A Shade of Vampire 28: A Touch of Truth by Bella Forrest Page B

you that we should do this. If we refuse, she might wander off by herself and then…”
    His voice trailed off.
    “And then what ?” Maura asked.
    “We’ll never know what could have been,” Orlando finished.
    I waited with bated breath for Maura to respond.
    “Okay,” she said, eventually, in a voice so soft I barely heard it. “If this is what you want… then okay.”
    “I know we’d regret it if we didn’t,” Orlando said, sounding relieved.
    “When would we leave?” Maura asked, tentative.
    “I don’t know. We need to talk to her.”
    As I heard them begin to make their way back to the skylight, I left the ladder and hurried back into bed. It would’ve been awkward if they’d thought I had just listened to the whole conversation. I quickly pulled the blanket over me and turned my back on them just before they climbed down the ladder and returned to the loft.
    I sensed their gazes fall on me and slowly, I stretched out, allowing them to see me awake. Orlando was the first to catch my eye. Based on his expression, he seemed to already suspect that I had overheard everything.
    Maura turned away and headed into the bathroom, leaving her brother and me alone.
    “She agreed,” he said, “in case you didn’t hear.” What I had sensed in Orlando’s voice just now when he’d been talking to his sister up on the roof—life, a spark of passion—I now saw in his eyes as he continued: “If we’re going to attempt this, then we should do it sooner rather than later. We ought to leave as soon as possible, right?”
    “Right,” I said. I nodded firmly, even as a chill ran down my spine.

Grace
    W e began preparing to leave . Not knowing where everything was in their loft, I felt rather useless as I sat in one corner, watching while the two siblings went about pulling items from shelves and rummaging through their possessions. They gathered together three generously sized backpacks and started filling them up with food and water, followed by some clothes. They packed only one set of clothes for each of us, along with some waterproof overalls. I put on the warmest items from my outfit now, anticipating stepping outside. Next came the weapons: knives, guns and ammunition. These took up most of the backpacks’ space.
    “Oh, and matches,” I said, “We need matches, or lighters—or both. Bring as many of those as you have.”
    Orlando grunted an agreement before heading to the chest of drawers and emptying it of about ten lighters and six boxes of matches. I only needed a single spark to brew up a fire, so what he had should be more than enough.
    “Make sure you put the matches in a waterproof container,” Maura said. She moved to the other side of the room and brought back three sturdy plastic boxes. “Put anything else that’s water-sensitive in there too,” she advised her brother. “Chances are we’ll get soaked at some point.”
    Once the bags had been filled up, Orlando handed one to me. The siblings strapped their belts around their waists.
    “We don’t have a spare one of these,” Orlando explained, gesturing to his belt, “so you’ll just have to borrow mine. Like we did before.”
    I nodded, feeling queasy at the thought of having to zipline again.
    “Now, we’re almost done,” Orlando muttered. “We need a map.” He reached into a drawer and pulled out a map of Chicago. He planted it down on the table and spread it out. Maura and I peered over his shoulder. His finger traced from our current location to Lake Michigan. “The fence is supposed to run all the way along here,” he said, continuing to glide his finger. “And there are posts, manned by IBSI members.”
    “Who are armed,” Maura added, as if that would not have been obvious to me.
    I sucked in a breath. Okay… Each of us stared at the map a few moments longer before Orlando folded it up and stuffed it into one of the waterproof boxes, where it would stay safe and dry. Then he picked up the blade-wheel and its