I have six missed calls from Lanie, and I quickly call her back.
“I need help,” she says, voice trembling with fear. “Corinne twisted her ankle and can’t walk. It’s almost midnight.”
I’m struggling to determine if it’s Corinne’s ankle or the time that has Lanie panicking.
“Where are you?” I ask, not sure how we’re going to hoist Corinne over the wall if necessary.
There’s a moment of quiet on the other end, but when she speaks again, her words hit me like a revelation. “We’re right in front of Isla Craft’s grave.”
Is this some sort of sign from the universe that I’m supposed to take Isla to that gravestone after all?
No.
The universe is supposed to work with me, not against me, and me stepping foot in that cemetery cannot be for my greater good.
“We need help,” she says, sounding frantic.
“What do you want me to do?” I say, resigned to the fact that we have to do something. We can’t very well leave them trapped in the cemetery.
“Burn the scarecrow. But before you do, I need you to write out my words on the little pieces of paper I brought and stuff them inside.”
I shut the car door and make my way to Nina, who’s peering down from the hood of the car with a worried expression. She mouths the wordswhat’s wrong.
I close my eyes, shaking my head, hoping to convey I need a moment and then I’ll tell her everything.
“What should I write?”
I hear her exhale. “Fearon one.Let go of the paston another.Regain my poweron the third, and finally,stop runningon the last.”
The questions mount with each and every request she makes. What does she fear? What happened in her past, and most concerning, what is she running from?
“Alyssa, did you hear me?” Lanie bites.
“Yes. I heard you, and I’ll do this. But, Lanie…you and I are going to have a long talk come tomorrow.”
She doesn’t say a word, and it’s my turn to ensure she’s heard me.
“Okay?”
“Okay.” It comes out a whisper, indicating that Lanie really doesn’t want to have that conversation with me.
“What are you going to do with Corinne?”
“She’ll be fine. She just needs to stop whining.”
I hear Corinne grumbling in the background, quibbling with Lanie’s words.
“We’ll be back to the car as quickly as we can.”
With that, the phone goes dead.
I relay everything I’ve just learned to Nina, and she doesn’t speak, choosing to guzzle the remainder of the champagne left in the bottle she has clenched in her hands.
“How the hell are we going to burn this scarecrow?” I say, hoping to get a response.
“We can’t do it on the ground. It’s too wet.”
I nibble at my bottom lip, trying to formulate a plan, but it’s no use; my mind is blank.
