1
THE SEED
Ithought the story was over. We vanquished a fallen angel. We bested a wicked immortal. We broke a centuries-old curse, and in so doing, the strange world that exists on the other side of ours kicked us out and slammed the doors shut.
Except, here’s a door now.
Flickering in the woods.
Very much open.
Two seconds ago, I watched a furry creature with lavender fur and eyes like full moons hop through it.
My phone buzzes in my hand.
A constant stream of buzzing.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Because apparently, the strange creature and the flickering doorway aren’t the only oddities cropping up in Foggy Hollow today. I stare at my phone screen, alight with a slew of text messages. All of them slightly different iterations of the same thing.
Lainey Sikes has been found.
Lainey Sikes is alive.
“Impossible,” I mutter, my breath escaping in a tiny, frozen cloud.
Lainey Sikes can’t be alive.
I saw her erupt into flame. I watched her combust. As soon as that tentacled creature from the deep yanked her through the rift, into that frightening world, Lainey’s body detonated. There was nothing left but ember and ash. Over the past week, the memory of her face twisting in horror, the wings of her costume glistening in the glow of Dante’s comet right before she disintegrated has become a twisted vignette in my mind. A macabre visual that insists upon playing whenever I close my eyes and try to sleep at night.
And yet, my phone keeps buzzing.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Lainey has been found.
Lainey is alive.
And another rift is open, undulating before me now, a hypnotic throb of light beckoning me closer, as though it’s been waiting just for me, right here, in this shallow gully deep in the woods of the Vandenberg estate.
My breath fogs the air as I draw nearer and reach out my hand.
The X-Files theme song rings through the silence.
The jarring melody brings me to an abrupt halt.
With a strangled breath, I answer Twig’s call.
“Selah?” he says in my ear. “Did you get my texts? Have you seen the news?”
