"Wouldn't it be nice if that was the idea?" I mused. "If all of this was some kind of twisted plan to have you six come together." Just a plan to force them to become friends, and face their feelings towards each other. Would they have done it otherwise? I wasn't sure if they would.
"I didn't need this to come together with everyone here," Frost remarked.
Storm looked over his shoulder, rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "No one doubts that, bro."
"It would be nice," Ramsey said softly. "Extreme, but nice." He looked over at me, his eyes dark and troubled.
"Any theories on what happened today?" I asked. "Apart from ‘someone came after me.’"
I still couldn't get my head around why. In the scheme of things, I was no one. Plenty of people in Dusk Bay were more influential, more important than I was.
"I've been thinking it over," he said slowly. "I haven't come to any conclusions. Like I said, there could be a number of reasons. We need to be careful, keep our eyes and ears open. Sooner or later, they'll reveal themselves. They didn't do all of that for fun."
"Are you sure?" Frost asked. "I mean, people like that might think it's funny. Fucking with us and making us twitchy. It might have been a practice run for something else."
Ramsey turned to face him. "For what?"
Frost shrugged. "I have no idea. Don't tell me it's the strangest thing you've ever heard."
"It's not," Ramsey agreed.
Dallas picked up his head. "Is that a thing? Practising on innocent people before doing something to someone else? Why would they do that?"
"They wouldn't," Ramsey said. "It's not the strangest thing I ever heard, but it doesn't seem feasible to me. Practice yes, but other people are going to behave differently. Our behaviour isn't a perfect indicator of how others might act."
"Unless it was the shooter they were testing," Frost said. "Maybe they wanted to see if he could escape through the crowds."
"Slightly more plausible, but I still don't buy it," Ramsey said. "Whatever this was, it was about us." After a moment he added, "Or Sadie."
She'd gone to stay with her parents for a few days, to get out of the city. I thought she was safe until he said that.
I sat bolt upright, almost knocking Dallas aside.
"Are you sure this isn't about her?" I asked. "What if they wanted her to leave Dusk Bay? She might be vulnerable where she is."
"Is she?" Ramsey asked, his gaze steady on mine.
I stared back at him for a moment before sinking down to the couch again. "She shouldn't be. Her parents’ place is a virtual fortress. She's safer there than she is anywhere." Unless someone staged a full on assault, then she should be fine.
"That brings it back to this being about us," he concluded. "I think Frost is right."
"Frost is always right," Frost said.
"Frost is always a smart ass," Storm said.
"Thank you for saying I'm smart." Frost blew him a kiss. "Now, what am I right about this time?"
"The mansion," Ramsey said. "All of us moving in together. As we are, we're scattered. That makes us vulnerable. Every little crack we give them, they can pry open."
"We could buy the place directly under us and put a staircase all the way through," Storm suggested.
"That would take forever," Atlas said.
"It would be epic though," Jay said. “We could put in a water-slide.” He glanced over at Atlas with a smile before returning his attention to slicing cucumber.
"Definitely." Atlas nodded at him. "But construction would take months and cost a fortune. By then, it could all be too…" He pressed his lips together.
"You were going to say too late." Jay's smile was gone now. Replaced with a look of despair, bordering on fear. He tried to keep it contained, but it was still evident.
