Page 7 of Devil on the Lake

Luna was right. The lake is beautiful at night. We stroll to the end of the dock and I crane my neck to admire the huge harvest moon rising over the treetops.

“Imagine growing up with this as your view from your bedroom window every night,” I mumble.

“It’s pretty cool.” At my questioning side-eye, Luna tugs on a piece of her teased strawberry blonde hair. “Oh, my parents’ friends have a house here. Well, they’re sort of a big group of family friends—Phoenix’s parents, his cousins, my parents. Anyway, we’ve both spent a lot of time here growing up. Every summer we spend a week together in the cabins on this side of the lake.”

I don’t know what to say about her idyllic life, so I turn my attention back to the lake. We spend a few minutes there, then walk along the beach that’s nice enough to belong to a vacation resort. She talks my ear off about her art projects and a showcase she wants to enter. I’m content to listen to her talk, my guard finally lowering enough to relax. Luna fumbles with her phone when we circle back.

“Shit, that’s Eliana asking where I went. We’re supposed to start the costume contest Dante put us in charge of. I’m going to head back, but don’t stay out here by yourself.” She waves and hurries off.

Instead of going back to the party, I take a path with a sign that says cabins. I want to explore. I pass Dante’s cabin and laugh at one decked out with a Monster Mash song theme.

“So this is where you snuck off to.” Dante’s voice is smooth with a hint of humor. He leaves the darkness he lurks in, stepping into a patch of moonlight. The skull makeup gives him a more sinister vibe. “Out here, by yourself in the woods.”

I spin around and lean against a tree. “I just needed a break.”

His trench coat billows as he saunters toward me. He plants a hand over my head and tips my chin up.

“Did you? Or were you hoping I’d come find you?”

“What are you doing?” I whisper.

Right when I think he might pull something insane like kissing me, the smarmy flirtatious mask drops. I go cold all over at the truth he hid underneath. His hatred for me burns in his amber eyes.

“What am I going to do with you? All alone. No one to hear you screaming for help.”

“Dante.” I don’t like his sinister tone. “Look, let’s go back to the party.”

“Too late for that.” The smoothness vanishes from his voice, his words taking on a rough edge. “You were always meant to end up like this tonight.”

Shit.Shit. My heart races. I knew he was up to something. I never should have let my guard drop.

Is this why he started sending the notes?

As much as I love Halloween, horror movies, and all things macabre, I’m actually a huge pansy. No one knows I’m terrified of spiders, and find latent ninja skills when I accidentally walk into a web. I was afraid of the dark until I was ten.

“Dante—”

Shoving away from the tree, he reaches into the pocket of his long coat and pulls out a wad of dark fabric.

“I know these woods better than you ever will. Don’t get caught tonight, and you’re free to enjoy the rest of the party weekend or leave. But if I catch you?”

He doesn’t tell me what the consequence is, but the expression on his face makes me stumble back a step, tripping on my skirt. The thin material rips. His mean chuckle echoes through the empty woods.

“Run.”

“This isn’t funny.”

Dante pulls on a hooded mask with a skull that reminds me way too much of the Ghostface mask in the Scream movies. My favorite horror franchise is a nightmare I’m now living.

He takes a threatening step in my direction that stops my heart. I bolt, not waiting around to see how serious he is. Fear takes over and the woods blur together in the dark as I race away.

I never should have come here tonight.

FOUR

DANTE

A sick satisfaction fills me as I chase Willow through my woods. The fear on her face before she stumbled away is addictive. I’ve never been able to get to her like this.

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