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I ran down the staircase, out the back door, and into the light.
* * *
I ran down the street.
Past the trailer park.
Only slowing to a jog when Kyrie’s house was in view. Her parent’s vehicles were in the driveway, and I had a hunch I wouldn’t be a welcome guest. I’d moved to town right after Amber went missing. And I’d seen the way Kyrie’s father looked at me. Like he thought I wanted to steal his daughter away.
I walked into the yard, crouched low, looking like a common thief.
I knew you could get to Kyrie’s window by climbing the tree in front of her house, but what if they were in her room? I took a chance, grabbing the lowest branch and hoisting myself up. I climbed, heart still racing from what happened with Sorina, fear gliding down my spine like a drop of blood.
I pulled a penny from my pocket when I had Kyrie’s window in sight, tossing it at it, saying a silent plea that she was in here.
After a moment, her curtain moved, and I saw her stricken face. Then, with wide eyes, she opened the window. “Nicholas, what are you doing?” she hissed, looking back into her room.
“Are you alone?” I asked.
“Right this second, yeah,” she whispered. “But they could come back up at any moment. They’re freaked out.”
“So are you,” I said, looking her in the eye.
She nodded, and I worried she would cry right then. She didn’t. That would come later, when I was in the room.
After one more hurried glance into her room, she opened the window wide, reaching for me.
I pulled myself in, sliding to Kyrie’s floor. She clamped a hand over my mouth, moving to my ear. “I think my dad is leaving soon. Come here.” She let go of my mouth, and I closed my eyes.
The memories came flooding back, hands over my mouth, hands on my shoulder pushing me down, hands everywhere. I felt those moments, at the fringes of my mind, when anyone touched me. Anyone but Sorina. When I didn’t move from the floor, Kyrie turned back to me. “Are you okay?”
“Please don’t ever put your hand on my mouth like that again,” I said, robotic, staring at the ceiling. I’d kept my voice low, but Kyrie still looked at her closed bedroom door.
When she looked at me again, she nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
After a moment, I got up. Kyrie motioned for me to move toward her closet. I crawled along her hardwood, turning around once I was shrouded by her clothing.
“Sit in here. If they come up, I’ll close the closet door.”
“Okay,” I agreed, leaning into the dark space. It almost felt comforting. I didn’t have a big closet in my room, not one that you could sit in like this. I ducked under a section of shirts, batting away a dress that hit me in the face. I crossed my legs, then ran both hands through my hair.
“We’re going to keep trying to figure this out, aren’t we?” she asked, sitting on the floor, moving close to me. I backed into her closet a fraction more. “Seriously, this time?”
“Yeah, we’ll … we’ll figure this out.”
Kyrie steepled her fingers, bringing them to her forehead. “I don’t want to be next. I don’t want to be … taken … I’m scared.”
“We won’t let anything happen to you,” I said, making a promise I didn’t know if I could keep. Not if the horror was true.
Markus had been a madman, a monster, and his flock was broken like he had been. But he was dead. He couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. But what of his God? The son of a demon?
I opened my mouth to speak, to tell Kyrie what I’d seen at Sorina’s, what she’d done, but the words died in my throat when we heard footsteps coming upstairs. Kyrie looked at me with wide eyes, and I leaned back into the closet, closing my eyes when she shut the door, shrouding me in darkness.
I heard a door open and a man’s voice. “Honey, how are you?” Kyrie’s father asked, his deep baritone concerned.
“I’m okay,” Kyrie’s voice came from the other side of the room, near her bed.
Another set of footsteps entered the room. “Your father and I both have appointments in Springfield today. Do you want to go to your aunt Viviane’s house while we’re gone? We don’t want to leave you alone. Or you can come with us, whatever you need sweetie.”
