Lucky and the Killer ✔

Gray Smiled

They sat inside at King's table. No one spoke much for a bit. They all stared down at the wood and its swirled patterns. Everyone felt something else, but they all shared the same room for this girl named Lilly.

"It was him...," Zee said and broke the silence, "at the tracks with Lucky that day. I knew I'd seen him before."

"He's come back for me," Lucky said softly.

"Who?" Bella asked. "Gray?"

Lucky didn't nod or say anything to Bella. She wasn't supposed to know. He'd already started to hurt other people. Whoever Lilly was, she was in danger, too. If she didn't hand herself over to Gray, Lilly was going to die.

"He had someone on the inside," Zee said. "Valerie. She took Bella's place after I...after I had her arrested. She told him I would be alone. She told him which poison we wouldn't be able to cure. How did they even know I was with someone on Earth? How did they know about Lilly?"

King sat silent. All eyes lifted to King except for Bella's. Hers stayed glued to the table, and the only comfort she found was in Felix's tight grip on her shoulder. Zee was not a man she ever wanted to see again.

King wouldn't speak. He wouldn't meet anyone's gaze. He wouldn't even move. He just sat with his blank, blue eyes staring at his gun on the table and his hands resting on his knees.

"I'm going to go," Lucky said.

"The hell you are," King said—finally lifting his head.

"It'll be fine," she said. "I can get the antidote from him. Everyone will be okay then."

"I forbid it," King murmured.

"What are you my keeper now?" Lucky spat.

"No," Zee answered for him, "but I am. You're not going."

"Then you have sentenced her to death," Lucky said and rose from her chair. "I'm not clueless anymore. I can handle this."

"You are clueless," King whispered, "and so was I."

"King...," Lucky said his name quietly as she placed her hands on the back of the chair she'd moved behind. "I've got to do this."

"What?" King yelled. "Do you think you can win him over? Do you think you can grab the antidote and run away? I've killed for him. I...I killed them all, and they weren't...even guilty."

Lucky's eyes shut tight, and inside her mind, she remembered Anna. She could see her face as clearly as she could see his. Anna's blood spilled all over Gray, and he didn't even flinch. Gray had manipulated them all, but why?

"What do you mean?" Bella asked King. "What do you mean they weren't guilty?"

"No!" Lucky yelped. "Please, just pretend you don't know."

"Gray killed everyone on Mezdio and threatened Lucky because she saw. Want to know why she was so terrified when she woke up? That's why. She remembered."

Lucky bit her bottom lip until she drew blood and slapped King across the face. She coughed and cried, and when he looked up at her, his eyes were hollow still. She hit the back of the chair to keep from hitting him again and ran for the door, but this time, King didn't stop her.

"He did what?" Zee asked. "Are you going to go get her?"

King didn't answer. He stood from the table, leaving his gun behind, and walked back down the hallway to his room. Zee rolled his eyes and went for the door.

"Lucky!" he called as he stepped outside. "Where are you?"

Wind rustled through the branches on the trees. Liz's wind-chime played a delicate tune into the air, but he couldn't hear her crying like he usually did. She'd always ran away when things got too hard, but he could always find her—sobbing somewhere in a corner. This time, he didn't hear anything but the wind chime. He whistled.