Impatient, she pushed aside the bottle of Vodka he kept drinking. “It’s almost ten. I’m supposed to meet my guy at ten.” She tried to get Sawyer to kiss her. “Don’t you want to know my secret?”
“Thing is,” Sawyer slurred. “I’m not really into you, you know that right? I love Jodi.”
Lindsey clawed Sawyer’s neck and cussed him out, running into the woods, crying. But Sawyer didn’t chase after her. Sawyer passed out. And so did Zack and Micah. Jeremy too, out in the car.
Kenzie made sure that the band was out cold, then she pulled a knife from her jacket and crept over to Zack. “I know you want me gone—you keep saying that—but you’re the one going.” She pulled his head back, ready to slit his throat.
Only suddenly, Lindsey darted out of the woods, slashed up and bleeding.
“He has a knife! Help! Help me!” She was hysterical, begging for assistance until she saw that Kenzie had a knife. Then she backed away. “What—what are you doing?”
Lindsey was right at the edge of the cliff, so close. And she was hysterical. Kenzie smiled, figuring there was more than one way to get rid of the band. Having them behind bars would work just as well as murdering them, maybe even better. No need to explain the mess.
Kenzie darted at Lindsey with the knife. Lindsey stumbled back, then grabbed out, latching on to Jodi’s earring as she fell back, but Kenzie barely noticed. She was busy tucking the pocketknife back into her jacket.
Then she started screaming. “They did it! They pushed her!”
CHAPTER 41
“So where’d Lindsey’s body go?” Micah asked.
We were all still sitting in the cemetery, still too dazed to get up.
“Yeah, where’d the body go?” Zack reiterated.
Chilling question.
I shivered. Not that I wasn’t shivering already. I was relieved beyond words that the band didn’t kill Lindsey. But still. I had a murderer inside me. It had me shaking. Big time.
“Whoever Lindsey was going to meet—the guy that stabbed her when she ran off in the woods—he must have taken her body,” Sawyer said, sounding intrigued, but horrified at the same time. “To get rid of the evidence, like the article said.”
“Or maybe the guy is just totally wacko. Maybe he just wanted her body. Didn’t care in what condition. Or maybe he’s into blood and guts and gore.” We all stared at Zack. He gazed up at us. “What?”
I looked down at my hands, frightened at what Kenzie almost did to him.
“Sort of seems like we need to keep a better eye on Kenzie,” Zack said. “Or at least I do. She doesn’t seem to like me so much, does she?”
I looked back down at my hands. “Sorry Zack.” It was lame, but that’s all I could say.
He grinned. “What? Were you going to help her?”
Silence.
“It’s late,” Sawyer said, rising to his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Hold on,” I said, pulling out my cell.
I checked my password-locked messages, now, at the cemetery, while I had the escape from Kenzie. Grey had written: “You know how you asked about church people? What was that about? Darcy’s dad is a priest.”
My stomach flipped. Excellent. For a moment I had something to be happy about.
“Have him there with the body—if we ever show up,” I typed, then stuffed my phone back in my jacket, my brain buzzing.
“Jodi …” Sawyer had seen what I’d typed. His eyes looked concerned. “Hanna told me you should stay away from church people—it’s dangerous for you. Ethan’s blood might kind of be in you too—maybe since it’s part of Kenzie, and now you are too. If the priest really can vanquish a demon, he might vanquish you as he’s doing it.”
My breath caught in my throat and my chest tightened. I was in a daze, but I didn’t text Grey back. I couldn’t. There was no way I could let a maniacal demon loose in the world. “I hope that’s not the way it works,” I whispered.
Sawyer hoisted me to my feet, and I let him walk me to Jeremy’s car, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about him—not anymore. He had kept my ear-ring hostage. The thought made me cringe. Sawyer held me tighter, probably thinking it was because I was spooked. In Jeremy’s car, I sat stiffly as Sawyer tried to hold me, comfort me.
“Have I lost you?” he whispered in my ear. “Are you really never going to forgive me?”
“Sawyer.” I was tired. My feelings were confused. And I had a murderer inside me. I bit my lip. “I’m not sure how I feel right now. Things are so messed up. Can we … just have a little distance, for a little bit? And we’ll talk about it later?”
