Because I cut last night’s monitoring short, we didn’t have much of any on-paper proof of activity. The spike Jonah and I caught on camera manifested as a simple bump on our data graph.
I was lucky we didn’t have to report to the Guild.
“It’s official,” I claimed. I’d seen it with my own eyes. To the professional hunting world, that wasn’t enough. But here, it could be. It had to be, or else Octavia and everyone else who stepped foot on Elmwood would continue to be in grave danger.
“Shit,” Nico murmured.
“It’s kind of cool, though…” Jonah said in a low voice.
December shook her head. “It’s a potential death sentence for residents. Not cool in the slightest.”
“Sorry…” Jonah’s gaze dipped to his hands. “It’s just…my first five…and?—”
“Wonderfully exciting, we know. But novice hunters like you don’t get cleared to hunt past fours for a reason. Don’t get too caught up in the novelty; that’s how you lose focus.” December set her ice cream on the desk, pushing away the bowl even though it was half full. She opened her laptop; her calmness melted into a fit of nerves and determination.
“Do we know who Octavia pissed off?” Nico booted up his laptop, too, but continued to eat his ice cream.
“No.” I massaged the space between my thumb and index finger, trying to soothe an impending headache. Between last night and setting everything up this morning, I hadn’t kept up with eating and paid the price. My CGM app scolded me earlier, nudging me back on track.
“Do we have a list of potential suspects?” Nico glanced over the top of his laptop.
“No one.” I snatched my hand down and grabbed my water. “She hasn’t pissed anyone off.”
December raised a brow. “I find that hard to believe; this thing tried to kill her.”
I winced; flashes of Octavia coughing up sand blurred my vision. My knee bounced, and my ankle screamed as I tried to keep calm.
You’re Rae. You’re here in this spare room with the people you know best. And you’re working for people who are counting on you to be a Jones. So, be a goddamn Jones.
“Maybe it’s someone else?” Jonah asked. “Wilson…though he seems nice. Or maybe their hand, Esther? She also seemed nice.”
“Could be someone else, sure.” Nico leaned back in his seat, lacing his hands behind his head. “But if someone hurt her ranch hands and then tried to kill Octavia, that’s an escalation we shouldn’t overlook. Cat fives don’t wander around in confusion. They’re that strong because they’re that aware of who they want to target.”
“You should be taking notes on this, rookie,” December murmured to Jonah.
He scrambled to pull out his phone, taking down the note. I scrambled to keep up. They were all talking a mile a minute, making my head spin.
“We have to schedule interviews with everyone who has been on site,” December said. “And then people in town.”
Nico raised a brow. “I don’t think we have time for that. This thing’s been here for months and is escalating. From my experience, it only gets worse after the entity figures out what it can do. I don’t think interviewing dozens of people will get us any closer to figuring out how to subdue it. It’llbe a waste of precious time.”
“And I don’t think we can go in blind and hope to stumble on information about who this thing was before it passed on,” December argued.
Their voices rose, drowning out any chance I had of coming up with a calm, rational thought.
“You really want to sit the whole town down for a good cop, bad cop shtick, and hope they will reveal something to a group of strangers?” Nico asked with a humorless chuckle.
“It’s better than going into a cave blindfolded and hoping to come out on the other end.” December clicked the cap of her pen, triggering sparks in my headache.
“We’re racing against the clock, Berry. Once this thing’s geared up, we’ll witness whatever torment it’s had its entire post-life to contemplate. It’s very boring on the other side, being dead and all.”
“Alright, guys! Shut up for a sec.” I pushed out of my seat and went to the window. “Let’s take a breath.”
I led by example, sucking in as much air as my lungs would hold. Wide-eyed Jonah (who’d been scared out of his excitement) followed my lead. The other two weren’t playing ball.
“Breathe,” I ordered, voice harder. “Everyone.”
December straightened her back and sucked in a few breaths. Nico tilted his chair back, making a show of breathing in through the nose and out through his mouth.
