Page 68 of Collect the Pieces

“Wait, were you sleeping together?” Ravage asks with hopefully raised eyebrows.

“Shut up.” I reach down, wrap my fingers around a pinecone and fling it at Rav, hitting him squarely on the forehead.

“No,” Margot says. “We weren’t.” She clears her throat. “I was falling asleep when I heard the loud bang again. April obviously heard it too, and we both met in the hallway.”

“Wait, your dad and cousin never heard it?” Trinity asks.

“Nope.” Margot shakes her head. “April thought I was messing with her, so she checked my room first.”

Lilly huffs. “She didn’t find anything, right?”

“Nope. This time, I didn’t bother checking all over.” Margot holds her hands up in the air. “We went straight to the viewing room.”

“Donotsay that creepy doll was out again.” Ravage points a finger at Margot. “Don’t.”

Margot falls against me, laughing. “Unfortunately, yes.”

A chorus of disbelief echoes around the fire.

“I’m serious.” Margot presses her palms together like she’s begging them to believe her. “She was sitting on top of the casket again. But this time with the two coins that April had put in the woman’s hands.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Z groans.

“Nope. April ran to get my dad?—”

“Splitting up is a classic horror movie no-no,” Emily tsks.

“I know!” Margot shouts. “But I knew my dad wouldn’t believe us. He’d think we were playing a prank on him.”

Everyone’s silent and watching Margot now.

“I followed her up the stairs,” Margot says. “And we heard another banging noise, so we both ran back to the viewing room.” She waits, letting the silence further spook everyone. “The doll and the coins were gone.”

“Oh, come on,” Rav moans.

“No, seriously,” Margot says. “We opened the casket and everything was back inside—well, the doll wasn’t in her pouch, so I put her back in and tied it again.”

“I’m starting to think she didn’t like being in the bag,” Z points out.

“I think you had a bad Kikimora,” Lilly says. “She must have felt disrespected or insulted that she was taken out of the woman’s house.”

Z just stares at her.

I can’t decide if my president’s wife is trying to bolster Margot’s story or if she believes in this stuff. But Rav’s looking uneasier by the second, so it’s a win either way.

“You might be right, Lilly.” Margot closes her eyes briefly, as if it’s hard to relay this part of the story. “The next day at the funeral, I took the daughter aside and asked if she was sure she wanted us to bury the doll. This terrified look came over her face and she asked if anything weird had happened.”

“Uh, yeah!” Heidi says. “Did you tell her?”

“Well, I didn’t want to seem unprofessional, but I did end up telling her about the water and the doll getting out.” Margot glances up at the sky. “She was so upset and insisted we double-check that the doll was in the casket when we buried her mom. So, at the gravesite, we unfortunately had to do just that.”

“What’d your dad think of that?” Teller asks.

“He’s used to odd requests from family. We just had to make a few adjustments, so it was okay.”

“The doll was in there?” Ravage asks.

“Yup.” Margot nods. “And I stayed with the daughter while they buried the casket.”

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