Rafe continues his taunting as I reach the chair. Very carefully, I step onto it. I join Lainey, who is hysterical and heartbroken and making that ruby glow brighter by the second. With urgent, fumbling hands, I manage to remove the rope from around her neck and take her gently by her shoulders. “Lainey, please calm down.”
But she only shakes her head and cries harder, her entire body wracked with sobs.
“Please, it’s going to be okay.”
“No it’s not!” she wails.
The chandelier trembles.
Jude and Rafe prowl in a circle, drawing closer.
Settle down, I want to shout.Everyone needs to settle down.
But the words are trapped.
And Rafe is relentless. “You killed your mother the day you were born,” he says.
Jude’s hands curl into fists.
Fury burns in his eyes.
“How long until Selah ends up in a body bag, too?”
Jude lunges.
He tackles Rafe into the piano.
Lainey screams as the keys ring out a discordant tone.
I grab her by the arm and pull her to the ground as Rafe recovers. He rams his shoulder into Jude’s chest. They crash into Lainey’s chair. Jude throws a punch and connects with Rafe’s jaw.
He staggers, a trickle of blood running downthe corner of his mouth. He wipes at it with a sinister smile, then he picks up a nearby music stand and swings it at Jude’s head.
Terror grabs me by the throat as Jude blocks it with his forearm and tackles Rafe to the ground. Fists fly. Lainey screams. And I’m shouting, too—for somebody to come, for somebody to help.
The doors burst open.
People rush inside.
Isabel.
Mayor Ridley.
Twig.
Mr. Calloway.
He wrenches Rafe and Jude apart as Isabel shrieks, and the ground begins to shake. The crystals in the chandelier chatter like tiny glass teeth.
Shouts erupt in the ballroom.
An earthquake!
Pandemonium ensues as guests run for cover.
But I can’t move.
I stand by the fireplace, watching the spot where Lainey once stood. The air starts to shimmer—a thin ribbon of ghostly light that crackles and sparks. The tremble turns into a violent quake. The chandelier sways. A candelabra crashes to my feet. Slowly, the ribbon grows, longer and wider, until it splits into a gaping, swirling wound.
