Thea winced at the words but stayed calm. “It’s over, Julie. And if you shoot me now, you still won’t win. It will just be a girl’s life on your conscience.”
Thea kept her eye on the gun, her mind going over every possibility. Could she lunge and grab the gun? Could Julie hit a moving target? From the way she held the gun, Thea thought so. She needed to end this. “You have something that belongs to me.”
For a moment Julie looked confused, and then a grave smile crossed her face. She started laughing. “You want the file. You sad, desperate girl,” she sneered. “Well, go ahead and take it.” She reached and pulled a black file out from behind her. “Help yourself.” The file slipped open and blank pages spilled onto the ground. Thea grabbed one, her fingers angrily crumpling the paper in her fist. Rage rose up inside of her.
Julie laughed. “If you must know the truth, there were only blank pages in that file when I got to it.” She tapped her head. “But I know who it was. It’s all in here, Thea, and if I stop breathing, you will never know who killed Natalie. And it’s not who you think.”
Thea stared at her for a long moment, blinking as uninvited memories flooded her mind.
Natalie, at five, running through the sprinklers. At ten, playing dolls. At thirteen, lying on Thea’s floor while she talks on the phone to a boy, her feet tangling in the cord. At eighteen, dancing in a yellow dress at her graduation party, pride beaming from her face.
Logic and desire battled within her. Her hands ached to attack Julie, to force her into telling the truth, to get justice for Natalie so that the wounds inside her would close.
Except that they never would. The realization struck her heart first and then her head.
It is time to let her go.
Thea’s eyes filled with tears. It is time to let Natalie go. In her desperation for justice she had put one more life in danger: her own. It wasn’t only her heart at stake here; it was the hearts of Drew, her parents, her team. Thea stepped back. My God—what the hell am I doing out here? Was she ready to kill to get that file? No, she wasn’t.
Julie was still talking when Thea looked up. “Did you hear what I said? Were you crying again just like that time I found you in the hallway? What’s funny about that, is that the man who killed Natalie will go on to kill others, and more girls will be crying in hallways forevermore, and you’re just going to walk away.”
Thea jumped as the sound of footsteps crackled in the woods behind them.
Julie threw her head back and laughed. “They’re coming for me now. I can hear them. I’m ready to go with them. My time as a luminary is up, one last gift from Robin. I have one more thing to take with me, though, the girl who brought down the Black Coats by falling in love.”
Thea heard the click of the gun and threw herself sideways. The shot missed her, but Julie leaped at Thea with an inhuman growl. Thea spun and met her head-on, knocking the gun from her hand. It landed hard in the mud. Julie raked her fingers down Thea’s cheeks and tried to get her hands around Thea’s throat as Thea punched her in the stomach. Julie paused, and Thea thought maybe it was over, when something thin and sharp cut into the soft spot between her ribs. Thea let out a cry as she instinctively threw Julie off her and curled over to protect her wound. Her hands came away covered with her own warm blood. She stabbed me. Oh my God, she stabbed me.
Thea tried to stay on her feet, tried to lunge for the gun, but the pain was too much; she couldn’t stand, and she watched as Julie stumbled back to her feet and picked up the gun from the dirt. With a mad look in her eyes, Julie pointed it toward Thea’s heart. “Soulevez-vous, femmes de la vengeance.”
Thea heard the shot echo through the marsh. Her hand grasped at her chest, waiting to feel the life slowly dripping out of her.
But it didn’t.
Instead, Julie toppled over with one hand clutching her left shoulder; the gun fell to the ground. Thea was so stunned she could barely hold herself upright, and the pain in her ribs was making it hard to see straight. Blood splattered her shoes, and all she could do was watch in horror as a dozen women in black coats emerged from the darkness. An older Asian woman appeared at the front, a rifle in her hands. “Monarchs,” whispered Thea, her body tightening at the word.
The woman holding the rifle stepped forward and spoke. “We aren’t here for you.” Her jet-black hair was pulled severely from her angular face. “Are you Miss Soloman?”