Sawyer flinched, his eyes full of pain, but he nodded. “I’m sorry I blew it, Jodi.”
I squeezed my eyes shut to keep from crying. “Me too.”
I slumped back in my seat, feeling miserable and alone.
Sawyer watched me a long while, seeming to want to say something. Finally he murmured, “Jodi … things may not be exactly as they seem.”
I looked up at him. “What?”
His eyes looked pained, but he didn’t answer. Instead he murmured, “I can’t say.”
I sighed, frustrated. He was being cryptic. Everything about him was cryptic these days. Everything about him and the whole band. It was so disturbing. They were who I used to turn to for support, turn to for everything.
But now I felt as though I had no one when I needed someone the most. I had a murderer inside me and she didn’t even seem to care who she killed. She didn’t. She seemed to be willing to kill anyone who stood in the way of her getting what she wanted.
Knowing that made me shiver. Sawyer noticed and gave my hand a squeeze. “It’s going to be okay.”
I wished so much that were true, that I could believe him. But things seemed hopeless. Like they would never be okay again.
Jeremy dropped us off at Sawyer’s. “Aren’t you going to come in?” I asked when he just pulled up at the curb, the motor still running. Micah was staying in the car too.
“No.” Jeremy stared straight ahead, out into the darkness. “It’s been a long night.” He flicked a quick gaze to me. When he saw I was hurt, he added with resign, “Sawyer wants to talk to you alone.”
“Oh.”
“Jodi.” When I looked up at him, Jeremy’s eyes were intent, staring straight into mine. “I remember what the necklace means.” Then he drove away.
I watched him go, feeling confused. Was he actually trying to tell me something? It seemed he was, but then why would he just leave like that? Not stay and try to make things better. Not try at all?
I turned away. Then my stomach knotted. If Sawyer wanted to talk to me alone, why was Zack here?
And where was Sawyer?
Zack stared at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I want to talk to Kenzie,” he said.
CHAPTER 42
I sat inside Sawyer’s house, feeling trapped. My heart beat wild and out of control. Zack wanted to talk to Kenzie. But I didn’t want him to, not at all. Anything mean he did to her—he would actually be doing to me. And I could see by the wicked look in his eyes he had wicked plans—plans for revenge.
“You know, it doesn’t really work like that, Zack,” I said, my heart pounding. “I can’t just snap my fingers and turn into her.”
“Try.”
I swallowed, shaking my head. “Where’s Sawyer?”
I’d asked about a hundred times. But every time I asked, Zack said the same thing, “Let me talk to Kenzie.” He said it again now. “Jodi, please, let me talk to Kenzie.” He didn’t seem so wicked this time. He seemed sort of desperate.
Still, I shook my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an envelope sticking out of my backpack. The note from Mr. Daniels. I had forgotten all about it. Trying to redirect Zack, I grabbed the envelope with shaky hands. “I got this note from Mr. Daniels today. I haven’t read it yet. Did he give you a conference note, too?”
Zack smirked, shaking his head slightly, obviously onto my r
efocusing ploy. I went ahead with it anyway, opening the note. Then I started shaking. Bad.
“Jodi, what’s the matter? What does it say?” Zack took the letter from me, reading it aloud. “Come to my classroom tonight at ten. We have a lot to discuss, a lot in common—like the love for the mountains at night and falling stars.”
Zack furrowed his brow. “Son of a …”
I felt like I was going to fall out of my chair. I clutched on to it for support. Obviously Mr. Daniels knew what Kenzie did. He must have been there. Must have seen. But that meant …
“Mr. Daniels was the guy Lindsey was waiting for?” Zack seemed just as stunned as me. . “He was the guy who stabbed her in the woods? Took her bloody body?”
I clutched my stomach as I puzzled it together. “He saw Kenzie push Lindsey. But … he thought it was me.” Suddenly, I remembered the shadows in his classroom—they had been there more than once. Hanna had said the shadows could only search a place once—unless the place was evil. But I’d seen the shadows there a lot. Mr. Daniels was evil.
