Page 169 of Pretty Poisoned

Looking out the dark window, a sense of dread washes over me.

We should have been there by now. It shouldn't be dark.

"River," I say, nudging her. "Wake up."

"Hmm?" she says. "Are we there yet?"

"No," I tell her. I grab my phone from the side pocket of my bag. "And it's after ten. We should have been there by seven."

"We must have hit traffic," Hazel says. "Jesus, we slept all day."

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and make my way over to the window. "We're back in the mountains," I say.

"So?" Hazel asks.

"So, there aren't mountains in St. Louis," River says. "She's right. Something's going on."

I push open the door to the main cabin and find Brady sitting alone with a beer in his hand.

"What's going on?" I ask. "Where are they? Where are we going?"

"They're upstairs," he says. "Don't go up there. We're going home."

As much as I want to be relieved, I know better. I can feel it in my bones.

"Why?" I ask. "What happened?"

"Officially? They're going to announce tomorrow that the last two concerts have been canceled because Eli had to leave for a family emergency. Unofficially, Emily—that's Heidi's sister's name, by the way—"

Emily.She had a name. There's that rock again in the pit of my stomach. I wish I could undo it; I wish none of it ever happened, and that has to count for something, doesn't it? It has to offset the fact that I liked it somehow.

I'll never tell any of them that.

"She left a handwritten note for her parents letting them know where she was going and what she was doing, and now they can't get ahold of her. They're taking back everything."

"So, what does that mean?" Hazel asks.

He shrugs. "I don't know. We're going to go home, wait for it to be over. Rhett said they were very thorough—they got rid of her digital footprint around Dallas and any cameras that might have picked her up on the way over. But…obviously, they missed the paper note."

"It'll be fine," I say. "I mean, if they have people who can…" I trail off, not wanting to add to River's trauma or supply any additional details that hadn't been shared.

But they have people with bone saws who can make phones and cars and bodies disappear. And if they can do that, then what can't they do?

"Yeah, they have…people," Brady says. "It'll be fine."

What do the rest of them know of the people in the gold masks or where they came from? Do they know who they are? Do they know what they're a part of? I realize I don't. I never asked for answers—I never wanted them. Whatever that was had nothing to do with me.

But that isn't the case now.

Hearing footsteps on the staircase, I hold my breath.

"Okay," Declan says, pushing his hands through his dark hair.

He looks bothered. I thought only I bothered him.

"I'm not going to go into detail, but we're knee-deep in a pile of fucking shit, and we're getting the fuck out of here."

"You mean…we're going home," River says.

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