That matched who she had seen as much as it matched half thedescription of New England, she supposed. “Do you have a hotel room?”
“I’m heading there now.” It was clear she was on foot, and fast. “He just—this scary guy just, just walked up to me, shoved it into my hands, told me to bury it, or burn it, said he was ‘free’ and then walked away?—”
Cringing, Sasha lowered her head, her blonde hair falling in front of her glasses. “Yeah. He told me to bury mine, too.”
“What thefuck,Sash?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are these things? Fuck this. I’m throwing this thing in the trash.”
“I—”
There was afwumfon the other end of the line. Too late. Sidney wasn’t the kind of person to hem and haw and debate the possible courses of actions. Nope, she just charged right ahead, for better or worse. Executive dysfunction was not something she was familiar with. “I want no part of whatever weird online LARP bullshit you’ve gotten me signed up for.”
She snorted in laughter. “I didn’t sign us up for a LARP.” She’d never be forgiven for that one mail-order mystery Christmas gift.
“Uh-huh. Sure.” There was a sound of a door beep from the other side of the line, and the background noise from Sidney’s phone changed. She was indoors. “I’m going to drink everything in my minibar and Venmo you the bill.”
“You make six times my salary, Sid. That’s not fair. You can Venmo me the cost of a bag of peanuts.” She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. But I am going towallowin those goddamn peanuts, Sash. I am going to savor every single fucking one of them.” Her sister laughed, still sounding strained. It was clear the stress of the situation was starting to wear off a little bit, now that the weird cursed-looking book was no longer in her possession. “What the hell was that thing?”
“I don’t know. Someone playing a prank? You don’t have aweird…I don’t know, secret admirer?” Sasha curled a strand of her shoulder-length hair around her finger. It was an old habit of hers, something she’d done ever since she was little whenever she was trying to figure something out. “Some sort of elaborate courting ritual?”
“Sash, nobody talks like that. No wonder you’re still single.” There was a beep of an elevator.
“I’m single because I choose to be. I don’tlikedating.”
“Uh-huh.”
Staring down at the book, the weirdness of what was happening just kept rolling around in her head. It had to be an elaborate prank. Ithadto be. There was no other possible explanation. “You in your hotel room, yet?” she asked her twin.
“Just swiping in now,” Sid responded. “Thanks for staying on the line.”
“Yeah, of course.” She smiled. “Can’t leave your cowardly ass out to dry.”
“I’m not a coward, I just don’t get off on making myself afraid like you do, you sick little wei—” Sidney broke off abruptly.
“Sid? Sid, you still there?” Sasha checked her phone. The call was still connected.
“No, no, no, no,no.”Sidney moaned in fear.
“What is it?” Her own fear rose in response. She was hours away. There was nothing she could do to help. And that uselessness, that agony of not being able to see, to know what was going on, was something she’d never experienced before. “Sidney, talk to me.”
“It’s—it’s here!”
“What’re you talking about?”
Sasha’s phone vibrated. Another photo. Swiping, she checked what it was.
There. On the crisply made hotel bed. Placed there like the staff had put it there during the turndown service, like a featured gift.
The white leather book with the intricate “V” emblazoned on the cover.
Her blood felt like it had run cold. “It’s okay, Sid. There has to be more than one book. It’s—these are fakes.” Sasha forced herself to laugh. “It’s a game. Right? Just somebody playing a prank on us. Mom and Dad probably set us up for some…it’s probably one of those online murder mystery things again, right? They know how much I love true crime shit, and they signed you up for it, too.”
“Fuck you!” Sidney was frantic, her voice cracking. “I don’t want anything to do with this!”
