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And maybe, I thought, where I hit Thayer… and he killed me.
Emma drove higher into the foothills, the Catalina Mountains shimmering red in the setting sun. The road twisted, and Emma gripped the steering wheel to navigate the turns. The farther north they went, the bigger and grander the houses became. The sky darkened as they passed a luxury strip mall consisting of a wine shop, a Pilates studio, and a bunch of real-estate agencies, another marker for a trailhead, and dozens of Southwest-style mansions tucked into the rocks.
“Hey, is that the street?” Emma interrupted, pointing to a yellow-and-green painted sign marked LEGENDS ROAD.
“Looks like it,” Ethan said, squinting into the semidarkness.
Emma turned onto the road and almost hit a roadrunner that darted across the lane. Desert brush lined the side of the pavement and Emma steered the car around a rock that must have fall en from the bordering cliffs.
“We have to find somewhere secluded to park,” she explained, looking for a good spot on the shoulder. “Mads says we can’t park in front of the house—that’ll tip off the police that we’re throwing a party there.” But she didn’t want to park just anywhere, either—Sutton’s car had been impounded, partly, for unpaid traffic violations. All she needed was Detective Quinlan finding yet another reason to drag her down to the station.
The road zigged and zagged, the land barren on either side of them. “There aren’t any other houses here?” Emma said aloud.
“Strange.” Ethan glanced out the window at a tangled tree branch that reached like fingers toward the windshield.
“Maybe whoever had this place owned the surrounding land, too. It’s one way to guarantee the view.” Emma drove another half mile before a towering white stone mansion came into sight. Oval arches shot high into the evening sky, and immaculate black shutters framed wide, ill uminated windows. A massive balcony jutted from the side of the house and soared over a cliff that dropped at least one hundred feet to a rocky bottom. A FOR SALE
sign was tipped over in the front lawn, long abandoned. The circular driveway was empty. So was the road around it.
“It’s gorgeous,” Emma breathed, pulling over. “But where are the other girls’ cars? They should have been here by now to set up.” She checked her watch. She was late—it was almost 9:30.
“Maybe there’s another route around the back? Or maybe they parked even farther away to avoid suspicion.” Ethan unbuckled his seat belt and they both got out of the car.
A silver slice of moon hung high in the sky. A gust of wind whistled between the rocks and tossed Emma’s hair across her shoulders. She followed Ethan along crooked stone steps embedded into a small hill that led to the house.
They climbed along the final yards of the path and onto a smooth porch made of solid granite. Ethan’s knuckles pounded the front door. He glanced at Emma while they waited and angled his ear close to the door. “Weird. I don’t hear anyone inside,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “No music, no nothing.”
Emma knocked again. “hello?” she called. When no one answered, she tried the golden knob and pushed against the oak. The door swung open, revealing a double staircase that circled upstairs to an open-air second level.
An unlit crystal chandelier hung in the foyer. Bright stars were visible through massive skylights. A grandfather clock in the far right corner of the entranceway was the only visible fixture—otherwise, the house was completely empty.
“hello?” Emma called again. The girls should have been here already. Her voice echoed through the empty house. In the dim moonlight, she could see cobwebs glistening in the corners. She turned to glance at Ethan.
“Maybe they’re not here yet?”
“Maybe?” Ethan stepped back and gazed up the stairs.
Thwap.
Emma and Ethan wheeled around. The front door had slammed behind them.
Emma ran to the door and tried the knob. It wouldn’t budge. “Who’s there?” she cried. Something electric snapped along her body. There was no window facing out onto the front porch, so she couldn’t tell who’d just shut them inside.
Ethan yanked Emma closer to him. Scraaaaatch. A sound like fingernails down a windowpane echoed through the air. “What is that?” Emma screeched.
“Someone’s outside,” Ethan said. He pulled at the doorknob again, but it still wouldn’t give. “Who’s there?” he boomed. “Let us out!”
“Oh my God,” Emma whispered into Ethan’s chest, gripping the sides of his shirt. “What if it’s Thayer? What if he got out of jail early and followed us?” A sinister feeling passed through my weightless form as a horrible idea occurred to me. Maybe it was Thayer.
What if he’d found out that Emma had called his old hospital and was coming to shut her up for good?
“I won’t let him hurt you,” Ethan said, hugging Emma tight. “I promise.”
Another groan sounded from outside. Then there were scraping sounds, like someone was trying to get in. “We have to hide, Ethan!” Emma screamed, looking around at the bare rooms, the blank walls. She grabbed his hand and started up the stairs, but her heel caught on the first riser.
She tumbled into Ethan, and he caught her around the waist. Another thud sounded from outside. More horrible scratches. A shadow passed across the back wall. And then, a scream.
Emma answered with a shriek, but when a second scream came, she stood up straighter. That wasn’t a guy’s voice, but the high-pitched wail of a girl. Giggles sounded from outside. And suddenly, Emma smelled the distinct fragrance of Chanel Chance.
