“He was possessed.” Finn turned to Maddock, and his hand tightened around the rifle strap. “Kastor got to her through the Army. Nothing else makes sense.” He lowered his voice and whispered the rest, his gaze practically begging Maddock for…something. “YouknowI’m right.”
Maddock gave him the smallest of grim nods, and when Devi’s gaze met mine from across the dead body, I realized she had heard Finn too.
“You cannot know for sure that Peter was possessed,” Brother Isaiah insisted. “MaybeGraysonwas Unclean.”
Eli shook his head, but Devi’s explanation came faster. “If Grayson had been possessed, she wouldn’t have needed a hammer to kill someone.”
“And Kastor wouldn’t have needed to kidnap her,” Finn pointed out, holding Reese’s gaze to reassure him. “If she’d been possessed, she would have just driven off in one of our vehicles, daring us to come get her. But that’s not what happened. They had toabducther because they’re notinsideher.”
“She’s bait,” Maddock clarified, his voice so soft that several of us actually leaned in to hear him better. “They want the rest of Anathema to follow her to Pandemonia. They left both of our cars so we can do just that.”
Devi shrugged. “If they’re on foot, they can’t have gotten very far.”
“They’re on horseback.” Eli looked up from where he knelt next to Peter’s body. “I saw at least two sets of hoofprints. Are any of our mounts missing?”
A murmur rolled through the crowd as half a dozen members of the Lord’s Army went to check on their horses. A couple of minutes later little Joanna pushed her way to the front of the crowd, her pink cowboy hat hanging at her back from its braided cord. She was breathing hard, her dark eyes wide with fear. “Naomi and Serah are gone! So are their horses.”
Naomi, I remembered, was Joanna’s older sister. She and her friend Serah were among the young women who’d been teaching Grayson and Melanie to bake.
“Did they get kidnapped too?” Joanna fiddled nervously with the knot on her hat cord while she stared up at Brother Isaiah, clearly terrified.
“No, my dear.” The elder’s joints popped and creaked as he knelt next to her. “It looks like Finn is right. The Unclean likely got to Naomi, Serah, and Peter in their sleep, then took Grayson as bait to draw her friends to Pandemonia.”
“I’msosorry,” I said, watching helplessly as the news spread in a ripple of somber whispers. By traveling with Eli and the Lord’s Army, we’d made them all targets.
It was my idea to help Melanie.I’ddone this to them.
Before I could figure out how to better express my devastated mea culpa to a girl who’d now lost both her little brother and her older sister, Damaris stepped forward and put one arm around her young granddaughter.
Brother Isaiah stood to address the crowd. “Naomi and Serah are gone, but not forgotten. Our sentinels will free their souls and return them to the well, as is our sacred duty and our honor.”
“We’ll leave at first light,” Eli confirmed.
But all I could think about was thatI’dbrought this loss upon Eli’s friends and family when they’d done nothing but help us, and the losses might not be over. How long had Naomi, Serah, and Peter been possessed? How many more of Brother Isaiah’s people had already fallen to the invisible predators we’d led straight to them?
Were more Unclean hidden in the crowd, watching the chaos play out in silent glee?
“I’m not waiting until morning.” Reese’s declaration drew me out of my terrifying thoughts. “Grayson can’t afford the delay.” Rage exploded across his face, reddening his pale features as fear and grief for his girlfriend crested. “This isyourfault!” He grabbed Eli by the throat and lifted him from the ground one-handed.
“Reese!” Maddock pulled on one of Reese’s massive arms. Finn took the other one, but Reese was too big. Too strong. Too terrified and angry.
“You let her go off by herself before her transformation was triggered. Before she was even trained to fight.Youdid this!”
“Reese, let him go!” I shouted as Eli kicked frantically and the crowd began to close in, many bearing blunt weapons.
Devi’s beautiful features sharpened into a scowl. She grabbed a handful of Reese’s light brown hair and pulled as hard as she could. Reese shouted as his head was jerked back. His hand opened, and Eli fell to the ground, gasping and rubbing his throat. Devi dragged Reese back several steps, then stood on her toes to speak as close to his ear as she could get.
“Reese. Eli didn’t take Grayson. In fact,we’rethe reason three of his friends and relatives are dead. Five, if you count Tobias and Micah. Kastor’s afterus.”
When he nodded awkwardly, jaw clenched, Devi finally let him go.
Reese immediately turned to Maddock. “Give me the keys.”
“Wait,” Eli croaked from the ground, rubbing his throat. “Even if you could track them in the dark with nothing but headlights, they’ll go off-road. Somewhere hooves can go but tires can’t. Why else would they leave on horseback?”
Reese’s cheeks were scarlet with fury. His eyes were narrowed, his jaw clenched. He was still close to losing it.
“We don’t have to follow them,” I pointed out. “We know where they’re taking her, and our cars will go faster than their horses. We’ll cut them off before they get to Pandemonia, and we’ll get her back, Reese. We’ll go as soon as Mellie’s had her baby.”
