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To the left was a wall of pamphlets advertising different venues and attractions of which I’d never heard of. Off to the right was where the group had gathered. A map unlike any I’d ever seen before was the culprit behind the glow.
The thing was huge. CITY OF GOETIA was displayed at the top of it.
“I guess that means we aren’t looking for a person,” Grace said, peering at the digitalized image from over my shoulder.
Maverick glanced back and waved us forward. We moved closer, our eyes taking in all the vivid features. I found where we would be by spotting a cluster of green dots.
“Our names are listed at the top,” Abby’s friend pointed out.
Dragging my gaze to the upper corner, I skimmed down the list, stepping around her so that I could get a better look.
I had to stand next to Ciaran in order to do so, but this situation went beyond any issue I had with him.
Seeing each of our official names displayed? That certified this wasn’t random.
He and his friends. Me and mine. Selena. Abby. I didn’t know who went with whom outside of that.
Two were crossed out altogether, a dark red line going straight through them.
“You think that’s the people who didn’t make it off the shuttle?” Mel asked.
“I would say so,” Maverick replied.
“There’s a name missing. Three should be crossed out in total,” Selena said.
Charon shook his head. “Not if the driver isn’t dead.”
“Your brother said he was,” Gracelyn reminded him.
“I said he didn’t get up and walk away. Translation being, someone took him. Be careful how you interpret things, Gracie.”
Her lips slightly puckered at the play up of her name, but she didn’t comment on it.
“If anyone was wondering, I’m Margo,” the older woman who’d fought with her cigarette helpfully divulged. With flaxen hair in a single braid that hung down her back and a grungy outfit, that was not what I would have guessed her name to be.
I imagined she had a Harley stored in her garage—that’s the vibe she gave off.
“This is my aunt, Susan.” She touched the arm of the other older woman.
Her sleek gray bob could’ve given my abuela’s a run for its money.
I nodded and offered them both a quick smile, introducing me and the girls before glancing back at the list. The only names left to put with a face were self-explanatory. Leonard had to be Mr. Authority. Heather was the chick with glasses.
“None of our last names are on there,” Mel pointed out.
“Maybe they didn’t know them? Or they were irrelevant?” As I was saying this, I realized that made almost no sense. If whoever did this was savvy enough to pull off everything they had thus far, I’m sure listing our full names wouldn’t have been too hard a task. I sighed, chewing the inside of my bottom lip.
“I dunno, guys. Does anyone here know each other from somewhere else?”
Shared glances went around the group, not one person claiming that they did.
“How would someone know exactly who was on the shuttle?” Gracelyn pondered out loud.
“I don’t think that information would be too hard to find.”
“That’s the curse of the internet,” Susan stated matter-of-factly. She was older, so I’d let her have that.
“You’re still not doing what was asked of you,” Kyrous implied. He addressed us as a whole, but his eyes were settled on Grace.
She noticed, meeting his gaze head-on. “Which is?”
“We were told to suspend reality. So, stop trying to figure this out logically, and suspend reality.”
They had a stare-off for all of five seconds, Grace being the first to look away.
“You see the black dots?” Ciaran asked me quietly—specifically, as if we were the only two people in the room.
I sought out what he was referring to, walking the path with my eyes once I spotted them. It reminded me of the old treasure maps restaurants gave kids to keep them entertained. You had to follow the X’s to claim the loot. Only, in place of riches this led to something called Blight House. The name flashing consistently cemented the fact that it was where we needed to go.
Visually, it didn’t appear to be that far away. Realistically, I’m sure it was much further. Looking at the image in its entirety, Goetia was huge. There was a massive wall or something that divided it unevenly, though, leaving a rather large portion of the map dimmed.
“This Blight House place seems simple enough to get to. We just need to keep going straight.”
“No argument? Are we making progress already?” he questioned with a partial grin, letting me know he was joking.
I planted a hand on my hip and half-shrugged. “I thought I’d ‘suspend reality’ and stop being so emotional.”
“I didn’t say anything about not being emotional. On the contrary, a little fear might do you some good.”
