I clutched Fallon’s hand and sprinted down the deserted hall, having memorized the layout of the mansion. Jonah had pulled blueprints from the property records, and we’d spent all afternoon burning them into my memory. My brothers were under different knowledge of how tonight would go. I’d assumed, rightfully so, they would continue without me once realizing I was nowhere to be found. I should have been gone from the property by now.
Fallon almost tripped on her floor-length dress, and she hung back to gather the bottom in her hand. I forced down my agitation. It wasn’t her fault. I may have had a plan, but she hadn’t planned for this at all. She should have never come, but I refused to leave her to be seduced and used by Sacred Sea.
When we reached the end of the hall, I opened the bathroom door and slipped us past before shutting it behind us, then locked it. Fallon fell back against the door, trying to catch her breath as I approached the laundry chute, retrieving the screwdriver from my pants pocket. I stripped off the mask I’d stolen from a hired server, tossed it into the trash, still wearing the one I had on beforehand.
One by one, I unscrewed the bolts, letting them fall to the floor as the pressure clouded my blood. Fallon stayed silent behind me. I hoped she couldn’t hear the loud beat of betrayal slamming inside my chest. It was never a choice when it came to her, only one answer. Her.
I thought and moved forward with tunnel vision.
Love could only be understood by looking at the story backward. But I no longer had a desire to understand why, only that it was, and I was never letting it go. To think a monster who could hate so passionately could love so profoundly shook my very existence. Everything I’d known I questioned, and everything I was, I was no more. It was her, always. Every time.
The book of Cantini and the book of Danvers both had the answers on how to break the curse, and if I couldn’t get to them before the other Heathens, they would kill her, and once they had her, I couldn’t stop them.
The steel chute plate hung from the last screw, and I held it to the side, waved Fallon closer. “You have to jump through,” I insisted. Her slender fingers twisted in front of her. Her gaze bounced from me to the dark hole. “Come on, Fallon. You can do this.”
The doorknob jiggled, and Fallon jumped from her spot and backed away from the door.
“Fallon, now!” I whispered-shouted in a panic, resisting the urge to pick her up and throw her in there myself.Bang! bang! bang!and her eyes widened with mine. “Get in the hole.” I wanted to scream the words, but I was able to maintain a steady whisper.
Fallon hiked up her dress and clutched my shoulder as she pushed one leg inside. Then she paused, looked up at me with fear in her eyes.
“I’m right behind you,” I promised, nudging my head. She nodded, crawled the rest of the way in before sliding and disappearing through the hole. A few more raps at the door and my head cocked from where Fallon disappeared to the doorknob. It wouldn’t be long until they found their way inside. I shoved the screwdriver back in my pocket, ducked, swung my leg into the hole, then turned to push the other through.
Then I let go.
The slide was almost a straight drop down to the cellar, and, in no time, I’d dropped into a heap of dirty laundry beside Fallon. Her silence was killing me, but I couldn’t think about that right now. Not when we were running out of time. I climbed out of the laundry cart, helped her to her feet and back on solid ground.
Down here, the walls were made of stone with very little light. The temperature had dropped by at least ten degrees. Wood beams ran across the low ceilings. I peered down to the right, then left. I pinched my temple with my forefinger and thumb. I was spun around. Behind us, an industrial-sized washer and dryer buzzed, flirting with my nerves.
“Which way?” Fallon asked with her arms across her chest, her palms rubbing over her upper arms for warmth. Her white dress and white hair were disheveled, and her eyes held a million questions, none of which I could answer.
“I’m thinking.” I paced with my hands on my hips. Above me, the chute had a slight angle. I closed my eyes, imagined the faded architectural lines from the blueprints. “This way.”
The underground tunnels shaped into the pentagram below Weeping Hollow kept evil spirits away, and kept those who didn’t belong here lost. It was easy to get turned around, and we weren’t even inside yet. Each coven had their own cavern underground, a smaller chamber only accessible from certain entry points. The only way to the Sacred Sea chamber was through the Pruitt mansion. Only one way in. This was my only shot.
Fallon followed a few steps behind in a light jog, her heelsclicking!andclacking!against the tile and grating against my anxiety. “How much do you love those shoes?” I asked her, keeping my attention forward. Fallon huffed out air through her nose. It was loud, then the clicking stopped. I turned to make sure she was still behind me, seeing her walking in her beautiful dress, her heels in her hands. Her mask was gone, and she forced a fake smile. “I’m sorry, but you should have never gone to that party.”
She stayed silent. With every step, a soft glow of a motion-sensor light kicked on, then disappeared behind us. The silence was thick as if our heads were submerged in water. I couldn’t take the pressure of betraying the Heathens as well as the tension between us. It was my fault because I couldn’t leave her upstairs. It was her fault because she should have never left the house.Why didn’t I just tell her not to leave the house?
I looked back at her once more. “Fallon, you can talk to me.”
“I know,” she told me. “Right now, I’m mad. I don’t want to say anything I don’t mean.”
“I don’t care if you mean it or not, I want to know what you’re thinking.”
Fallon laughed. “No, you don’t.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You wanna know what I’m thinking?” she sighed, “The truth?” And she didn’t give me a chance to speak before she continued, “You killed fucking Carrie!” she shouted at my back. I glanced back at her, narrowed my eyes, and she lowered her voice. “She wanted me here, and now I have no idea why. And at the same time, I’m so relieved you can finally see what I’ve always seen. It was never you doing all those things to those people. It was always someone controlling you, but instead of letting me be there for you—because, Julian, let’s face it, you were a mess—you just dragged me out of the woods and pushed me away. Ever since I got here, no one tells me shit. Everyone’s all cryptic. You keep everything hidden from me, yet here I am, walking behind you, trusting you, and it pisses me off how much I trust you. Like I’m some weak and stupid girl or something. And you’re so vague and back and forth. Like ‘Fallon, there’s no time, I must leave. Fallon, I can’t be apart from you. We are right together. Fallon, you need to go, it’s dangerous. Fallon, I can’t live without you,’” she mocked.
I was smiling, shaking my head. “I do not sound like that.”
“Yeah,” she laughed, “That’s exactly how you sound.”
“I sound like a dick.”
We reached the end of the hall. Fallon stayed a few steps back as I placed my palms over the stone where the hidden door should be, and I pressed my ear to the cold wall. I closed my eyes, listening for the hollow.
