Page 91 of Accidentally Vacationed with an Incubus

Devlin was right. There was something in the candy... but what?

The figure had barely vanished into the tree line before the door swung open. BooDini appeared on screen, practically glowing in the night vision, peering outside curiously. After a brief scan of the surroundings, it gave a casual shrug and bent down, scooping up the box of candy.

I glanced at the real BooDini, who hovered anxiously beside me, its cutout eyes wide and pleading. It couldn’t have known atthe time that the candy had been spiked—but it certainly knew now.

With a soft, trembling motion, BooDini dipped its head into its hands, its entire sheeted form crumpling under the weight of its guilt.

“Oh, BooDini,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “You didn’t know...”

It shook its head furiously, fabric rustling in distress. I reached out, my fingers gliding over its back. The sheets rippled beneath my touch, my fingers sinking slightly into the fabric. “Please don’t blame yourself,” I murmured.

BooDini peeked up at me, its cutout eyes still drawn in sorrow before it turned back toward the screen. My pulse thundered in my ears as the footage sped up, before finally slowing down when it reached the next clip.

The porch remained eerily still. Nothing. No movement. No figure emerging from the trees.

Beside me, Devlin’s hand found mine. He laced our fingers together in a tight, grounding grip.

I sent a silent prayer to Hecate.Please. Please let the candy have spiked my memory. Let one of Rowan’s theories be right. Let the hooded figure step from the trees and cut the brakes—not me.

The seconds stretched into eternity as I stared at the tree line, breath locked in my throat.

The front door swung open.

A figure stepped into the frame.

Me.

My eighteen-year-old self walked calmly down the porch steps, shrouded in the same tattered hoodie I had been arrested in.

Tears burned my cheeks as I watched video-me move with deliberate precision, pop the hood of my parents’ car, and bend down, a pair of wire cutters glinting in her hand.

It took only seconds.

Then the hood lowered. And just like that, video-me turned and made her way back inside.

I yanked my hand from Devlin’s grasp, my arms wrapping around my stomach as a sharp, twisting knot of nausea coiled deep inside me.

I had done it.

Of course I had.

IknewI had.

I had felt it in my bones all these years, that undeniable truth I had tried so desperately to outrun. But Rowan’s files had given me hope—just a sliver, just enough to cling to.Maybesomething else had happened.MaybeI wasn’t responsible.

But I was. I had done it.

And the candy? Probably just from another secret admirer. I mean, I hadn’t realized I had a stalker that summer, so I definitely wouldn’t have caught on to a covert crush.

And everything else?a voice pleaded with me from the back of my mind.

The knot in my stomach twisted tighter as the video hurtled toward its final clip. I needed something—anything—to settle the sickening churn inside me before I faced the last images of my parents.

Numbly, I reached out and grasped the now-cooling apple pie. My fingers felt disconnected from the rest of me as I dug my fork into the pastry, lifting a bite to my lips.

The TV screen stilled just as a sharp hiss sliced the silence. Pain lanced down my wrist as something smacked my arm, causing the fork to go soaring through the air before it hit the stone fire pit with a clatter.

“What the fuck, Lo—bato?” Devlin slurred, shakily standing. His shadows flickered weakly around me, sluggish and unfocused.

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