Echoes

"You tear me apart from the inside out in the best fucking ways possible. You make me kill for you, you make me want to die for you. I'll burn this whole place down to ashes and paint you with them like the muse you are.”

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REVIEW

Would I read this again? Yes No Maybe

Spice Level Legend How spicy is this book?

Tropes	Trigger Warnings
Why choose, Friends to lovers, Enemies to lovers, Forced proximity	Multiple mental illnesses, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault

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SUMMARY

Want to just skip to the spice? I got you - Chapters 7, 16, 17, 22, 28 , 31

This is book 2 of Dance with my Demons. Book one can be found here.

Main Characters

Avery - Abused by her dad her whole life; mom committed suicide when she was 13; Dad allowed one of his friends to rape her; she attempted to kill herself by setting the house on fire but instead, she got saved, and he was in the basement and no one knew, and he died. She was charged with murder, but because she didn’t know he was in the house, she got a lighter sentence and was sent to Lilydale Foundation Center.

Grey - Damon’s right hand man. He has killed some people. Falls for Avery basically the first time he sees her.

Theo - Everyone is scared of him, sits by himself at lunch. Avery sits with him the first day because there’s nowhere else to sit, he lets her, they sit in silence together, and he becomes protective over her.

Damon - Seems to be leading the whole thing even though he is a patient. Has the guards under his thumb, his cousin is the psych doctor, he comes and goes around the place as he wishes because he always gets key cards. 

Paige - Avery’s best friend growing up. Also had a shitty family. Her brother killed her and that’s when Avery thought she’d do whatever she could to get out. Even if it meant dying. Which is why she decided to catch her house on fire.

Margaret - her social worker

Mr. Whittingham - runs the place. Big asshole.

Dr. Christopher Smith - the psych doctor. Damon’s cousin.

Mr. Markel - the doctor on site

Charmaine - teacher 

At the police station, Margaret comes in with some dude Avery doesn’t know - Alexander. He is one of the board members of the Lilydale Foundation. Margaret tells her the Foundation doesn’t want to press charges and will accept her back. But there will be conditions of course. Alexander says right now, they are thinking its suicide so there wouldn’t be a murder charge anyways. 

Back at Lilydale, Grey is punching Damon's wall. He is real pissed off that the police had the audacity to throw Avery at the wall and handcuff her. Damon had to hold him back so he wouldn’t attack a police officer. He’s also mad at Theo, because even though the police were holding him back, why didn’t he do more?

Damon and Grey go pay Arthur a visit. Damon tells Arthur there will be no punishments dished out for this and that Arthur needs to handle the situation carefully. Arthur tells him that just because he struck a deal this time, doesn’t mean it will last forever. They leave and Grey questions Damon about what deal. He said he made a deal with the chairman of the board so that Damon had some leverage. The doors open then and Avery walks inside with police officers. They take her to Whittingham’s office, he asks if she knows the conditions of her stay, she says yes, and he said well I have some of my own. She has to have a psych eval with Christopher tomorrow - if she fails, she’ll be in solitary confinement until Whittingham feels like she’s all better. He also wants her to be a snitch and let him know about any going-ons in the building and tells her to keep away from that crowd she was running with before. If she doesn’t, he’ll make sure they get removed from Lilydale.

After about 3 or 4 hours of sleep, guards wake Avery up, and drag her to the showers. They are super rough with her and tell her she has to clean the shower tiles, with a rag and a bucket of bleach. She already has marks on her wrists from the handcuffs and the bleach makes it burn. Hours later, her hands are raw, and the guard leads her to breakfast. She doesn’t know what to do when she gets in there. Grey is watching her. Theo is watching her. Normally she’d eat with Theo, but remembering what Whittingham said, she doesn’t want to risk getting him in trouble so she just stands by the wall. Then the guard takes her to Christopher's office for her psych eval.

Christopher tells her she isn’t going to fail the psych assessment but he still has to perform it. He does seem like he cares about her and her mental wellbeing but Avery is fucking over it. He asks her if she’s in pain because of her hands. He has the guards take her to Dr. Markel. 

There, Vivian is leaving as Avery is arriving. She has white bandages on her wrists and she looks like she's been crying. She slams past Avery to leave.

Dr. Markel treats her chemical burns and she finds Damon waiting for her in the hall. He says he isn’t done with her yet, but she won’t be dealing with Grey anymore, just Damon. 

