At least the twin glows of the headlights in the distance let me know I wasn’t the only one ready to leave.
But as I drew closer, my footfalls silent on the lush grass, I realized the lights were actually coming from dripping, pale candles. Two figures sat within their flittering glow: Lindsey and Vanessa. Their hands rested on their knees, palms displayed. Lindsey’s right wrist was bound by twine to Vanessa’s left. They had traced a distinct circle around themselves on the dirt road.
I halted in my tracks. If I was playing with a full deck—I hadn’t ruled out the possibility that a few cards were missing—that left two possible scenarios: either Lindsey and Vanessa were pulling a much more sophisticated trick than Grayson’s amateur-hour jump scare, or…
Or Malachi still had worshippers, and my best friend was one of them.
The talismans on my property, the sachet that Bryce’s cat found, the mysterious wounds that Lindsey had been so defensive about, the journal from Miss Maggie…maybe Lindsey’s entanglement in the cult explained everything.
Gulping down the sour panic that crept up my throat, I dared to sneak closer and take refuge behind a pine tree. Lindsey and Vanessa were arguing in harsh whispers and hadn’t noticed me.
“Because you know the Triad is going to be pissed,” Vanessa was saying.
“What should we have done, chain them all in a basement?” Lindsey asked. “They were going to come here no matter what. We couldn’t let them do it alone.”
“We could have at least stopped Nat from coming,” Vanessa said.
Why would they single me out? Why would they want me, specifically, to stay away from the cabin?
“Maybe it’s good that she’s here.” Lindsey scattered a handful of pine needles at the base of the candles. She removed a bundle of dried herbs from her pocket and set it aflame, waving it around and filling the air with a haze of smoke. “Sidestepping that ridiculous blood oath hasn’t worked yet, and we’re running out of time.”
Triad? Blood oath?
I could only hope this was a hokey, harmless society for bored small-town women, one that had nothing to do with Malachi. But the twine on their wrists and the circle in the dirt begged to differ.
“But they might sense her presence,” Vanessa argued.
“If they do, we can handle it,” Lindsey replied.
“They’re getting more powerful, Linds.”
Who were they talking about? The Triad? Was the Triad the leader, or leaders? Was Miss Maggie one of them? Was this Grandma Kerry’s legacy?
It struck me that this could go far deeper than I ever imagined. What if my parents knew about this? What if Kate had been playing coy when I’d asked her about the journal? Now that I’d found out Lindsey and Vanessa’s secret, I feared there was no one I could definitively check off the list of suspects.
“You think I don’t know that?” Lindsey huffed, and then shook her head. “Can we stop? We’re not supposed to fight inside the sacred circle.”
“You’re right.” Vanessa sighed and closed her eyes.
They lifted their arms and bent them at the elbows, revealing marks drawn on the palms of their bound hands: on Lindsey, a dark blot, and on Vanessa, an X. If that dot was blood, then these were indisputably two of the three elements of the Malachian mark.
I dug my fingers into the rough pine tree bark, trying not to panic.
They began chanting in perfect unison.
“Shadowed night and silver moon, hark and heed the Warden’s Rune. By powers of earth, blood, and bone, may our aim be clear and known. Spirits, thy strength in us confirm, that no one here should come to harm. As darkness flees from burning flame, pray let evil stake no claim. By this rite we thus decree: as we will, so mote it be.”
Like a spider’s prey, I was paralyzed, recalling the words that had suddenly appeared on the first page of the journal: By the powers of earth, bone, and blood, proceed we Wardens to our noble work. Runes, magic rituals, sacred circles…In San Solano, those things could never be harmless. In San Solano, they were flashing neon lights that spelled out murderer.
They called themselves the Wardens, and Lindsey and Vanessa’s incantation implied that they didn’t want their friends to get hurt. What about the other people of San Solano? What about someone—say, me, for example—who might unwittingly discover their dark secrets?
That Lindsey even had secrets to discover was a stinging slap in the face. How many sleepovers and cross-country runs and inside jokes had we shared since she fell under the spell of a violent cult?
“I feel a disturbance,” Vanessa said when the chant was over, dropping her voice to a whisper. “It’s Nat. She’s nearby.”
“Do you think she can see us?” Lindsey asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Her Sight is getting clearer.” Vanessa opened her eyes and snapped her head in my direction. “Nat?” she called out.
With a fraught gasp, I ran. I heard rattling as one or both of them scaled the fence. Last year, I would have been able to outrun Lindsey, but she’d gotten so damn fast recently, and inhumanly tireless.
Scratchy underbrush tore at my legs as I ran back through the dense copse of trees toward the cabin. I barreled over the uneven terrain faster than my eyes could see in the moonlight, a swift pursuit at my heels. My toe struck something hard and I took a fall, landing on scattered rocks that scraped my flesh and bruised my limbs.
Through the throbbing pain, I propped up on my elbows to look around. Blinking into the darkness, I found that the rocks were not rocks after all. Decaying fur, empty-eyed skulls, and other unidentifiable bits of animal remains were strewn through the grass.
I lay sprawled across a pile of bones.
NINE
“Shhh!” Lindsey arrived to clamp a hand over my mouth, cutting off my shriek of horror. I scrambled to my feet and struggled to pry her away, but her sinewy arm was unmovable.
“Nat?” Levi yelled. Through the columns of trees, I watched him exit the cabin and jog toward the road, continuing to call my name.
Before I could react, a guttural noise, like a choked garbage disposal, came from the deep woods.
I froze in Lindsey’s clutches, pure dread icing through my veins. I knew the calls of hogs and coyotes. This was unlike anything I’d ever heard, between human and animal.
“They’re here,” Vanessa whispered.
“Go,” Lindsey said. “I’ll catch up.”
Vanessa darted through the darkness, nimbler than a deer and twice as fast. Lindsey released me, trusting me not to scream again.
She produced an herb sachet and a tiny vial of dark liquid from her pocket. Dumping fragrant herbs in her palm, she spilled three drops of the liquid and made a mixture. When she dabbed the sticky paste to my forehead, I jerked away.
“I’m trying to protect you!” she snapped, her eyes sharp in the shadows.
More strangled, animalistic moans traveled through the night. This time, it sounded like two creatures answering each other’s call.
Terror gave me no choice but to capitulate. The paste felt gritty as Lindsey drew on my forehead, each stroke familiar. “When I’m done, run back to the road as fast as you can,” she commanded. “You’ll be safe on the other side of the fence.”