Page 20 of Barinov

He wept like a dog at the edge of it all.

But death is a tale for the ones who grieve.

Your ghost still listens. He just won’t leave.

You flinch from my flame, but it’s always been yours.

Etched into blood, behind hidden doors.

Your brother now bears it, deep in his bone.

And soon, little Izzy, he won’t be alone.”

“Shit,” Knox mutters, wrenching a pen and notebook out of his backpack. “That bastard told us everything.”

“The hell you mean, everything?” I ask, cocking a brow.

“A collar of fire, a whisper, a code.

He walks where I lead, down every dark road.

Tick… tick… like a bomb in his head.

Your brother is breathing, but better off dead.”

Ellie looks over at Knox. “I don’t get it. What is this supposed to mean?”

“That’s the clue?” Haley asks.

“Yeah Hales,” Knox nods, scribbling like a mad man. “Looks like it.”

01:40:13

I shove back from the table, chair screeching across the floor. “How the fuck is this supposed to tell us where she is?”

♥♥♥

00:15:00

Knox has the poem written out now. Every line. Every single word. Some of them circled, some underlined. Sticky notes layered over the table like confetti from hell. Arrows scrawled in every direction trying to piece together this twisted puzzle from the inside out.

“Okay,” he begins. “Let’s break this down again. We have to be sure.”

Cade and I are both pacing behind Knox when the doorbell rings. I frown, already on edge and completely over this fucking day as I walk over.

“What?!” I grit, yanking it open.

A literal cowboy stands in my doorway like he just rode straight out of some sort of Marlboro commercial. Dark jeans and black boots. Brown and tan flannel. Topped off with a black Stetson pulled low to shadow his golden-brown eyes.

“Briggs?” I ask, my brow arching.

He tilts his head. “Lex,” he says, his lips twitching slightly.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I called him,” Ellie whispers from her chair.

Cade and I both shoot her a look. But she keeps staring at the table with her arms tightly crossed over her chest.