Later, Damon tells Grey that Whittingham will probably be trying to get some of the patients on his side to find out what Damon is doing. He thinks that he will probably try to get information out of Avery but Damon says he will make sure she doesn’t talk. He also lets Grey know that Whittingham has been punishing Avery. Even though Grey is adamant that his feelings for her are dead - they aren’t. He’s just hurt and mad. He cares a lot for her and knowing that she is being punished is not making him happy.

At free time, Avery goes into the library and hopes to hide from everyone. She is exhausted and accidentally dozes off, when she wakes up, Theo is right in front of her. He wants to know why she is avoiding him, what happened with the police, and why the fuck her arms have bruises all over them. She asks if he killed Sam and he denies it. Said he wanted to, but that would mean he would get caught and have to leave Avery, and he doesn’t want to do that. She doesn’t admit to why she is avoiding him, but he figures it out. Then they fuck… in the library. Apparently, it's the place to get frisky.

The next morning, the guards collect her again to clean all the toilets. At breakfast, she sits with Theo (fuck Whittingham). That evening she gets summoned to a meeting. Even though Damon had told her she was kicked out of the society for fucking around on Grey, he says they still need her for something so she has to come back. 

Operation Clown is a success - them getting access to the cameras and keeping Lilydale out of them. Operation Ringmaster (still not sure what it is) phase one went well. Phase two will start now. 

Damon tells everyone that Vivian was the one who stole Avery’s file. But the society has dealt with Sam and with Vivian so moving on.

Avery tells them that Whittingham wants her to spy on everyone but also told her to keep away from them so he’s setting her up to fail. Avery makes a comment about how the society framed her for murder which makes Grey pissed. Damon has to pause the meeting so Avery and Grey can talk privately. Grey is mad that she thinks he would frame her, because he might be mad at her but he is still wanting to protect her. She apologizes to Grey and tries to make it right. The meeting continues with more cryptic speech from Damon that doesn’t mean fuckall to us or to Avery (even though we are in Grey’s POV right now, he isn’t elaborating either). 

Next morning, Avery is drug to Whittingham’s office. He wants an update but she has nothing to tell him. He then gives her the very tedious task of alphabetizing boxes of paperwork. Whittingham makes her skip breakfast until a guard comes in and says she has to go to her appointment with Christopher. When they arrive at Christopher’s, he snaps at the guard to stop being so rough with her, that she can walk on her own. For their session today, they’re going to play chess. After seeing Christopher and the doctor, she is sent back to Whittingham’s office. Alexander is there but he doesn’t say anything to her. Whittingham keeps her until late in the evening, making her miss all three meals.

After the guard drops her off, all she wants to do is go to sleep and stop thinking about food, when someone comes into her room. It’s Grey, he brought her food since she missed all meals. He said he noticed, everyone noticed, she was gone, including Theo. Theo never approaches anyone, never talks to anyone, but he approached Grey and Damon at dinner asking if they had seen her. Grey stays for a bit while she eats. She tries to talk to him, explain that she loves Grey, she wants Grey, but she also wants Theo too, and is that so wrong? 

Grey goes to Damon’s room and Damon tells him that as his leader - he wants him to stay away from Avery. As his friend? He hates seeing Grey like this and maybe he should think things through and not make any dumb decisions. Grey asks about his deal and again Damon says he’ll tell him later. But he has other news - the board has selected a new patient and they should be arriving soon. 

The next day, Avery is left in her room. No chores, no tasks, no food, no appointments. Just left there. The guard finally comes and gets her for her evening shower, and while in there, he hands her a bag, telling her she has some belongings. She opens it and there’s only one thing inside - a razor. They want her to hurt herself, or at least, to be caught with it. She doesn’t know what to do. She can’t leave it there for another girl to find. She can’t give it a guard. So she takes it apart - puts the razor in between her butt cheeks, and hands the bag back to the guard and tells him that half of it fell down the drain. When she gets back to her room, she knows they will see the razor is gone and then do a room search. She takes the sole of her shoe out and shoves the razor in there. No sooner than she’s done with that, here they come knocking. Even Whittingham shows up. They tear up her room but don’t find anything. Whittingham tells her she won’t be eating dinner and he needs her really early tomorrow - aka no breakfast. 

She is awoken in the night by Damon in her room. He takes her back to his room, where Grey is, who is surprised to see her. Damon says its time to get this over with - either forgive and fuck or move on. He says they have his blessing, just stop making shit awkward. He gives them an hour, says don’t fuck up my room, and leaves. 

Side note - The name of the place is Lilydale but there are no lilies anywhere - just roses. Which Avery has always found weird. But in Damon’s room - there’s lilies. He also has more things - his room looks more like a dorm room and not a prison cell like Avery’s.

