Page 54 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Bang!

Alice’s body toppled to the floor with a heavy thud.

The photographs from the hallway appeared on the wall, but Max and Lewis were no longer alone behind the armchair. In the middle, with her hand on the woman’s shoulder, Alice gazed into the camera with a severe face and sharp features.

I remained staring at the photograph with my exposed ass in the air as the gun fell onto the table, inches from my face.

Evelyn sank onto her knees beside me and brushed a dusting of white powder from my tear-streaked cheek. “You have to stop hiding before everyone dies.”

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

SKYLER

Harper swayed in the corner while I stared at the picture. The hours ticked by, but dawn stayed hidden. The arousal on the inside of my thighs had long since dried and my tears had stopped falling. I was numb—an empty shell that echoed when Lily sat beside the coffee table and stroked my hair soothingly.

“Alice is dead,” I whispered so quietly that I didn’t think she’d hear me, but she leaned in to kiss my cheek.

“Who’s Alice?”

My eyes fell closed. I was trapped in a never-ending nightmare. Here, in this haunted house, where death fed on the anguish that bled with my tears. Where only I had the key to escape.

Evelyn laughed hysterically from her spot on the floor, her body jerking from the force.

Opening my eyes, I stared into Lily’s green ones. “I don’t want you to disappear.”

Her smile softened and she brushed my cheek with the backs of her fingers. “He’s coming for you.”

I closed my eyes again as exhaustion washed over me. The house watched and waited. My breaths shook like the tenor in Lily’s voice when she whispered, “The wolf is near. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Evelyn stopped laughing and sat up, her eyes flying to the window. She jumped to her feet and stumbled over.

Pushing off the table, I sat on the floor.

Harper made her way to the window, too.

I didn’t dare breathe when they peered out into the darkness, chasing shadows and monsters.

“Anything?” Nate asked, joining them, draping his arms around Harper’s and Evelyn’s shoulders.

“Soon.”

Nate looked at me over his shoulder, his gray eyes darkening as they fell to my bare legs. He swallowed thickly and looked back out through the window. I felt like an intruder, lost in their world. I was the storm cloud in their clear sky. The monster that hunted them in the night.

My eyes slid back to the wall, where Max, Lewis, and Alice stared back at me from behind the framed glass.

“Where’s Dustin?” I whispered, rising to my feet and walking up to the wall. I searched each picture with no luck. He wasn’t there.

Harper left the window, swaying her hips to an imaginary beat, and Nate came up behind me and slid his warm arms around my waist.

“This isn’t real, Nate. None of this is. We’ll wake up tomorrow and go back home. And I will see you at school on Monday as usual.”

His lips skated over the side of my cheek, his stubble scratching my skin. “I told you. The only way out is in a body bag.”

Whirling around, I stepped away, my back meeting the wall, causing the photographs to fall to the floor. “So you admit I hit you with the car.”

“Baby,” he replied, reaching for me, but I ducked out of the way and bared my teeth. “There was no crash, Skyler. I’m right here. Alive and uninjured.”

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