing even at a time like this.

I wanted him to know how it felt. To fully wake up to an empty bed after sharing one of the most intimate moments you could possibly have with another person. To be trusting enough to end up drugged and transported to an island. To be chained up in a chair because of all the lies and promises and hope of something real.

"Disappointed that I'll throw away all my self respect because you're Avery Dragomir?" I murmured, the ache in my chest intensifying. 

"Vesper-"

"I didn't want to believe it myself," I said, softly, "but you really are just another boy."

Another Calvin. Another Erik. How many times did I need to suffer betrayal to learn?

This time it actually hurt. Avery Dragomir actually hurt. 

I was just another girl he could hurt because there will always be another girl pining for him, longing for his touch. 

Why? Because he was Avery Dragomir.

"You won't make it off this island," he let out a humorless chuckle, "You have no plan. One of them will come in this room by the morning."

I whirled around, needing the truth and feeling angry with myself. I was still speaking to him when I should be shutting him out. "Why, Avery? Why did you let Helen drug me?"

"I didn't want to, Vesper," he insisted, his eyes shut in almost despair. "They gave me a choice."

"Helen wanted the best for me, or so she thought. That leaves Satin, Blake, Cole," I recounted, frozen by the pain in my chest. "They told you they would tell you about Grace, didn't they?"

"Do you ever think you're too smart for your own good?" Avery tilted is head. A smile played on his lips, but it wasn't a happy one. "They told me the journal has the truth of what happened."

I stayed silent, clutching my knuckles. "So that's why you stayed close to me. You wanted the journal from me."

"After that one time we read the journal, you took it away and hid it. It was after that they gave me the offer. By the time I had to make a choice..."

"You couldn't just take the journal anymore because you no longer knew where it was," I said, piecing it together.

He looked away. "Yes."

"So you lied to me. Again and again. Pretended that you lo- wanted something real," I whispered, thinking back to all the events that started leading up to this moment. "You-"