“Yes.” Thea tried to reach her hand out but couldn’t seem to let go of the hole in her side. There was so much blood. At her feet Julie moaned, “I created the Black Coats. I gave you all life!”
The woman ignored her and turned to Thea, coldly professional. “Before she died, Robin brought the problems in the Austin branch to our attention.” She gestured to the burning house behind them with a sigh. “We waited too long because of who Julie was, and because of what Mademoiselle Corday meant. Too late we realized that sometimes the creator has to die for her creation to fully live. From here on out we will take care of things.” Her eyes fell on the smoldering plume of smoke that had once been Mademoiselle Corday. “It’s time for us to evolve.”
Thea was growing dizzy quickly, and her brain struggled to process what she was hearing. The Monarch continued. “Thank you, Thea, for helping us with that. You’ve been a great asset, and we owe you our loyalty.”
Julie was being picked up by two other Black Coats now, her body twisting back and forth as she writhed in pain, her screams of madness smothered by the gag they put over her mouth. One of the women injected something into her neck, and her body went slack.
Another woman in a black coat stepped toward Thea. “This is the last you will ever see or hear of us. Feel free to tell the police everything that happened here at Mademoiselle Corday; in fact that is what we desire. On the other hand, you will not ever speak about what just happened here in the Breviary or mention the national organization. We were never here. Is that clear?”
Thea nodded. “I understand.”
“I certainly hope so,” came the reply.
The woman with the rifle put her hand on Thea’s shoulder. “Thank you for your service to the Black Coats.” She gestured, and the Monarchs spun in formation. Then, as mysteriously as they had appeared, the Monarchs vanished, taking a catatonic Julie with them, her wide and terrified eyes momentarily locked on Thea’s as she was pulled into the dark woods behind the house.
Thea’s stab wound was bleeding everywhere as she stumbled out of the marsh and down the trail. In the distance, a dozen police and fire sirens were wailing, their red and blue lights throwing flashes over the landscape. A helicopter pulsed overhead. She closed her eyes, stumbling once and then again.
I’m just going to lie down here, she thought. She was so tired, so very tired, and her body was shutting down, one breath at a time. Thea’s knees hit the ground, her hands struggling to keep the blood inside her body. I’m just going to close my eyes for a minute. . . .
“Oh no you don’t, you lazy girl.” It was Mirabelle’s voice that cut through the swirling black, Mirabelle Watts who bent over her, picked her up, and cradled her against her chest.
“You’re not holding her right! You’re not supposed to pick up someone injured. God, Mirabelle, haven’t you ever read a book?” Thea heard Casey’s voice now.
Louise’s sweet, bruised face looked down at her, one eye swollen shut. “You’re going to be okay, Thea. The ambulance is here and we’re going with you.”
Thea’s mouth felt like it was full of cotton, but she still managed to croak, “Drew?”
“He’s fine.” Bea’s cheery smile washed over her. “His dad is here and he brought a lot of police officers with him. McKinley and Kennedy were arrested.” She grinned. “Louise took them out when they tried to run.”
Speaking was so exhausting. “Sahil?” Thea whispered.
“He’s gone, Thea. Vanished. Just like Nixon,” Casey answered.
The voices of her team faded to a background hum. As she wa
tched, the night sky bravely decided to show its face through the smoking husk of Mademoiselle Corday, and all was lit up, everything in the dark dragged into the light.
Thirty-Two
Five Months Later
After hospitals, physical therapy, lawyers and detectives, juvenile court hearings and post-traumatic stress counseling, they were allowed to go home. Then, after all the interviews, the press, the testimonies and sealed records, regular life was finally allowed to move on. But not until the shocked looks on her parents’ faces had faded and after she had a long, awkward walk with Adam Porter, did Thea feel that life had actually resumed. That she could breathe. That she could live.
All this and someone was still chasing her.
