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Before I can ask, he shoves me forward and darts away, launching toward Mara, who is too shocked to do anything but scream. He knocks her to the ground, and the gun slides across the floor. I dive for it, but Austin is quicker. He kicks it out of the way, and it goes under a sofa in the small sitting room off the foyer.
“Get it!” Nathaniel yells as Austin, Vanessa, and I charge for the gun.
I launch myself onto the ground, reaching and searching for the cold metal, but I don’t feel it. In one swift move, Austin overturns the sofa, and I scramble for it, but he’s faster. He bends and grabs it, spinning on his heel to face us.
“Austin, please,” I beg, staring into the eyes of someone I considered a friend just hours ago.
How did we get here?
For a moment, I’m not sure he knows what he’s going to do.
“For Ethan,” I squeak. “For Logan and Paulette. For our friends.”
“We had to do it, Austin,” Vanessa says, taking a step toward him. “We had to kill them. You know that. For the cause.”
I bite my lip, fighting back tears. “They loved you, Austin. Ethan loved you. He considered you his friend. His best friend. Like Mara is mine.”
“He trusted you,” Memphis adds from across the room. “Thought of you as a brother. He wouldn’t want you to do this. You can let us go to honor him.”
“Just let us go,” I beg. “Please, Austin. Please let us go.”
“If you let them go, they’ll tell. They’ll ruin everything,” Nathaniel points out. “Everything we’ve worked so hard for. Everything you’ve trained for.”
“They killed Ethan,” I whisper. “They looked him in the eyes and killed him in cold blood. Paulette and Logan, too. We’re not the monsters here, Austin. No matter what they tell you. The things that they’re talking about, the things they say get inside your head, and you don’t know they’re there until they hurt you… It’s not books, it’s people like this.” I wave a hand in their direction. “Like them. People who try to convince you that something you love is bad. That people should have to suffer for the greater good. That words on a piece of paper, meant to entertain or enlighten or teach, could ever be as evil as the man holding a gun.”
Austin wavers, lowering the gun slightly.
“You don’t want to do this,” I add. “Weare your friends, Austin. Not them. Reading dark books may show us terrible things, but they show us good things, too. Great things. Friends, family, love… Good wins in the end. People make the right choices. Justice prevails. You have to see the bad to appreciate the good, but that doesn’t make it wrong.”
“Don’t listen to her, Austin,” Nathaniel says, moving closer to him. “We’re your family. We love you. The cause is all about love.”
Austin locks eyes with him, slowly raising the gun, almost as if in a trance.
“Austin, listen, I, um…” Memphis’s voice is too loud. I turn to face him as he stumbles around his words, looking down, then back up to meet my eyes. He takes several slow steps backward. “Hey, look. Listen. Listen. I get what you guys are doing. Truly, I do. I think there’s a better way, but I’ve told you, I don’t even really like thrillers. There’s this one book that I…that I recommend to everyone.” He stops, his eyes locked on mine, and he cocks his head to the side, then turns to look out the window.
This one book that I recommend to everyone.
I get it. I know what he’s doing.
I understand what he’s asking of me.
The brutal ending toOf Mice and Menplays out in my head. The distraction. If I’m right, he’s going to cause a distraction.
Like clockwork, he shouts, “Holy shit, you guys, the cops are here. The FBI. Dark cars. SWAT teams. Shit, shit, shit!”
“What?” Nathaniel and Vanessa lurch forward, rushing to push Memphis out of the way. Without a second to spare, I launch forward and shove into Austin, taking the gun without a hint of a struggle. It’s almost like he’s glad to let it go.
He drops to the ground, both hands out in front of him, waiting for the police. Waiting for the end.
Before Nathaniel and Vanessa realize what’s happened, the tables have turned. I hold the gun and point it directly at Nathaniel. He’s the head of the snake, and as long as he’s here, this will never end.
Aim for the head.
“Austin, stop her!” Nathaniel cries, but Austin doesn’t move from his place on the ground.
“You know what’s funny?” I ask, staring at them with disdain as I grind my teeth together. “We learned that old trick from a book.”
I pull the trigger.
