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“Mmhmm.” He moved me another half-step back, then stood again, holding the lighter out so I could see the table better.
There, with the candles and rotting offerings, was a squat rectangular lump. Confused by the shape, I squinted, and all at once it dawned on me what I was looking at.
The bloodstained cinder block from the bar alley.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I think I was the only one between the two of us who really understood the gravity of seeing that cinder block among the other odds and ends.
My phone started to buzz again.
I swiped past the notification of missed texts and answered the call without seeing who it was.
Music blared, now coming in stereo between the thump from upstairs and what was coming through the other side of the phone.
“Where are you?” Wilder shouted over the din.
My heart leaped. He was okay. He was safe. I hadn’t realized how worried I’d been for him until the moment I knew I didn’t need to worry.
“I’m in the basement.”
“There’s a ba—?”
“Don’t say that too loud, Wilder.” Tansy might be anywhere, and the last thing I wanted was to have my joke about being buried in a shallow grave come true.
“Are you okay?” His voice was quieter now, but he was still struggling to be heard over the crowd.
“Yeah, I…” I glanced at Santiago. There was no way this wouldn’t get weird. “I found someone to help us, and I’m safe. Can you get outside from where you are?”
“Sure, but I’m not going anywhere witho—”
“Meet me outside. Just go. I promise you I’ll be fine.” I could not promise him this, but I didn’t want to give him any reason to wait for me. If I couldn’t make it out with Santiago by my side, there was no hope for my escape to begin with. “And if you see Tansy, don’t stop. Don’t try to grab her. Don’t even look at her. Run.”
The silence that followed stretched out so long I thought the call might have been disconnected. Instead he jolted me with the surprise of a sudden cough. “What’s happening, Princess? I thought we were here to get her.”
“We were. But the girl who looks like Tansy isn’t Tansy.”
“What do you mean?”
I wanted to yell at him to stop asking questions and listen to what I was saying, but instead I said, “The demon is out, Wilder. Get outside and take as many people with you as you can.”
“I…” His voice drifted. In the lull I heard exactly what he didn’t say. He didn’t want to leave, didn’t think he should go without me, but I’d asked him to do something and he felt compelled to obey.
“Go,” I urged.
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
“I’ll come. I promise.” I nearly hung up, and then one last thing popped into my head. “Wilder, wait.”
“What?”
“Call Cash. Tell him…” What would Cash believe? We couldn’t tell him to ditch Tansy, and there would be no way to make the truth believable without more time. “Tell him to meet us where I used to go running. Where I’d go for privacy.”
“Okay.”
I hung up this time and faced Santiago, who had been watching the whole conversation with quiet interest.
“Who’s Cash?” he asked.
