Page 81 of Counting Quarters

“What did you see?” Tabitha asked once she made her way over to me.

The old woman looked surprisingly fierce, her white hair pulled tightly back in a bun, somehow making her dark skin glow just as bright as those eyes I'd grown to love on her granddaughter. A gun was strapped around her back and two were secured at her sides, just below her bulletproof vest. I had no idea how she got her hands on such things, but she clearly wasn't taking any chances against the Movement Members.

“He's coming up the trail now.” I stopped myself.

He should actually be here by now. Where was he?

“Blaire said you think he has an advantage in numbers.”

“He does.”

I had no idea where he managed to gather so many people from to march with him, or why they chose to enter the town on foot.

Rayner was an exceptional salesman, though. I wouldn't put it past him to have recruited people who had never even heard of Beacon Grove to fight for justice with him. Or his idea of it, anyway. He'd managed to have Mason and Asher killed without ever leaving the town's limits, as far as I knew. He had to have people on the outside.

“The Quarters discovered the entrances to each of their dungeons blown wide open this morning,” Tabitha started with a regal expression. Her eyes scanned the crowd of people before us, avoiding contact as she said, “They have no idea how he did it. They swear there were wards against such a thing.”

“So, all those Movement Members…?”

I couldn't even say the words. Perhaps it was their voices I heard in my head all morning. That might be a better alternative to what I thought.

“They're likely joining up with him right now.”

The Movement Members arrived in the town's square minutes after me and Tabitha parted ways, heavily armed and ready to fight. Each one wore stern, battle-ready expressions on their faces.

But something about them was off.

Their eyes—they lacked any sort of life.

And their minds, which had been so disordered before, were completely blank. I tried breaking in and found nothing but radio silence.

Friends and neighbors stood across an invisible line from one another, waiting for the fight to begin. I couldn't understand how it had gotten this far. How one wiry, oddball kid had grown to become such a monster. How that monster managed to influence so many others into fighting his battles.

It felt like just yesterday that I was teasing Rayner for spewing his nonsense to anyone with ears.

How had he managed to take it this far? To turn us all against one another?

Blaire and Tabitha stood in the back of the Quarter Supporters in widened stances, with Callista positioned behind them. Remy and Storie were off to the side, as close to the water as they could get. Lux flanked the opposite side with a calm, bored expression, and Rhyse and Enzo were in front of us all, with me and my police force directly behind them, making up the front line.

Sure enough, all of the people whose names were on the Member Manifest were standing before me, the same dead look behind their eyes as the rest of them.

Rayner was nowhere to be found.

“You've got one last chance to step down. To turn around and let that sick fuck know that you support your Quarters and the will of the gods,” Enzo's severe voice growled to the army of people standing before him.

Rhyse shifted on his feet beside him, his hands shaking at his sides as if the flames under his skin were clawing to get out.

No one in Rayner's army responded. Not even a flicker of a reaction came. The two Quarters shared a look, then looked back at Remy and Lux, silently communicating their next move.

Without any sort of warning, Rhyse sent a line of fire before our opponents, temporarily blinding us all as Lux threw an invisible shield of air behind it, catching the bullets that were sent our way. Untrained hands reacted on both sides, sending ammo over the line without bothering to set a target. Luckily, most of them hit the ground or shot through the air without connecting with any flesh. Many others rushed forward and began throwing fists once Lux's shield fell and Rhyse's fire snaked around to the back of Rayner's army, ushering them forward.

Toward us. Into the fight.

I hated this. My oath to protect my town conflicted with my duty to fight for what was right. My eyes kept snapping back to Blaire, who had pushed her way to the front, leaving Callista and Tabitha behind. Her training with Rhyse and Enzo was paying off. She threw her elbow up and caught someone's chin, then threw a force of air against a man who was rushing her. He fell backward onto his ass, and she wrapped vines around his wrists and ankles, shackling him to the ground.

Some time, deep in the fray, when I was worn down and depleted of energy, something shifted in the corner of my eye, on the edge of the woods. I turned to look and was immediately blasted in the side of the head, blood spilling from my mouth. I took my police baton and slammed it into my attacker’s knees, then grabbed his neck and threw him to the ground.

My eyes lifted back into the woods, and my heart dropped into my stomach.

Ma and Millie were being dragged through the brush by two burly men I didn’t recognize. I took off toward them without a second thought, helplessly watching as they disappeared behind the greenery.

Blaire's voice called to my back, urging me to stop, but I didn't turn.

He set the trap for me, and I fell right in.

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