Mind Games - Page 236

“Water bottle there. Drink some.”

“In a minute. I have to text home.”

“I texted Rem and Lucy the minute I saw you come out. Kick back. Close your eyes.”

She did just that while he gave her the quiet.

“You haven’t asked what happened.”

“You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

“I … I broke his mind. I pushed and pushed until—”

“Thea.” He reached for her hand, held on to it. “His mind was already broken.”

“I smashed what was left of it. I knew he’d make all the wrong choices, all the wrong moves. I took him through points in his life where he could’ve chosen differently, but he didn’t. I knew he wouldn’t. And each time I hurt him, made him feel the pain, made him face the consequences until his mind couldn’t cope.”

Laying her hand over the watch—For All Time—she opened her eyes.

“He had a stroke, and I locked what’s left of his mind inside that cell, behind that blue door. He won’t come back from it, escape from it. Wherever they take him, his mind’s trapped there inside that cell, with no gift to lift it out because I stripped it away.”

“Good.”

“Ty.”

“Stop. I’ll give you two minutes to feel guilty, and I’m saying you’ve used those up already. So no more, Thea. He’s an evil son of a bitch, a sick, evil son of a bitch. You helped put him in prison, where he belongs, but that didn’t stop him from coming after you. So you did. You stopped him. Now his mind’s in prison, where it fucking belongs.”

He let out a breath, shook his head in wonder. “I admire the living hell out of you.”

“Oh God.”

“What number am I thinking of?”

“Ty—”

“Come on. Show me your stuff.”

She feared to, feared to find herself empty. But he took her hand again. Took her hand, and smiled at her.

Her quick sob ended on a laugh. “Trick question. C major diminished seventh isn’t a number.”

“Just can’t fool you. What you have helped you protect yourself. Your spine did the rest.”

He glanced over. “Better.”

“Yeah, or starting to get there.”

“Good. I hope I have a way to help you cross the finish line. We’re going to take a little detour.”

“Oh, but—”

“Do me a favor. I had a lot of time to think about this detour, find a place. I texted Lucy earlier, let her know we’d take the long way home.”

He pulled off the highway, took some back roads. When he pulled up, she stared straight ahead.

“A playground?”

“Hey, got the mountains, a nice water view over that way. Pretty quiet, too, this time of day. And a picnic table, since you’re not dressed to go hiking around. Let’s go.”