Thea tried to make her legs move faster, to fly in the way they once did, but it wasn’t working. The faster she moved, the more the ache under her ribs pulled at her. Her muscles pulsed with a sharp pain that she never could quite shake. Her pursuer was closer now, maybe only a foot behind her, and even though she stared straight ahead and pushed herself through the pain, she still wasn’t fast enough. The runner flew past her on the right, and Thea watched her competitor’s sneakers thud over the chalked lines at the finish, heard the crowds chanting another name. Thea let her body naturally slow down as she turned and jogged back toward the bleachers. Her side radiated heat; her handsome doctor had told her that the wound Julie left her with would never heal completely. It would be a pain she learned to live with. A pain she learned to run with.
Her coach blew the whistle, and Thea waved behind her, calling it a day. She would get there. Someday.
“Yeah, Thea! Second place! It’s just like first, only it’s not!”
Thea started laughing as she looked up at her own personal cheering section: Mirabelle Watts with her face streaked in yellow and black paint, her hair pulled up in a ridiculously high ponytail; Casey looking bored but still cheering, a single black ribbon in her hands waving slowly back and forth; Bea and Louise hugging each other with excitement and screaming for Thea. She grinned up at them, mouthing, “Calm down!”
Behind them sat her parents. The joy on her father’s face was almost embarrassing, but it was not nearly as heart-wrenching as her mother’s fresh tears. She nodded at her mother, who smiled and wiped her face with the back of her hand. They had been so shocked at what their darling daughter had been involved in. It would take years to earn back their trust, but lucky for her, their love didn’t change. That was the nature of parents, she guessed. They would love even when they shouldn’t.
Today was the first track meet of the year, her first without Natalie, and somehow Thea felt okay. In fact, Thea was better than okay on this warm October morning. The smell of the track, the feel of the sun on her skin, the jersey tank with the hornet on it—all of it was making her heart soar.
And that wasn’t even taking into consideration the handsome college freshman waiting for her at the bottom of the bleachers.
“Hey, nice run!” Drew leaped up to hug her, and Thea alone noticed the way he slightly favored his right ankle. They leaned against each other, both a little broken, both a little wiser. He kissed her cheek and wrapped her up in his arms, smelling like sunscreen and his pickup truck. His olive eyes looked straight into hers. “I can’t even tell you how proud I am of you right now.”
“You, too. I saw you finish those hot dogs,” Thea teased.
Drew flipped his sunglasses on. “It was a major accomplishment, to be sure. Hey, I wanted to see you run, but now I have to head to that art show for class. Are we on for our date tonight? Six?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I know you will.” He playfully tugged on her curls, sending her heart violently tilting. “Oh, and I have something to tell you. I declared my major today.”
Thea turned her head, a naughty smile drifting across her face. “Human anatomy?”
He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively behind his glasses. “We can talk more about that later, but I’ll give you one more guess.”
She squeezed his hand. “Criminal justice?”
“I knew I fell in love with a genius.” He planted a long kiss on her sunburned lips. “Hey, it might be cold tonight, so make sure you bring a jacket or something. Maybe a red windbreaker? A yellow parka?” He smiled. “A black coat?”
Thea narrowed her eyes as she lightly punched his arm. “That’s getting old.”
“Never.” He gave her a serious look over his glasses. “Hey, I love you. You looked so great out there. How did it feel?”
She thought for a moment before squeezing his arm. “It felt right. And I love you, too.”
With that, she made her way carefully up the bleachers, where her team was still cheering her on. Mirabelle, Casey, Bea, and Louise wrapped themselves around her, their smothering love overwhelming. Even though she hadn’t won the race, Thea knew that she had won a thousand others. Whatever the Black Coats had taken from her, she would never be able to repay the debt she owed them for introducing her to these strong women. The Black Coats of Austin may have been completely dissolved, but they had left a heart for justice beating in the chest of five girls who Thea knew would grow to do great, hard things. She was sure that, like herself, they each tried their best not to think of the Black Coat hanging in their closet, doing nothing more than gathering dust. Maybe someday they would pull them down and dust them off. But that was not for today. Today was for sunshine and medals.
Later that afternoon, after making sure the new owners weren’t home, Thea wandered across the street and let herself through the back gate of Natalie’s old house.
