Page 99 of Lust

I’m standing in the woods, over two bodies. I recognize Seth’s and Brad’s jackets. Seth lies facing away from me, the side of his face covered in blood. Brad lies with the Slasher squatting next to him, concealing everything above Brad’s neck. As I walk around it, I see the Slasher’s mouth wide as it crunches down on Brad’s face.

As my chest constricts, I’m transported over the trench, looking down to see Cody lying alongside Alexei, his face covered in blood, his jacket torn open as a mess of what looks like black ground beef spills out of a gaping hole in his torso.

“Luke!” I hear Brad’s voice again, and my eyes pop open.

I’m back in the trench with Cody and Alexei.

I turn to the page Cody wrote on, with my name and the image of the fire.

An awareness moves through me.

It reminds me of the Moment.

There’s no doubt. No confusion.

I raise my hand, concentrating, and there’s a sensation…heat swelling in my chest. It moves down my arm to my hand, and as I roll my hand toward me, a flame pushes from my palm. It’s so fucking hot that I cringe at the sting before cupping my hand to put it out.

That horrifying image from my vision returns to me, then the words Cody received from the Guides:He must go. It’s time for him to go. Go now.And suddenly, I understand what it means.

“I have to go now,” I mutter.

If I don’t, the Sinners and the people at Alpha Alpha Mu’s party will die tonight.

26

BRAD

“Luke!” I callout. “Cody!”

“It had to have come from this direction,” Seth says as we stop in a clearing. He pulls out his phone and scans around.

“Anything?”

“No,” he says in a hostile tone.

Both of us are still reeling from the wild goose chase.

After the Slasher tossed me against the tree, it took me a moment to get back on my feet.

“It was a bear,”Seth pushed on Preston.“Call 911. Get Finnegan help.”I doubt he pushed that last part—didn’t need to—before Preston took off.

I found my bat, then headed in the direction the Slasher chased the guys. Since we lost sight of Luke and Cody, we searched for clues. There was Luke’s baseball bat, then some blood on a tree trunk that I assumed—or hoped—was what remained on the Slasher’s claws after assaulting Finnegan. We found Cody’s thermos, which must’ve fallen off his bookbag. I hoped we were that damn lucky, but then I started getting suspicious, especially as we kept on with no sight of the guys.

We shouldn’t have been so quick to trust what we found. It was all too perfect, something that really hit me once we heard the screech coming from the opposite direction we’d taken, on our way to little more than an echo.

The Slasher may be a monster, but it isn’t an unthinking, feral creature. It’s clever. Tricky. It already showed us that withwhat it did from the tree, tossing sticks to throw us off its whereabouts.

Would’ve been nice if the original Sinners had given us a heads-up about that, but now Seth and I just have to hope we can make it to Luke and Cody before it does.

I heard Luke call out, but it’s a struggle to tell which way it’s coming from.

We keep quiet, listening for any other sounds that might indicate where we should head next, hoping Cody or Luke might call out again.

Something. Anything.

Seth scans our surroundings again, and as he faces me, aiming up at the trees, he freezes in place. “Brad—” He doesn’t have to say more. I’ve already got my bat up, spinning in the direction he’s pointing his phone.

The flashlight reveals a dark figure flying toward me, and I jump out of its path just in time for it to drop where I stood.

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