“Okay, let me think,” Zack said, seeming to forget he was a wicked monster, bent on attacking Kenzie. Instead, he seemed to be trying to help me. “Sawyer! Come here.”
Sawyer?
Relief! Finally, Sawyer came into the kitchen. Where had he been? Why did he look mad? His fists were clenched like he was trying to stay in control, but I could tell he was fuming. He eyed Zack impatiently. “Are we going to do this or not?”
“No. Not right now,” Zack said. “Give me the gun.”
I blinked. Gun? Gun?
Sawyer gave me a sheepish look, then handed Zack the gun. The look he gave Zack wasn’t sheepish, though. It was angry. Furious, even.
“Chill,” Zack said. “This will work.”
“What will work?” Sawyer asked through gritted teeth.
I just sat silent for a second, unable to speak, my heart pounding, ready to explode. I had no idea what was going on. But they had a gun. A gun!
It took me a second to react. I shot up from my seat, the chair scraping the floor behind me. “You guys are pychos. What were you going to do with the gun?” I started to run for the front door, but Sawyer caught me and forced me back into my seat.
His eyes were full of concern, even as he held me down, forcing me to stay and listen to him. “We had a plan to scare Kenzie into running away—running to your only friend besides us: Grey, in New York. But see, we couldn’t tell you our plan. Anything we told you—Kenzie would hear. And for all we know, she can sense your feelings. So, we even had to scare you right now—a little bit—so Kenzie wouldn’t be suspicious, thinking we were scheming with you.”
“It was Sawyer’s lame butt plan,” Zack said. “I didn’t want to scare you.” Then a slow grin crept on to his face and his dark eyes gleamed. “But I knew I could—you freak out whenever I look at you. So, I kind of used that.”
I looked from Zack to Sawyer, my heart feeling funny. What a strange plan. But it made me feel bad. Of course they were only trying to help me. I should have been able to figure that out. I guess they were only telling me now because the plan seemed to have changed. Now Zack seemed to want to use the gun to scare Mr. Daniels instead. At least that’s the way it seemed. But it didn’t seem like a very good plan. It seemed like a very bad plan.
At least Kenzie didn’t hear what they had schemed up—I could kind of tell when she was on alert now. We were starting to kind of “coexist.” Trips to the cemetery seemed to drain her. Made her weak. She would still pop up now and then after a cemetery visit, but only for little bits of time.
Sawyer squeezed my hand, his eyes full of concern. “You okay?”
I nodded.
“Okay, the plan,” Zack said, like we didn’t have time to coddle. “Mr. Daniels wants Jodi to meet him at his classroom at ten. Let’s meet him at ten.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going there. You’re crazy if you think I’m going there. He tried to kill Lindsey. And what does he want from me?”
Zack shrugged. “To blackmail you for sex.” He said it like, duh. “He thinks he can because he thinks you killed Lindsey,” Zack said. “But see, if you record him trying to blackmail you, we can blackmail him. Maybe get the money Lindsey was trying to get—or not, whatever. But the thing is, just because you don’t show up tonight doesn’t mean he’s not going to still come after you. I mean, he’s still going to come after you. It’s just right now we have a gun, and we can protect you. And Sawyer has all kinds of recording stuff for the band. So, let’s just meet the psycho now. Get it over with.”
I looked at Sawyer. Zack’s idea was scary, but it seemed like it might work.
Sawyer shook his head at me. “Jodi, it’s not a real gun.”
“Oh.”
“But it looks like a real gun,” Zack said. “And feel it.” He handed it to me. It was way heavier than I expected. “It feels real, doesn’t it?”
I nodded.
“That’s because it is.” He looked at Sawyer and smirked. “What? Dude, fake guns look fake.”
Sawyer smacked him upside the head.
“Check it out, it has no bullets,” Zack said. “I don’t own bullets. I have no bullets.”
I rubbed my forehead. “So … we have an empty gun.”
Zack flicked me a look. “Yeah.” He chewed on his lip. “But there’s three of us. And two of us are going to be hiding—so there’s the element of surprise.”
Kenzie’s voice suddenly came out of my mouth—“I’m not going to do it.”
“Oh, great,” Zack said. “Now she comes out.”
