Page 11 of Heart of Mischief

“See?” Lou exclaimed, pointing at Mason excitedly. “He thinks it’s a serial killer, too!”

“Well, it’s certainly not the Fenrir,” Mason said, dropping his voice. “Not his style, right?”

“That’s exactly what I said,” Charlie agreed.

Mason’s eyes flicked over to her, but he said nothing in response. Instead, he looked back at Abigail. “Also, I have baseball on Tuesdays. You know that.”

Abigail waved a hand. “I already got permission from your coach for you to miss.”

“You talked to mycoach?” Mason’s voice hiked several decibels.

“And anyway,” Abigail went on, ignoring Mason’s outrage, “this will be good for you. Forallof you. No one here has nearly enough community service on their resume.”

“I’ll give you community service,” Mason growled. “When the judge sentences me to it as punishment for your untimely murder.”

“I don’t think murderers qualify for community service,” Lou said helpfully. “They just go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.”

Charlie laughed. “And even if theydidqualify, Mason would undoubtedly piss off the judge so badly that he’d be sent straight to maximum security.”

Lou and Abigail laughed, but Mason didn’t even smile. He only cut another sideways glare at his sister before pursing his lips and staring straight ahead. Apparently, he couldn’t even allow himself to laugh at her jokes.

“Fine.” He unhooked his arms from the girls’ shoulders and stepped back from the table. “You’re right for wanting me at the carwash, anyway. No sex-starved moms will pay to have someone wash their minivan unless my abs are on full display.”

Lou made a retching sound.

“Ciao, ladies.” He blew them a kiss, then turned around to head to his usual table, which was packed with the most popular boys in the senior class. “Try not to miss me too much.”

“We’ll do our best,” Lou said dryly.

As she and Abigail went back to discussing the Morrises, Charlie’s eyes drifted over to the announcement board that hung up on the wall beside their table—and to the flyers still pinned to its top. The enlarged photos of Robbie Carpenter, Maisie, and the Peterson twins. The wordMISSINGtyped below in bold caps. Crinkled edges and accidental rips, after so long spent stuck to that same corkboard.

But the worst part was the boys’ eyes. They were happy. Unaware of the tragedy to come.

These last few weeks had been torture, watching the families of the missing kids put together press conferences and search parties. Torture to see Mrs. Carpenter in line at the local Starbucks, huge purple bags weighing down her eyes from lack of sleep. Torture to walk past Maisie’s old locker, now covered in notes about how much she was missed. Torture to look over at the empty chairs in the cafeteria normally occupied by the Petersons. The twins’ friends never dared to sit in those chairs anymore, as if they were saving them for when the boys finally returned.

They didn’t know the truth: the twins weren’t coming home. Not now. Not ever.

Thinking about what happened to her classmates—getting kidnapped by a giant wolf, being teleported to a different planet, and dying at the hands of a fiery god—made Charlie feel sick. She wanted desperately to tell their parents what had happened to them. To give them the closure they deserved.

But she couldn’t. No one would believe her.

Charlie was so deep in her own mind that it took her severalseconds to realize that her friends had stopped talking. That the entire cafeteria had stopped talking. No yelling. No laughing. Not even the hushed conversations about the Morrises from before. When she looked over at Lou and Abigail, they were staring over at the cafeteria entrance, mouths agape.

What the Hel?Charlie swiveled around in her chair to follow their gaze to find—

Him.

Dark hair. Sharp jaw. Wide shoulders, long limbs. Midnight-blue jeans, black T-shirt, leather jacket. Smirk like a rattlesnake curling its tail toward the sky. The boy she had promised to destroy—a promise that had propelled her through the last three weeks when nothing else could.

Elias Everhart winked at the stunned cafeteria. “Miss me?”

4

Two awful surprises. That’s whatthis day had brought Charlie.

First, a pair of dead bodies.

Second, her least favorite person in all the eight realms combined.