Page 39 of Bird on a Blade

I look at him sharply. But the only expression I get is that twisted demon’s face, and Sawyer’s glittering black eyes.

“Edie, we don’t have to fucking do this!” Baro’s voice reverberates around the mountain.

“You’ll be safe there,” Sawyer growls. “Now go.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond, only turns and disappears between the trees. I stare at the place he’d been, numb to what I just unleashed. But then flashes of Scott’s assault flash through my head. My neck burns from where he tried to strangle me.

He’ll do it again.

A loud crack explodes through the woods, jarring me into action. I yank out my phone to check the time; still no message from Charlotte, which only adds another layer of worry. Then I walk along the creek, moving mechanically, jumping at every snap and rustle.

I’ve been walking for four minutes when a soft susurration floods the forest, and then suddenly it’s raining again, a steady misting rain that soaks my hair and clothes. My phone buzzes in my hand.

Charlotte

Holy shit are you okay? I’m calling you.

And then her face appears on the screen, the phone vibrating in my palm. I know I should answer. But I have no idea what I would tell her.

So I let the phone keep buzzing as I trudge through the rain, every muscle in my body tense and ready to run. The phone stills, and I realize I’m waiting to hear Baro scream.

I don’t hear anything but the rain.

Eight minutes.

I stop and turn in a slow circle. The creek bubbles and gurgles beside me, staticky with raindrops. All I see is trees. There’s no clearing. There’s?—

A flash of white. Just up ahead.

I move toward it, clawing through a drooping willow tree, and then, sure enough, I step into a clearing. Cold wind drives the rain into my face, but it also flattens down the tall, yellowing grass. Atthe center of the meadow is a run-down white church, the steeple pointing toward the storm clouds.

I stare at it.That’s where I live, Sawyer said, and for some reason, this moment feels far more weighted than when I didn’t stop him from going after Baro. Like if I cross this grass, if I go into that church, I won’t be myself anymore.

I’ll belong to Sawyer Caldwell.

Lightning splits across the sky, and when the thunder comes, it’s so loud I feel it in my chest. I look down at my phone, streaked with raindrops. More messages from Charlotte. I’ll let her know I’m okay. The rest?—

The rest I won’t tell her.

I slide the phone into my jeans pocket, my whole body shivering from the cold. The church rises in front of me.

There’s another crack of lightning. I think I hear a man scream, but maybe not. The thunder is too deafening to hear anything else.

Call 911, whispers a voice in my head.End this now. You can end this now.

The rain stings my face. My hair plasters to my head. My clothes are completely soaked.

And I walk toward the church.

I dripwater onto the foyer, staring down the aisle at the tidy row of pews and the small altar in the empty space at the front. My family wasn’t a religious one, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve been in any kind of holy place.

Not that this place is holy.

It doesn’t exactly look like a killer’s lair. There aren’t bodies strewn around. No blood splattered on the walls. But I can tell that it’s been abandoned for a long time. Half the pews are clean, but the other half are filled with debris from the forest.The walls are grimy and falling apart except where they’ve obviously been repaired, and there’s something strange to me about that, Sawyer Caldwell whiling his days away repairing an old church.

Unfortunately, it’s also cold in here. The light switches don’t work, which I take to mean no electricity—and no heat. I strip off my damp sweater, hoping that will help, but it doesn’t. At least the church is dry.

I walk down the aisle and up to the altar, where I see Sawyer has laid out an array of knives, including the kitchen knife he stole from me. There’s an empty space in the row, which makes me feel kind of hollow and shuddery.

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