Page 51 of The Players

If this text was to be believed, Savannah was in Randy’s parent’s store ready to burn it down. They’d already burned down the warehouse we’d used as our clubhouse, so we knew she was good at her word. And we knew she could get out of any criminal charges even if she did get caught.

“What is it?” Randy asked. Her Spidey senses must’ve been tingling. That or she could read the horror on my face.

I showed her my phone.

“Oh shit.” She put a hand to her mouth.

Lowell took my phone, read it, and then showed it to Hector.

“So what?” Hector said. “Let Savannah burn it to the ground. I’m sure they have insurance for that kind of thing.”

I shot him a look, telepathically reminding him that we weren’t all rich, but he didn’t seem to understand my look.

Randy wrung her hands nervously but nodded her head. “You can’t go, Viv. She’ll kill you. She already tried to have you drink yourself to death and hit you in the head with a liquor bottle and that was before you were part of a plot to humiliate her in front of the entire school.”

Lowell pulled out the flask he’d retrieved from his car and took a long swig. “Leave it to me. I’ll go. I’ll give that bitch something to think about. Maybe take a couple of swings at that pretty brother of hers. Help rearrange that face a little.”

I put a hand on his arm and shook my head. “No, you stay. The rest of you are right. I shouldn’t go. It’s too risky. What’s the likelihood she goes through with it? Would she want more heat than she’ll already have after everyone saw her for what she is?”

I glanced around to see if the others thought my theories on Savannah were landing, but it seemed as though no one was sure exactly what she was capable of. That’s part of what made her so dangerous.

My phone buzzed in my fist. With my nerves in bundles, I lifted the phone and clicked on the waiting text message.

ANONTXT:In case you were thinking of standing me up…

There was a video file attached. With trembling fingers, I clicked on it, and it started to play.

The image was dark and grainy, but it showed someone’s face. Someone who seemed bound to a chair with duct tape on their mouth.

What the hell?!

My stomach roiled as the camera zoomed in.

“Say hello, grandma,” the distorted voice said off-camera. “Say, ‘Come and save me, Vivian.’” The figure twisted away from the camera, but whoever was holding the phone tilted it until they centered the terrifying figure in the shot again.

“Are you flammable? We’ll find out.”

The camera zoomed tight to my grandmother’s bruised and tear-streaked face just before the video cut off.

“No,” I said.

A single syllable. One utterance was all I could manage.

“No.”

The phone slipped from my fingers. My hands flew up to my face as the device clattered to the pavement.

The world began to spin as my heart pounded like a drum in my ears.

My gram. She was… They had kidnapped her. They were going to set her on fire.

“Vivian?”

“Where are the keys?” I said, scrambling desperately through Hector’s pockets. “Give them to me. I need to go.”

My heart was pounding and my throat was dry. I needed to go. I needed to go now.

“Woah, woah. Slow down,” Hector said, fumbling for my hands. “Let’s just take a breath.”

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