Vanish by Sophie Jordan Page B

head in beat with my thundering heart: He kept his promise. He came for me.
    Unable to help myself, I start to look over my shoulder, but Cassian’s voice stops me. “Don’t look back, Jacinda.”
    I force my gaze forward. He’s right. The fact that Will remembers and came for me changes nothing. I can’t go with him. I won’t let my heart overrule logic. Nothing has changed. We’re a dangerous combination. Like fire and oil.
    Cassian says nothing else until we reach my house. “Where’s your mother?” he asks.
    I motion for him to wait as I go check on Mom. She’s asleep with the television on in her room, her features relaxed in a way I never see anymore. I quietly ease past the bed and turn off the TV. Closing her door, I return to where Cassian paces the living room.
    His liquid-dark gaze cuts to me. “How did he find—”
    “I’m sure it was simple luck. He got too close to the township and patrol picked him up,” I quickly insert, not wanting him to realize that Will might be resistant to shading.
    He shoots me an exasperated look. “Jacinda, he’s no innocent hiker.”
    “Yeah. I know.” I fold my arms across my chest. “He’s a hunter.” A heavy silence stretches as I stare at him. “So why didn’t you say anything?”
    “How do you know I won’t?”
    “Will you?”
    He sets his jaw at a stubborn angle, like he wants to say yes, but then he blows out a deep breath and briefly looks away, and I can’t tell whether he’s angrier with me or himself.
    “So you can hate me? So I can watch them kill him? I would get no satisfaction in that.”
    I can only stare, no longer so surprised that Cassian might truly care for me . Me and not simply what I am. He’s not my enemy. I believe he wants to help me. Why else would he bother protecting a boy I shouldn’t even care about?
    “You have to let him go, Jacinda.”
    I nod, but the motion is painful, makes my temples throb. “I know.”
    “But he needs to know that,” he says, his voice heavy with meaning.
    I meet his gaze, understanding dawning slowly. “You want me to speak with him?”
    “Once he’s a good distance from the pride, you need to confront him and explain to him that it’s over between the two of you. I know he might be confused after being shaded, but you need to get through to him.”
    I can’t look at him just then, not with what I suspect—that Will can’t be shaded. Would Cassian be as willing to let him go if he thought that?
    Cassian steps closer and turns my chin to look at him. “Tell him to convince his family that this area is dry. That there aren’t any draki here anymore. We’ve moved on. They’ll listen to him.” The implication hangs there unsaid. They’ll listen to him because of the blood. Because he’s connected to us . Cassian lowers his face so close I can feel his breath on my cheek, and the memory of our kiss intrudes. If that isn’t enough to make me recoil, then his next words are. “If I see him here again, I won’t hide the truth anymore—whether you hate me for it or not. I won’t protect him again. Understand?”
    I nod, a lump clogging my throat.
    “C’mon.” He opens the front door to the misty night.
    “Where are we going?” I ask.
    “They’ll probably drop him in the usual spot. I want you waiting for him when he comes out.”

Chapter 11
    I sip silent breaths from where I hide in a tree, the bark a rough scratch on my bare legs, needles poking me on all sides as I stare down at the spot where intruders who’ve been shaded are always dropped. It’s not far from the public road that carves deep into the mountain, the only official road this high. My heart still thunders in my ears from my mad dash to get here first.
    The patrol moves quietly through the woods, but even so, I hear their slight rustling as they approach. Ludo breaks through the trees with Will slung over his shoulder, Remy right behind him. Wincing, I watch as Ludo drops Will unceremoniously to the hard