Perilous

Chapter Ten

Perilous

Chapter Ten

Cammie POV

"I'm falling in love with her."

"You're what!?"

"Hey," I pointed a finger at him. "You said you wouldn't freak out."

Jonas shook his head. "Right, sorry." He then lowered his voice to a whisper. "You what?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Jonas,"

"I'm sorry but why? Dude, she has killed people. She's rude, she's violent, she-"

I threw my hands up. "So what? We've killed people, we've been rude, we've been violent. We're no different."

"Even so, she's-"

He continued to go on about every little thing that was wrong about her. Every little flaw, every little imperfection.

My anger only grew as time went on.

And finally, I snapped.

"You don't know her!"

Jonas was stunned to silence. But I wasn't done.

"Do you want to know what Catherine did to her? Every month or so, she would tie her up, throw her in the back of a van, and drive out into the woods. There was a wolf den there, and she would force her to fight them. She had to survive wolves, Jonas. She wasn't even ten years old! She was put through hours of merciless training almost daily, and she was tortured not only for her mess-ups but mine too! She was kept underground 95% of the time until she was sixteen, Jonas. Sixteen! She was forced to kill animals in order to train her to kill humans. Cats, dogs, birds, wolves, bears. She had to execute them, and she hated it. And the night she was taken, her father was murdered right in front of her. She didn't ask for this! She didn't ask to be raised this way! So why are you surprised? She murders because she has to. She's 'rude' because she hasn't been around normal people since she was eight years old. She's 'violent' because she doesn't trust anyone."

I was fuming. My fists clenched and unclenched as my nails dug into my palms. My breaths were quick and hard. Red spots clouded my vision.

"She cries in my arms every time she regains some of her memories, Jonas. She can hardly sleep, so instead, she sits out on a cold balcony looking at the only pieces of her past that are good and happy. And you know what those are? Jackets and hoodies that I gave her to keep out the cold of her cell. Those are music records and souvenirs I bought her to give her a piece of the outside world. Those are pictures I took for her, and food I brought her, and bloody bandages that saved each of our lives. I am all she has, Jonas. So don't give me any bullshit about what a merciless murderer she is. You don't know her. You don't see the pain and the loneliness in her eyes. You don't see her worry and anger every time she sees an actual killer with children. You don't see her shaking and staring into space when she falls into the painful void of her consciousness."

I shook my head, fighting the tears in my eyes. "So don't talk about her that way."

Jonas stared at me with wide eyes. I could see the gears turning in his head. "I- I don't know what to sa-"

"Thank God! There you two are!" Suddenly Macey was bounding through the door to the roof, fighting for her balance.

"What's going on?" I was the first to recover.