“She was thinking about marrying Liz off too. Just like she did with me.” My chest trembles. I’ve never said this out loud, too afraid she’d somehow come out of nowhere and make it real. “She wanted to control Liz’s life so she could keep controlling mine.”
My vision blurs, wet gasps coming up my throat.
“Oh God, I don’t know how we got out. I don’t know.”
Why won’t this stupid knot give?
Warm hands close around my wrists, stopping my movements. I look up at Dominic. His face is calm, almost solemn, but there’s a fury in his eyes I’ve rarely seen. He’s keeping it contained, though.
He takes the bag from me, loosens the knot without a word, and places it back in my hands. Then he brushes a strand of hair from my face and presses a soft kiss to the corner of my lips. My tears have already stopped.
“She’s dead. She’s not coming back, adorable,” he murmurs. “Liz is safe. You’re safe. Do what you need to do.”
In silence, I turn and empty the ashes into the pit. Not a single gust of wind stirs to take even one grain of ash away. The world doesn’t want any part of her.
I drop the bag after and watch it float down into the hole, Bowie’s enraged howl rising to meet it.
Dominic’s arm wraps around my shoulders. I lean into him, exhaling as the tension finally begins to leave my body.
“Bones and the others are standing by,” I murmur after a few minutes. “They’re ready to pull him out for you, if you’re ready.” I tilt my head slightly, looking up at him. “You can do it another day if you want.”
His grip tightens.
“He dies today.”
The certainty in his voice settles something deep inside me. It’s another drop of peace in a cup that’s been filling with it for weeks.
I nod, then turn into him and press a soft, brief kiss to his lips.
“I’ll be at the cabin when you’re done.”
The spirit is free.
The moment I send that text, my phone rings, inviting me to a video call. Liz’s face appears on the screen, blonde hair messy, the hazel eyes we share wide and wild.
“Addie,” she gasps, almost breathless, “is it real? It can’t be real. Please tell me it’s real.”
She’s curled into a big chair, hunched over the screen, her face twisted with disbelief and prayer.
“It’s true,” I whisper, barely holding back my tears. “They’re all gone, Lizzie. Mom. Dad. Bowie. All of them.”
I haven’t seen her like this in so many years. When she left, we agreed to stick to texts. I insisted on it, and she thought I was being too paranoid. But monsters do that to you. They make you paranoid. The truth is, I didn’t want her getting homesick every time she saw my face. I wanted distance. The kind that would let her live her life without thinking about me too much.
“How? How?” She stutters over the words, just like she used to when she was little and I’d entertain her with some cheap magic trick. It makes me smile.
“Do you remember Dominic?” I ask carefully.
She met him when we were dating, and she liked him a lot. When our mother threatened her with a gun to make me do what she wanted, Liz was too young and too scared to connect it to him. But, of course, our mother took care of that small oversight. I caught her gleefully telling Liz all the sordid details while she was still in middle school. It left her with new nightmares on top of her usual ones.
She pales, her skin going white as snow. Her lips part.
“Did he find you?” she asks quietly.
Then she leans closer to the screen, voice suddenly urgent. “Addie, do you need help? Did he do something to you?”
Her eyes dart over the screen, searching my surroundings, checking for bruises, bars, anything.
“No,” I reassure her, keeping my voice calm. “He didn’t do anything to me.” Nothing she’ll ever need to know about, anyway. “He’s actually the one who got rid of everyone.” I pause, gathering my nerve. “And we’re dating.”
