Sydney agreed it would be for the best if Kaden did want to go home with her, but that they'd have to send a social worker around with an officer – probably her – tomorrow to follow everything up. There was a little more paperwork to fill out before he could be released to her but she'd get that started now, and by the way, did her mother still make that terrific cherries jubilee?
When Kaden was a kid his mom taught him how to steal, and she’d taught him how to run. Drilled the way home into him so when they split up at whichever shop she was hitting she wouldn’t worry about him getting lost. And he never did get lost, either. He knew how to run and he knew where to run to. Even after she'd died, he'd always known where to run back to.
As Kaden sat curled up on the couch, cheek resting against the back because the energy to support his own head was long gone, he thought about how he should have run last night. Forget Blueberry and forget lingering in parks trying to decide what to do – he should have started running and he shouldn’t have stopped till he couldn’t run any further.
But there was nowhere to run to anymore. Even before the cops caught him, he’d known he couldn’t go back to the Hole, he’d just end up living in the gutters under the noses of gods who wanted him dead. Even though Hecate had offered him a safe place, Kaden couldn’t crawl back under the burden of that guilt; he already taken too much from her. As far as options went, New York was as dead as the rest.
Even before the cops caught him he knew Burlington was out, too. Everything with Marcie was destroyed. He should have run while he’d had the chance, because now they were going to lock him up. He was going to end up in a juvenile detention centre till he was eighteen. He’d thought he’d lost everything last night but turned out he’d still had his freedom, still had the tiniest say over what he did with his life over the next couple of years. But now. Now he had nothing.
Briefly he thought about what he might have been able to achieve if he’d actually hit the cop on purpose. He might have been able to break her grip and get away. And just... add her onto the list of people he’d hurt...
Kaden sniffed hard and wiped his nose on his sleep, and in turning his head slightly, saw Marcie walking across the station toward the office.
He froze completely. What was she doing here??
She was here to – to throw him the last of his things. She was here to drop off a bag and say good luck for the rest of his life behind bars while she moved on with hers. She was – she was – opening the door. Staring at her in apprehension, Kaden pushed himself a little straighter on the couch, and tried to brace himself for what she was about to say, and just how much more it could all hurt.