Dangerous Territory

Seventeen

Stepping out of Jon's apartment and living through the next few days until the weekend was like going through a time warp.

It felt like absolutely nothing had changed.

Both Jon and Mattheus still didn't pay her any attention while at work, so as to not arouse Tanya's attention, but it still stung a little, especially since she was feeling increasingly isolated from normal society.

All of her acquaintances, including Zoe and Tanya, were involved in some weird stuff and spoke in the equivalent of songs and riddles. She didn't know a single person in the area that she could talk to as a friend.

She had been texting Cameron less and less, peeling off the proverbial wax sheet slowly instead of at once.

Less trauma to the skin. And her heart.

When she went to the SRLP group on Wednesday, she experienced first-hand what news travelling fast meant. She had agreed to Jon's little mission on the Tuesday evening and by Wednesday afternoon, the whole group knew about it.

She didn't appreciate the fact that the whole group knew about her situation, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

She was officially in.

"My mate used to say he was innocent but when I tried to research it, nothing came up."

It was her turn to speak and everybody had already been looking at her, various degrees of excitement on their faces. They looked too happy for people who were in perpetual jeopardy. It was like her problems were the most thrilling thing that had happened to them for a long time.

Purple hair sniffed. "It's the government, duh. Irongate prisoners are meant to fade out of existence."

"I thought as much."

Purple hair looked over at Mitchel, who Mala had long realised was in charge of the university section of the group. It was his job to recruit and to watch. He was studying sociology, an apt choice.

He heard the girl's unspoken request and hummed, clicking his fingers at pink lipstick.

Mala thought it was a damn shame she could hardly remember their names.

Pink lipstick rolled her eyes at his clicking and down to the bag next to her, pulling out a folder and opening it up, "thankfully for you, we know where to look before the websites are pulled down." She slipped a piece of paper out of the casing and handed it over.

Mala looked down and physically gasped as she read it over, "how legit is this?" She asked. "Do you have a verifiable source?"

Mitchel shrugged, "look on the underside and see for yourself."

She did.

It looked like she was going to be paying a visit to Finnigaan Lodz, the man who claimed he knew the real killer in the Ovilio case, and it wasn't Auden.

---

She was meant to be meeting up with her dad for another driving lesson but cancelled it so that she could make the three-hour journey north.

A year ago, there was no way she would have willingly travelled so far on her own but now she had more than one reason to be glad she was doing it alone.

Her scent had changed.

She hadn't even noticed until Jon had commented on it, recognising that she smelt more like the outdoors than ever. It had completely passed her mind that her body had been leeching in Auden's scent from the moment they had touched, entwining them together even when they were apart.