Vorat has gotten his two more.
Their job is done.
The only missing piece is me.
50
HATCHING A PLAN
Twig sits on the edge of the sectional with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped, his head bowed. Naomi sits beside him, her palm resting gently on his shoulder while I pace back and forth.
We are holding our proverbial breath, listening to the conversation upstairs while we wait for Harper and Jude to arrive. Jake’s partner wants to know more about Lainey Sikes and Griffin Tate, the last people to speak with Harrison and Kate before their phones pinged in the woods, then fell off the radar completely.
“They had some sort of falling out,” Mrs. Calloway says. “I think it had something to do with the way Lainey left town on the night ofHalloween. Their friendship hasn’t been the same since she returned. Usually Kate opens up to me about things like this, but she really didn’t want to talk about it.”
There’s a beat of silence.
All that can be heard is the creak of Mrs. Calloway’s restless footsteps.
Finally she asks, “You don’t think Lainey has anything to do with this, do you?”
“We’re just trying to get a sense of the situation, ma’am,” the officer replies.
I don’t know if I believe him.
By now, isn’t Lainey at least a person of interest?
She was one of the first girls to go missing. But then she returned—the only one to do so. She also witnessed the presumed death of Brady Keller and Caleb Briggs, whose bodies have yet to be found. And now this. Lainey is in the story once again. One of the last people to speak with Harrison and Kate.
But even if authorities are starting to grow suspicious, so what?
They’ll never believe the truth.
“I don’t understand.” Twig shoves his fingers under his glasses and rubs his eyes. “They didn’t leave Hollowed Grounds together. The barista saw them get into separate cars. Kate wouldn’t havefollowed them into the woods. She wouldn’t have followed them anywhere. She knew to stay away from Lainey and Griffin.”
“Maybe she was coerced,” Naomi says, her hand still on Twig’s shoulder. “Or compelled. Manipulated in some way. Isn’t that what Rafe did to Lainey? Maybe they did something similar to Kate and Harrison.”
The doorbell rings.
Harper joins us.
Shortly after, Jude arrives.
By then, two news vans have parked outside.
“It’s like they smell blood in the water,” he says, taking a seat on the end of the sectional.
I stop pacing. “We can’t sit on this anymore. It’s time for us to move. We need to get Kate out of there. We need to save all of them.”
Harper looks stricken. “How?”
“I found a rift. It’s right by the Water Garden.”
“Which we’re forbidden to go near,” Naomi says. “Not to mention, it’ll be crawling with the police and the FBI.”
“We could go under the cover of darkness,” Twig suggests. “And if the police haven’t left by then, we could cause some sort of diversion.”
Naomi frowns.
