Page 85 of Lust

I cringe. “Really?”

“It could work!”

“Couldbeing the operative word,” Seth adds.

Luke spins back around. “What are you guys talking about?”

“It’s something else we learned we can do,” I say. “Together. If we concentrate, we can—”

“It’s probably better just to show him,” Seth says, and I have to agree.

I fetch a brick from the stack and set it in the center of the pentagram. Cody, Seth, and I position ourselves to form a triangle around the pentagram.

“Luke, you need to get behind me,” I say.

He glances around the room like he’s trying to work out what we’re about to do. Then he steps close to the wall.

Cody, Seth, and I glance at each other, then grip our crosses and focus on the brick. Despite having done it before, it’s been a while, so we might be a little rusty.

I steady my breathing, feeling a familiar sensation swirling in my chest, radiating from there out to my arms. It moves into my hands, like they’re vibrating with energy. The more I concentrate on the brick, the more I lose awareness of time and my surroundings.

And then the brick starts vibrating.

I can’t see it, but I feel it in my gut as it speeds up, and a second later a sound like a shotgun fills the cellar. Dust explodes in the air, bits of brick launching at bullet speed, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier inside the pentagram. The pieces drop to the floor, and the dust begins to settle.

I turn to Luke, whose mouth hangs open.

“Fuck,” he mutters.

“Did you really think you knew all our secrets?” Seth asks snidely.

If Luke wasn’t here, I’d fucking throw Seth against the wall and demand he get over himself and treat Luke like the Sinner he is. But I quiet my rage, ignore the asshole remark, and explain to Luke what just happened. “It’s something we stumbled upon in the Sinners’ bible and tested out. We can’t do anything as powerful as you can on your own, but if the three of us focus, we can cause some motherfucking damage.”

“Apparently,” Luke notes. “But is that gonna do anything to this creature? Something that’s alive?”

“Why don’t you get in the middle, and we can test it,” Seth says with a nasty smirk.

“Seth,” I snap. “That’s not funny.”

His gaze shifts to the floor; he knows that was too far.

“I’ve researched this,” Cody says, pulling our attention back to his proposed solution. “Imagine how much pressure it takes to make a brick explode. If that can’t kill that thing, then nothing else is gonna do it either.”

“Yeah,” Luke says, “but if we can’t trap it, then we’re fucked because I doubt this thing will stay still long enough for you to focus as hard as you need to pull it off.”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Seth asks, and I shoot him another glare. “That one wasn’t me being an asshole,” he says. “I’m genuinely curious.”

My tense jaw relaxes.

Luke’s gaze wanders around the room. “I feel like we’re being too hasty here.”

“We only have two days,” Cody reminds him.

Luke nods. “I agree that we have to dosomething. Let’s at least arm ourselves with some real people shit. Dobbers used a shotgun.”

“He was also from a family of hunters,” Seth says. “How about we do ourselves a favor and not wind up shooting each other while trying to kill the Slasher?”

Luke chuckles. “I wasn’t suggesting guns. More like baseball bats and pepper spray.”

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