Page 66 of Counting Quarters

And with one last look in the backseat, at the little girl who we were all doing this for, I stepped away from their car and watched as they drove off, the rising sun lighting their way.

Present

Each time someone was accused of being a Movement Member, the Quarters would have them hauled off into the dungeons beneath their homes. They weren’t treated like proper prisoners, though, despite the nasty rumors floating around.

They were provided three gourmet meals, regular showers, comfortable beds, and were free to roam around the underground portion of the property as they pleased. They just couldn’t leave, and they couldn’t communicate with a single soul outside of those dungeons. There were spells cast to ensure it.

I didn’t think they deserved such lavish living conditions for betraying their friends, family, and neighbors by following the gospel of a complete madman, but it wasn’t up to me. The Quarters wanted the illusion of corporal punishment without actually having it weigh on their conscious.

“We’re still working toward a future where this town trusts us,” Lux had said when Enzo and Rhyse complained.

“These are the ones who have already turned on us. We need to make an example out of them, so no one thinks we’re weak,” Rhyse argued.

“That’s why they’re hidden away underground. For the illusion.”

“Our main objection is to lure Rayner out of hiding and force him to face us without his army of Movement Members,” Remy gently reminded them.

“No, my main objective is to show the Movement what happens when you fight the will of the gods,” Enzo grumbled. Rhyse grunted and nodded his agreement.

If they had their way, the Movement Members would have been persecuted in the town square, for all to see. They were harboring a rage toward Rayner and the Movement that rivaled my own. They wanted full use of their gifts, and they blamed him for the fact that they still didn’t have it. That they still hadn’t found their Counter.

They channeled every ounce of frustration over it into the people who chose to side with the Movement. If I didn’t already want all of the Movement dead, I’d fear for their lives.

Before they brought them into their homes, the members would wait in a holding cell at the station. I took the opportunity to dig into their minds for any information I could find about where Rayner might be hiding.

I still hadn’t told anyone but Blaire about the gift. I knew my time was running out, though. The Quarters would question how I got my information, if I ever got any. But I put that part off, deciding to deal with it when the time came.

It had been two weeks of searching through minds before I caught a tiny breadcrumb. Rayner truly hadn’t trusted any of his Movement Members with his whereabouts.

With the exception of Shane Gardener.

A post office employee who had taken over when our old mailman, Doug, retired. He was accused by his neighbor, who overheard him speaking to someone about Rayner in his garage late at night. Coincidentally, his new employment aligned perfectly with the height of Rayner’s Movement propaganda.

It took me fifteen minutes to break into his subconscious—a grim and desolate place—and I discovered that he was responsible for bringing Rayner into town undetected in his mail truck.

It was the perfect decoy. No one thought twice about the young mail carrier making multiple trips in and out of town each day.

I wanted to kick myself for not considering it before.

Rayner wasn't one to get his hands dirty. I knew that he mostly used others to do his bidding; I just wasn't sure how he was communicating with them. How had he kept in contact with all these people without being caught? It was the biggest question we had. If we could figure that out, we could cut him off and force him out of his hiding spot.

Shane's thoughts revealed the answer. They were relaying messages to one another through spelled mirrors in their homes.

I probed deeper into his mind for an image of what the mirror looked like and almost lost my lunch. It was identical to the one Blaire had sitting on her vanity. The one we picked up from Dottie Lawson’s estate sale.

She must have been a Member without us knowing.

Has he been watching her all this time?

I shook the thought from my mind before my rage could get the best of me. I only had a few more minutes in Shane's mind before he realized I was there. He was already shifting in his spot as I pulled memories forward that he hadn't recalled on his own.

I made one last strike against his subconscious, wading through the useless material for any answers about where Rayner was keeping his victim's bodies. If Shane was trusted with transporting the sadistic leader, he could surely be trusted with that information.

Within seconds, I saw them.

Nearly two dozen girls huddled together, clad in only their undergarments. Their faces blackened with dirt and hollowed out, their bodies made of skin and bones and nothing more. I recognized the ones me and Blaire had made contact with at the police station within the crowd. They were in a small clearing in the woods, surrounded by sprawling elder trees that kept them hidden away.

And every single one of them was still alive.

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