The backyard was so different. Her aunt and uncle had always let things grow a little wild, but these new people were gardeners, and Thea couldn’t believe how much it had changed. Where there were once rocks and overgrown weeds, there was now a lush garden of huge white poppies, black-eyed Susans, and long purple heather that waved in the warm air. The garden was filled with butterflies. A fountain bubbled in the corner, and the yard was spotted with the shade of a dozen new saplings.
Thea caught her breath as she scanned the porch, seeing their spot from all the way across the yard. She walked toward the back of the yard to a small notch in the fence and knelt before it, the cool dirt kissing her knees. There, carved in the reddish wood in a sloppy middle-school scrawl, were their names:
NATALIE + THEA = FRIENDS FOREVER
Tears gathered in her eyes. She pressed her palm against her lips and then laid it against the words, closing her eyes for just a moment, burying a part of her heart that she would never get back. Then she smiled through her tears and reached into her dress pocket. She carefully tucked the second-place ribbon into the gap in the fence.
“Second place,” she whispered. “You beat me again. But I’ll catch up with you. Soon enough.” Then Thea turned to watch a single monarch butterfly dance over the flowers, a beautiful killer inexplicably drawn to the sweetness within.
Epilogue
Somewhere deep inside Sam Houston National Forest, Texas
At the exact moment that Thea crouched on the track to begin her race, Frank Betcher was sitting on his couch. He couldn’t believe his luck that this woman had come home with him. He had never seen such a beautiful woman, and here she was, in his cabin. Incredible!
Just hours earlier, at the bar Bitter Sand, she had touched his hand ever so slightly when he had handed her a drink. It was nothing big, but it was enough to get Frank excited thinking about all the possibilities. He flirted, and she flirted back. Together they had tumbled out of the bar and stumbled their way to his car and, finally, up to his cabin. Normally, he wouldn’t have taken anyone to that place given what he had hidden there, but when would he have a chance like this again? This gorgeous blond woman, wandering into his trap, ready and willing? It was like a miracle.
Back at the cabin, Frank Betcher grabbed a beer from the fridge, giving her time to change into whatever naughty thing she had in that purse of hers. Th
at made it easy: less evidence to bury later. He flopped onto his plaid couch, an uncontrollable smile breaking across his face. This is going to be fun.
She leaned her head out the door, raising her eyebrows with a drunken laugh. “Are you ready?” Then she giggled and blushed, and Frank found himself gripping the drink tightly in his hand. Oh yes. I’m ready. Frank Betcher was always ready.
When the woman turned her head ever so slightly, he imagined his hands wrapped up in her long blond hair, his fingers running down her cheeks and then slowly tightening around her neck. Would she be a screamer or like so many others: a silent sufferer, trying to beg him with her eyes? Would she fight? Those were his favorites, the ones where he got to watch them realize that their lives were being slowly snuffed out, the ones who kicked and writhed. The fighters particularly excited him.
Frank took a long sip of his beer, repeating the dead girls’ names to himself in order, like a badge of honor. Hailey. Amy. Sophia. Jenn. Natalie. And soon there would be six names.
He couldn’t believe his good luck the past year. First that girl Natalie, running out of gas just a few miles from this cabin and finding the lights of his home in the dark. It had been so quick: before she had known what was happening he had been on her, his hands around her throat. From the time she had knocked on his door to his running his hands over her dead body had been less than ten minutes. Like pennies from heaven she had fallen right into his lap.
It had been so easy to put gas in her car and drive it far away from the cabin. Sheesh, Natalie had been almost too easy, and as if his karma was feeling generous, they had blamed the murder on that poor sap who lived about five miles from him. Now there was this woman at the bar, so eager to come home with him.
A lucky day for him, maybe. For her, not so much. He choked back a laugh and flexed his big hands.
The woman opened the door. “You ready for what’s coming to you?”
“Oh yeah, baby, come on out.”
She stepped out, and he sucked in his breath. “What the hell?” Instead of getting undressed, the woman had put on more clothes, covered up by a black coat buttoned to the collar. “What are you playing at, girl?”
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