Wow, how did he know that was Kenzie and not me?
“Look Kenzie,” Sawyer said, trying to sound reasonable. “Mr. Daniels has something on you. We have to get something on him.”
Kenzie shook her head—my head. “I’m not going near that classroom. Not near that guy.”
Zack growled under his breath, then grabbed the phone, calling Jeremy to come over and talk to Kenzie. Meanwhile, Sawyer wired me up for recording. Kenzie protested the whole time. “Fine, wire me up,” she said. “Knock yourself out. But we’re not going. No way, no how. That guy is wacko. He took Lindsey’s body.”
When Jeremy found out what we were planning to do, he freaked. “No way,” he said. “You’re not doing it.”
“Look,” I turned to him, “it’s the only way to get your girlfriend off the hook.”
Jeremy blinked. “My girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Kenzie, she’s your girlfriend, right? Right now there’s a psycho teacher trying to blackmail her for sex. Do you want him to blackmail her for sex?”
Jeremy stared into my eyes. “No.”
“Then talk her into doing this and lets go.”
The guys all looked at me with surprise. I’d turned sort of forthright lately. They still weren’t used to it. Neither was I, but we were in a hurry.
Jeremy looked hesitant, like he wasn’t going to do it. Then reluctantly, he took my hand. “Come on Kenzie,” he said with grim resign. “I guess we have to do this incredibly stupid thing. But you keep the gun, not Jodi.”
I tried to not be insulted he didn’t want me to have the gun. Tried to convince myself that what he meant was Kenzie probably had experience with guns, probably knew how to use one—after all, she was a murderer.
But you know, you really shouldn’t give a murderer a gun.
CHAPTER 43
The plan was to get to Mr. Daniels’ class early, before Mr. Daniels. So, the guys could hide in the closets or something. But the lights were on in Mr. Daniels’ room when we got there.
We all stopped outside the door, a few feet away. Zack stated the obvious. “I guess he’s already in his class.”
“Okay, let’s forget it.” Jeremy tugged at my arm. “It was stupid anyway.”
“No,” Zack said, latching on to my other arm, trying to pull me back. “It’ll still work. We’ll just be right outside the class. If Jodi needs us, she can scream. Besid
es,” he added. “Jodi has a gun.”
“Yeah,” Kenzie piped in. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Everyone stared up at her/me, looking puzzled. She sure changed her tune all of a sudden.
“We’re going to blackmail him for money,” she said.
No, we weren’t. But I didn’t tell her that. She was right. We should just get it over with—come to him rather than him sneaking up on us any time he felt like it. I didn’t want a psycho teacher breathing over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Or leave him with leverage he could use to send me to prison for the murder he had meant to commit.
Jeremy shook his head. “Jodi, don’t do it.”
I looked away from his pleading gaze, my eyes blurring. I was touched by his concern. He looked so worried. But I didn’t seem to have a choice. “I have to.”
“Okay,” Zack said. “Just get him to admit that he took Lindsey’s body and then get out of there.” I nodded, but he interjected, “Or that he knifed her up. That would probably work too. Then run.”
“Alright.” I took a deep breath.
But Jeremy moved in close. He blocked my way, taking my hand. “Jodi, I’m begging you, don’t do this.”
“Jeremy …” I slipped my hand away, not saying anything else. I had to go in there. I had to do this. Mr. Daniels was a sleazy monster and I had to get him off my back. Now. I would do the same with Kenzie and the shadows—I would—I would ditch them any way I could.
At least I had a way to ditch Mr. Daniels.
I took another deep breath, then on shaky legs I went into Mr. Daniels’ classroom.
He was sitting at his desk, grading papers. He smiled at me when I came into the room. “Hello Jodi,” he said. “Have a seat.”
He was sounding just like a teacher. A normal one. Friendly, but professional. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to stay by the door, cling to it. But Mr. Daniels sat waiting expectantly.
“Have a seat,” he said again.
So, reluctantly, I limped over, taking the seat he gestured to across the desk from him. As soon as I sat down though, he got up. He walked to the door, talking teacherly as he did so. “The reason I called you here today was to discuss your grades.” He locked the door. “No, just kidding.”
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