I decided I’d found my game for the day: almost telling Osso I was pregnant—which he clearly already knew.
All the cop cars and construction vehicles wiped the smile off my face.I hated this part.“How many cops are here?”
“The captain talked to them.They shouldn’t be assholes today.”
Scoffing, I mumbled, “I’ve heard that before.”
He pulled over and parked beside a cruiser.When I opened the door and slid out, my knees buckled and I almost went down.Oh, shit.
Osso was there, with one hand on my arm and one around my back.“What’s the matter?”
I blew out a breath and tried to clear my head.“There are more bodies out here than the one in the vision.”
“I’ll call Declan.”He started to pull out his phone, but I stopped him.
“He’s busy today.Leave him alone and give me a minute.”I stood up straight, my gloved hands braced against the passenger door.“If I start to go down, you have to catch me.I hate getting dirty and—” Well, I didn’t want the baby to get jarred, but I wasn’t telling him that.“And I just did my hair.”
He looked at the tangle of curls strangled within an inch of its life by an incredibly strong scrunchie and said, “Okay.”
I moved away from the truck.He thankfully grabbed my backpack for me.With every step I took, the pressure I felt became more painful.It was like being pressed in a medieval torture device.
Holding up a finger, I stepped away from Osso and tipped my head up to the dappled light.I asked the Goddess to help me bear the pressure and to keep the little one safe from it.I felt an ocean breeze, smelled honeysuckle, and knew she’d heard my plea.
When I walked under a tree on my way to the demolished cabin, I felt sudden pain radiating from the back of my head.Pointing down at my feet, I said, “There’s someone here.He was hit in the back of the head.”
Osso barked out orders and a woman in a uniform ran up with a handful of little orange flags on long metal sticks.Osso placed the first one by my feet.
I did my best to shake off the lingering pain and move toward where most of the cops were gathered.They moved aside, forming smaller groups away from me as I walked closer to the area circled in yellow tape.
What I saw didn’t make sense, though.I’d been expecting a body.I hadn’t anticipated three.Two of them were obscured.One in a large black trash bag and one in a peeling sheet of plastic.Maybe a shower curtain.The last—or perhaps first—was lying in the open, his clothes in threadbare patches.What made my stomach roll was that these remains were small.This was a child.
I looked back at Osso.“You want me to read him?”I was really hoping someone was going to tell me to stay the hell away from the crime scene.
A man I recognized as the police captain stepped forward.“We want you to read all three.”He didn’t like me, but apparently he liked what I could do for them.
I regarded him a moment.“We’ll see.This isn’t easy for me.”When I heard snickering at that, I tipped my head toward the hecklers.“And I want them out of here.”
His jaw clenched.He hated taking orders from me.It was written all over his face, but he also seemed to understand that I was the real deal, so he glared at the group of three men, his hands fisted at his side.The men quickly walked away.
I put a leg over the yellow tape and Osso was there, holding my arm so I didn’t fall on the uneven ground.“Is there someplace I shouldn’t stand?”
He shook his head.“We’ve taken samples of the dirt around them.”He glanced down at my sneakers.“We’re going to have to take your shoes into evidence, though.Sorry.”
“I swear to the Goddess,” I murmured to him.“If you let me pass out on human remains, I will never forgive you.”
“I said I wouldn’t let you hit the ground,” he growled.
Crouching beside the body, I took off a glove and lightly touched my finger to a bone at the ankle.
“Shhh.They’ll hear us.Come on.”
I stare at the arrows in the bigger kid’s hand.“I don’t think we should do this.My mom’ll kill me if I get kicked out of camp.”I follow, but I don’t want to.There’s something about the way he stares at me that scares me.It’s like his eyes are empty or something.I follow him out of the equipment cabin.Maybe this is a dream and I’m still asleep in my bunk.“We should go back to bed now before we get caught.”
“Hurry up,” is all he says, but it’s enough to get me to follow him.I want to turn around but I don’t know how.Feeling stupid and scared, I trail him.
We’re going to the meadow where three bales of hay are stacked.Lightheaded, I scan the field, my eyes darting left and right.How do I get out of this?
On the middle bale, there’s a ripped target.We were practicing archery today and I made the mistake of laughing when he missed the target completely.
