Page 50 of Virgin Sacrifice

Just then, the distinctive melody of a phone ringing broke through the night.

My heart seized and my throat closed up as I looked down at my phone, wondering who it was that I was about to die for.

The chimes continued to ring out, but my screen didn’t show an incoming call. . .

It was one of their phones, not mine.

A rush of relief shuddered through me.

I tried to listen to the sheep’s voices, to catch anything that might help me identify them if I ever escaped this nightmare, but they both remained quiet. So quiet that I could make out the barest sounds of someone speaking through the phone, not that I was able to understand a word.

After a couple of minutes, the garble of faraway speech stopped, only to be momentarily followed by the distinctive crash of someone stomping through wood. Each step slightly fainter than the last, as if the sheep were moving away from me.

Abruptly, the sound of detritus crackling underfoot was replaced by the quieter thump of shoes on unpaved but well-traveled ground.

Could they really be leaving?

I didn’t move, didn’t even release another breath as I waited for the footsteps to disappear. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes, the forest fell quiet around me once more.

I didn’t move.

For all I knew, this was a trap. Instead, I sat there until my butt and legs were numb from the cold ground and my ankle had swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. I didn’t lift my phone to call the campus police, or to text Autumn. I didn’t even dare clear the dirt from the injuries on my hand.

I watched the clock on my phone as the minutes slowly ticked by. Only once it turned midnight, an hour after the sheep had followed me into the forest, did I allow myself to start making my way out of the woods.

I had survived the night.

Chapter twenty-three

Luz

By the time I limped my way out of the woods and back to Jackson College House, it was past one in the morning. My adrenaline had long since crashed, leaving me bone tired and with a pounding headache. It didn’t help that my ankle screamed at me in protest anytime I tried to put any weight on it, meaning I was forced to sort of hop and shuffle my way back, stopping every couple of minutes to rest.

I briefly considered calling the police when I first dragged myself out of the woods. But I hadn’t heard from the detectives since the final interview, and the last thing I wanted to do was drag their attention back to me and have them start digging deeper into my past.

The bigger question was, what was I going to tell the twins?

There would be no hiding my injuries from them. My ankle would need at least a couple of weeks to heal. I should probably visit the university clinic and get it looked at, but I couldn’t think any further ahead than getting home and getting to bed.

I had half expected the sheep to be there waiting for me when I returned, and if it weren’t for the group of students returning from a Halloween party at the same time that I limped up to the building I didn’t know if I would have been able to force myself inside. I felt terrible knowing that Autumn was in there, vulnerable and alone, and I desperately wanted to go check on her, but the possibility of another run-in with the sheep had me wary. I nearly cried with relief when I saw the other students making their way into the building.

If anyone noticed my disheveled state, no one commented on it. They probably thought it was some kind of Halloween costume. That or they were too drunk to notice.

The elevator pinged for the fourth floor, and I had to pull myself out of it and over to Autumn’s door. I was filled with a sense of dread and I wished some of the partygoers had gotten off on my floor as well.

I let myself into her room, sick with apprehension, half certain she had fallen victim to sheep. My hands were shaky, and I dropped the key card three times before I managed to unlock the door.

For a moment, the darkness of her room took me back to the woods, and I was tearing down the path, feet bleeding, my chest tight with adrenaline and terror.

Then I heard the soft rumbles of Autumn’s snore, and I grabbed onto her desk for support as my knees nearly gave out. My eyes adjusted and as I started to make out the sight of her signature red hair peeking out from under the cover, I swayed once again.

I hauled myself the last couple of feet to her side, needing to see her face to know she was truly okay. I teased back the covers and was rewarded with the sight of a still pale but healthier-looking, and most importantly untouched, Autumn, causing several silent tears to escape as I choked back a deep breath.

She’s okay.

Knowing she was safe, another wave of exhaustion rolled over me, and I had the urge to crawl up into the bed with her right then and there.

I scrounged around Autumn’s desk for paper and a pen to leave her a note.

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