“Maybe this is all a nightmare.” I stepped toward her, herdingher in the direction I chose.Closer. Closer. I’d have to be swift. Grab her, muffle her, slice her, before someone saw.
“What are you doing?” She stumbled back, inches from the hidden passageway door.
I grabbed her neck and squeezed, pushing her into the passageway and closing the door. “Finally shutting you up.”
Terror bulged wide in her eyes. She was a fighter.
But so was I.
Fourteen
CASSIE OPENEDher eyes. The ceiling? She jolted upright. She’d fallen asleep? How could she sleep while Joel and Jayce were still out there? She scanned the room. The fire Scott built still blazed in the hearth. But where was Iz? She’d been sitting on the other bed when Cassie said she was just going to rest for a second.
Her heart thundering in her chest, Cassie climbed from the bed and prayed she’d simply slept through Joel and Jayce’s return.
She looked at the mirror behind her. Flames danced in the glass. She took off her cap and gloves, running her fingers through her tangled hair.
She stifled a yawn. How long had she been asleep? Having no sense of time left her reeling—like spinning in a storm with nothing solid to hold on to. Joel had always been her solid. And since they’d ended, she’d been listing in the wind. She knew God had her. Well, she thought He did, but it seemed evil was dominating in her case.
She took one last look in the mirror at her messy self and blinked.Was that...?
Her entire body went rigid at the sight of the linen envelope on the table beside the hearth.No. No. No.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Pleaselet my eyes be playing terrible tricks on me.
With a deep breath, she opened them. Still there.
She wasn’t crazy. Hewashere.
With her breath trapped in her lungs, she eased her way to the envelope, and lifting it with trembling hands, she opened the envelope and slid the letter out.
I saw you two. Have you forgotten the cardinal rule?
Last warning.
Remember, I go in and out with you.
Your Shadow
Tears flowed down her cheeks, rolling off her face.
Stumbling down the hall, she padded her way into the parlor, where Iz took one look at her and yanked her to the side.
“What’s going on?” Iz asked.
“I-I ... I...” Cassie studied the faces in the room. Could it really be one of them?
“Let’s go back to our room and talk,” Iz said. With the gentlest touch, she tugged Cassie out of the parlor by her jacket sleeve. “I’ll be right back, hon,” she said to Talbot as they passed.
“Joel and Jayce?”
“They should be back soon.”
“How long—?”
“You were only asleep about a half hour. They’ve been gone about forty minutes.”
