Page 132 of The Last Session

“You’re a loser,” I spit out, unable to stop the words. “You know that? You failed as an actor and musician, and now the only reason you have this ‘business’ is because of Moon.”

Sol glowered at me with contempt. Then the expression drained and he smiled pleasantly. “All right, then. Time to go.” He put his hands on his hips. “So, you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?”

Twenty minutes later, battered and bruised from my attempts to jerk, scramble, and pull away, I was back in the cave. They’d had to zip-tie my ankles, gag me, and haul me like a rolled-up rug all the way down. At the top of the stairs to the cave, I’d wriggled so much they’d dropped me. Sol had had to grab me under the arms as I’d started tumbling down.

After that, I’d stopped struggling. Carrying me over the rocky terrain, Sol had dropped me once—maybe on purpose. My head had hit a rock so hard I’d seen stars.

Now I was sitting in one of the tiny streams of cold water, facing the hole. My whole body shook. There were voices behind me, but I couldn’t hear them over the water’s gurgles.

Moon pulled the gag from my mouth. “Are you going to be nice and quiet?”

“Moon, listen to me.” The words felt stuck in my throat, but I chokedthem out. “I’m not the sacrifice, okay? I don’t want to be. The sacrifice has to be willing, right? I’m not willing. I’m sorry, I’m not.”

“Let’s turn her around.” Moon glanced behind me.

“All right.” Sol picked me up underneath the arms. As I swirled around, my eyes landed on Karen sitting across from me. Her head was bowed low.

My last shred of hope disappeared. Karen was a willing part of this.

Even so, I called out to her. “Karen, please! Help me!”

She lifted her head. Her face was ashen, her eyes red. She looked like the corpse of herself, devoid of all life. Maybe she hadn’t known about Grace’s plan. But she knew now. And even though the knowledge had destroyed her, she was still here.

The others were here too: Catherine, Steven, and Joe.

I trained my eyes on Catherine. “Catherine! Please!” Her head was slumped onto her chest, her hair covering her face.

“We had to sedate her.” Moon patted my shoulder. “She cares about you so much, she’s getting confused.”

“Steven, please!” But he stared determinedly at the ground, and Joe watched me with bleak sadness in his eyes. “Please! Joe! Help me!”

A slap to the back of my head, which made me gasp in pain, sparkles exploding.

“Hey.” Moon glared at Sol. “Don’t do that.”

“We need to finish this.” He sounded irritated. “Can we, please?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “Joe?”

He came closer, and he and Sol grabbed me under the arms, lifting me to stand.

“No, no, no!”My voice rose into a wail. I tried to sag back to the ground, but they started carrying me towards the hole, like a roller coaster lurching into movement.

My screams reverberated through the cave. My mind went blank, a pure white burst, as my bound bare feet dragged over wet rock and dipped into the bubbling ice-cold water. I pulled up my legs as if that would help.

“O-kay,” Sol muttered as if they were in the midst of a handyman project.

My legs swung free, then the zip tie snapped open. As Sol held my wrists, Moon stood in front of me, setting down garden shears.

“Stop!” I shrieked, with renewed energy. “Please! No! Stop!” I kicked and tried to wrench away from Joe and Sol, but their grip was like iron.

Moon leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I snapped at her like a rabid dog.

“Thank you.” Her fingertips pressed into my heart. She tore her eyes away from mine and nodded.

Karen stood behind her. She moved forward and squeezed my shoulder, slipping something hard and small into my front left pocket.

“Don’t lose faith, hon.” She managed a half smile. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

---