Grey is really mad that she hasn’t gotten to eat - again. Damon has snacks so he gives her some. She tells him about the razor and he takes it and says he’ll take care of it. He is really mad and says he’ll kill Whittingham. She doesn’t want him to do anything that’s going to take him away. He says well they haven’t yet have they? He killed Sam. He killed him because he tried to hurt Avery. 

Avery is confused because Grey was already mad at her when that happened. He said he was mad, still is, but he can’t help how he feels and what she makes him feel. He asks if she is going to give up Theo. She says she can’t, just like she can’t give up Grey. She waits for him to push her away again, but he doesn’t. Instead, he tells her he will do his best not to kill Theo, and to be understanding, because his heart belongs to her. 

Since Theo got to tattoo her, and mark her in his special way, Grey wants to too. But with a knife, and carving. Apparently she digs that because they make up and destroy Damon’s bed. 

Shockingly, he doesn’t care. He makes the guards change his sheets and apparently doesn’t care that his bed is literally broken. 

Avery’s task the next morning is sorting the papers again. Because Whittingham knocked her piles over. She gets escorted to Christopher’s office and then Damon shows up and collects her. Damon takes her to the kitchens to get some food since she hasn’t eaten anything. Afterwards, he takes her back down to the morgue. On the way there, they argue a little back and forth. Almost bantering, except less playful and more mean. 

Grey goes and finds Theo so they can talk. It starts off badly but Theo finally agrees to follow Grey. To the morgue. Grey is trying to tell Theo that he will not murder him because Avery likes him but Theo isn’t making it easy and when he slams Theo against the wall, that’s when Avery and Damon show up.

Grey tells her that he is willing to be civil with Theo, for her. And he wants to invite Theo to the meeting that night. 

Grey and her go to the library during free time where they are cleaning it and getting it ready for their meeting. When they leave, Whittingham is there. He’s obviously not happy that she never came back. Grey and him exchange words and Grey tells him this is over now, and he says we’ll see. Which makes Avery really concerned. 

At the meeting later, Damon says that there’s going to be a lot of changes and he doesn’t think it's going to go well. He says they need to "temporarily pause the grouping system overhaul”, keep watching the cameras, bring the new patient in so he doesn’t cause a ruckus, and if anyone notices Avery missing or being mistreated by the staff, to let Damon or Grey know immediately. 

After the meeting, Grey wants to talk to Theo alone for a minute, then Theo leaves and Grey walks back to Avery. He takes her into one of the aisles and pushes her against a wall. Then he introduces Avery to what a glory hole is (Theo is on the other side). Grey attends to her with his mouth. See… he can share. 

Afterwards, Theo comes in and Grey leaves them so they can talk. She asks Theo if he is ok with this situation - he says he won’t make her choose so if the only way he can have her is to share with Grey, then fine. He’s also annoyed that she has been getting punishments and he’s just now finding out about it. Then we find out why Theo is in there. His sister was in love with two people, they were trying to make her choose, and making her life hell so she killed herself. So Theo killed them and enjoyed every second of it.

Avery tells him that the night she was raped multiple times and had to go to the hospital, the doctors told her she suffered too much trauma and would likely never have kids. It destroyed her because all she dreamt about doing was escaping her father and having her own happy family.

The next day, Christopher comes to get Avery. Back at his office, Alexander and Whittingham are there. Christopher tells her that Alexander and Whittingham wanted to talk to her and Christopher thought it would be a good idea if he sat in. Alexander wants information but Avery is insisting she doesn’t know shit about fuck. Which pisses Whittingham off. He knows she’s been with Damon and Grey but she isn’t talking. 

Alexander says they hired a new psychiatrist and Avery will be under his care now - not Christophers. Alexander continues to question her about the “gang activity” there and she still refuses to say anything. Alexander calls the guards and tells them to put Avery in solitary. The guards drag Avery out of the office even as Christopher tries to (verbally) stop them. Luckily, Damon is in the hallway. He smirks when he sees Alexander there and makes a comment about how they are having a family reunion without him. Then he tells the guards to let go of Avery. They do. Whittingham tries to take control of the situation and Damon tells him to stfu. Alexander tries to step in as well and Damon tells him to fuck off also. He grabs Avery’s arm and walks away. 

He takes Avery to Grey’s room. Damon is feeling things he doesn’t like to feel (well feelings in general he hates). He feels … weird that Avery smiles at him and is appreciative of him saving her. He doesn’t know why exactly he saved her - it felt wrong that she was screaming and being drug away, even though he’s seen it before. He tells himself he did it for Grey.

