Page 139 of Grave Matter

“You didn’t kill anyone,” Wes whispers, trying to assure me. “In fact, the moment you found out what had happened to the other students, when you realized that they didn’t die by suicide but that they had been purposely murdered, you tried to tell the police. But Everly had a noose around your neck.”

“The NDAs,” Janet says, walking over to me. “They had us all in shackles.” She looks off into the forest. “The mycelia didn’t take in their brains the way it did in yours. The animals won’t live forever. They aren’t in any pain. Everything in the rainforest here is still in perfect balance. It won’t be long before they become one with the forest floor. All the different fungi here will devour them. Their remains will sink into the soil as fertilizer, giving the trees here their growth. The trees give us the air. It goes on.”

The wind blows back her hair, and she wipes a tear away from under her glasses. It’s only now that I notice she’s wearing her pajamas under her raincoat. In fact, everyone is, having been woken up by Wes.

We’re having a hell of a night.

“Look,” Hernandez says.

We follow his gaze. The north dorm is on fire.

“Everly,” Wes says grimly. “She’s probably burning it down. She’s destroying all the evidence.”

“All that research,” Janet says. “All those years of work, all that life-changing research going up in smoke.”

But she doesn’t sound sad about it. I know when I first started, all I wanted was to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. I wanted to avenge my grandmother at all costs, to stop feeling so helpless over her loss.

It was enough that I let that vengeance become an obsession, let that obsession lead me down a path there was no coming back from.

I still want that, too. I want a cure. We had a cure. Madrona Pharmaceuticals was ready for it. We just needed more testing. But then I got sidetracked by something even greater—the cure for death.

Something there should be no cure for.

I lost my way.

I lost myself.

I lost mylife.

And yet, somehow, I’m still here.

“I’m tired,” I say softly, leaning into Wes.

“I know,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “We all are.” He clears his throat and looks at the group. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s wise for anyone to head back into the main lodge. Not only could it catch on fire, but I don’t know where the rest of the staff is, and it’s safe to say, I don’t think they’re on our side.”

“When I went to the generator to cut the power, I saw Roderick—guess he didn’t stay subdued for long,” Janet tells us. “He was with Nick, Michelle, and Handyman Keith. They got on an ATV. It already sounded like another ATV was in the distance, I couldn’t be sure. Maybe the rest of the staff escaped.”

“Oh my god, the barn!” I cry out suddenly. “We have to go save the animals!”

“Already done,” Janet assures me quickly. “I let the goats and the chickens loose. They’ll be alright.” She looks at Wes. “You said there was a chance that Madrona could go up in flames. I know you always follow through.”

“I don’t make idle threats,” he says with a shrug.

“So we have to leave our stuff behind?” Munawar says. Then he gasps. “Oh no, all my fungi shirts.”

“We’ll get you new shirts, alright?” Wes says. “Everyone still have their essentials on them, your passports and wallets?”

The students pat down their pockets and nod. I don’t think any of them are okay with leaving their luggage and belongings behind in their rooms, but we don’t have much of a choice.

“Still wish I had my phone,” Lauren says.

“And that’s why we always back up to the cloud,” Wes says.

About half the students groan about not backing them up, and everyone starts griping amongst themselves.

Wes turns to me. “Don’t worry, I have your phone. I’ve had it for a long time.”

Realization dawns on me. “Oh, so that’s why my grandmother’s picture changed.”

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