Page 62 of Wicked Sins

“Get away.” I kick out, more to distance us from him than anything else, but managing a strike to his thigh at the same time. “Get the fuck away from her!”

There’s something wrong with my voice. It’s rough, broken, demonic.

“Josiah, over here.” Someone bobs up beside me. A girl. Her voice sounds familiar, but her face is a black mask. “I’ll help.”

“Me too.” Another girl. I don’t know this one. I don’t know any of them.

Candy’s so heavy.

Motionless.

Dead.

A light flickers, and for a moment, I’m sure I’ve imagined it. But then it grows, floods.

Someone put on their cellphone torch, and it’s just bright enough to paint the surface of the water a dark gray and to cast a shimmer on some of the nearby faces.

To highlight the dark rivulets over Candy’s face.

Hair in her face. When I brush it away, my fingers only touch skin.

Not hair.

Blood.

Rivulets of blood that smudge away to nothing when my wet hands touch them.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Josiah

Someone’s crying. I grit my teeth and will them to stop. It’s already hard enough keeping count without having to contend with—

“Trinity, enough!”

Could have kissed the girl who just snapped that out like a bullet. But I’m too busy counting.

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

My dry lips against Candy’s cold, wet ones.

Exhale.

Candy’s chest rises.

Candy’s chest falls.

Exhale.

---