Damon tells Grey that he made a deal with his father in exchange for Avery to be returned to Lilydale the night she was arrested. He said he asked for Avery back, Christopher to have his workload reduced, and he would give Alexander something he wanted. 

Avery tries to defend Christopher and Damon tells her not to be stupid, it's just an act, and he would know because Christopher is his cousin.

They stay in Grey’s room until free time when Damon goes to the hall, climbs on the table, and starts letting groups out by number. Avery asks Grey if she ever gets to find out the number system and he says he hopes not. She has been upped from group 3 to group 1, while Theo remains in group 5. At free time, she goes with Theo, so he can watch her, while Grey and Damon handle some stuff.

Theo tattoos some more of Avery’s arm. He sees the craving that Grey has made into her thigh and he wants Avery to mark him. He tells her to tattoo her name anywhere on his body and she chooses his hip.

The next morning, she is escorted to Dr. Markel’s office for her tasks. She is there with Vivian and at first it's awkward, but they talk. They both apologize and seem to be agreeing to move past all their shit.

At breakfast, Avery is shocked to see Theo sitting with Grey and Damon. Grey tells Theo he needs Avery at free time, which makes Damon make a comment about not talking about Grey’s sex life while he’s eating. Grey has his hand on Avery’s leg and Theo puts his hand on her other leg. Grey notices her getting flustered that they are both touching her so he tells Theo he should join them for free time. 

And of course …. They have their threesome in the library because that’s where the sex happens in Lilydale.

The next morning, the hall is in a madhouse. Whittingham is in there again and he announces the death of another student - Vivian. He says she took her own life and they found her that morning. Avery tells Damon and Grey that something doesn’t feel right and Damon agrees. 

Avery has to meet with the new psych doctor later. She immediately hates him because he’s a dick. After her session, she meets up with Damon. He says he needs her to come with him. 

They go down to the morgue because Damon wants to see if Vivian is in there. She isn’t. Damon tells Avery that he tried to tell her there are secrets in Lilydale and she doesn't really know what's going on. He seems about to tell her (and us) but they hear footsteps. Damon wants to just meet the guards but Avery wants to hide. Eventually she convinces him to get into a storage closet, and then into a casket, until the guards leave. 

The guards check the room, then leave. Damon wants to wait a little bit until they are done with that side of the building. They’re cramped in there, Avery won’t stop moving, so Damon repositions himself on top of her, but not putting any weight on her. She won’t shut up, they are arguing a bit, he tells her to shut up, she doesn’t listen so … he kisses her. (In his defense, this has worked well for Theo … and in the morgue too).

That night, Grey and Avery are breaking into Whittingham’s office. Avery is acting weird and she finally tells Grey that Damon kissed her. Grey is very conflicted. He loves Damon like a brother but he feels fucking betrayed. He already has to share Avery with Theo but now Damon?

Grey is mad and when some guard comes in and asks them wtf they are doing in Whittinghams office, Grey loses it. And kills him with a letter opener…after cutting off parts of him…

Then he may or may not fuck Avery in the guards blood (he totally does).

Grey goes to Damon’s room and confronts him about kissing Avery. Damon says he’s sorry (very off brand for him) and it won’t happen again. Grey is confused because Damon doesn’t even like her. Damon says nothing. Grey is like wait…you like her now?? Damon doesn’t know how he feels because emotions are difficult for him.

The next day in the library, Grey and Damon are there, waiting to have a meeting at free time. Theo walks in, says Avery is with the new psych doctor, and he’s waiting for her. Christopher comes in and tells Damon “its” happening today, he tried to stop it, but Grey killing the guard in Whittingham’s office was the final straw, and now it’s on. Christopher says he is the one who framed Avery for murder. He was trying to get Avery out of Lilydale before Whittingham could enact his plan. Theo is super confused, Grey is freaking the fuck out. Damon tells Theo that his family owns Lilydale. There’s a contract with the government for “human testing on mentally ill youths for scientific research”. Damon says they’ve managed to stop it for the last few months. Jillian rushes in and says they’ve lost control of the cameras. They can’t see anything now.

Meanwhile, Avery was collected earlier that morning for her appointments - first with Dr. Markel and then with the psych guy. Markel gave her her regular slow-acting painkiller and she thinks nothing of it because it's routine. She heads into Dr. Elsher's office where he basically insinuates that the abuse by her father was her own doing because she didn’t ask for help. Then she starts to feel all woozy. Whittingham comes in and before Avery passes out she hears “take her to the lab”.