They all nodded.
“They might not have meant to hurt her when they started going after her,” Ginny said in a low voice. “But either way, she was obviously chased and pushed to her death that night.”
“And it’s just too much of a coincidence that she was on the List,” Dylan added, one brow rising. “A list of girls marked for being hunted that same day.”
“Ithadto be them,” Cherry said flatly.
Jeremiah nodded, his expression grim. “Then they covered it up. Used their connections in the police to smooth things over.Get it ruled as an accident while spreading whispers that it may have been a suicide.”
“And they’ve definitely got the power to do that, don’t they?” I said softly.
“Yeah. Unfortunately.”
I buried my head in my hands for a moment, sucking in a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart. Then I straightened and lifted my chin again. “Can you tell me everything that happened that day?” I asked. “After her name was put on the List?”
“Yeah, of course.” Jeremiah gave me a faint, sympathetic smile. “Honestly, she wasn’t all that worried at first. Not like most of the other girls who were absolutely losing their shit over it.”
“Although, there are alwayssomegirls who are uber-excited about it,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes. “They’re convinced it’s just a fun sex game, and they spend weeks fantasizing about finding their names on that list.”
I swallowed. “Was Calista one of those girls?”
Cherry shook her head. “No. She just wasn’t concerned about it.”
“I guess that was because she didn’t grow up around here,” Dylan said. “She hadn’t heard all the stories about the Dionysus Club and the reputation they have.”
“Anyway,” Jeremiah said, gesturing to the four of them. “Wedidgrow up here, and wehaveheard all the stories. So we were worried. We tried to warn her, but she laughed it off at first. Said she was just going to live her life as usual.”
“We begged and pleaded with her, and eventually we managed to convince her to hole up in a motel room in Crescent Bay,” Cherry interjected. “We smuggled her into the theater first so we could get her disguised. Wig, fake glasses, the whole thing. Then we took a taxi up to Crescent Bay. Made sure no one was following us and avoided surveillance cameras.”
“We even used my old neighbor’s name to book the room, just in case the Dionysus guys were tracking the activity of any friends or family members of List Girls,” Jeremiah said. “Because obviously, those are the first people most girls would run to for help.”
“She would’ve been safe there. I’mcertainof it,” Ginny said, eyes flickering with sadness. “If she hadn’t left…”
She trailed off, and Cherry filled the silence. “There was a Halloween party at a friend’s sorority house that night. We all wanted to go, but at the same time, we didn’t really want to leave the motel. But then Calista suggested putting on a full costume and coming with us. She figured that would allow her to blend in without anyone knowing it was her. Also, we’d be able to keep a close eye on her and make sure no one did anything.”
My eyes widened. “So she went to the party with you?”
“No, she changed her mind in the end. Said she felt tired. But she insisted we go and have fun,” Jeremiah said quietly. “Like Ginny said, we were absolutely sure the motel was safe, and that no one had seen us there.” His voice grew tight. “So… we left.”
“I wish we hadn’t,” Dylan muttered, eyes glistening. “We should’ve stayed with her the whole night. Should’ve made sureshestayed.”
“We were scared about what might happen if she was caught, but we weren’t completely petrified,” Ginny added. “I mean, we knew the reputation of the Dionysus Club when it came to their enemies. But we’d never heard of a List Girl dying.”
I nodded slowly. “You thought something bad might happen if she was caught. But nothingthatbad. And you assumed she was safe at the motel, too.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Jeremiah said. “But we were wrong, and we found out the hard way.”
“So what happened?”
Cherry took a shaky breath. “Around ten, I texted her to tell her I was coming back to the room because I had a surprise for her. I’d found some girls who said they had matching Plague Doctor costumes that they’d decided not to wear, and Cal and I had actually talked about getting those exact costumes before the whole List debacle started. So I thought I could convince her to come to the party after all.” She paused, hesitating. “But when I arrived, she wasn’t there.”
“Did she leave a note behind?”
“No. She wouldn’t reply to my texts, either. At first, I figured she’d just gone outside for some air. Or food. Like we said before, she wasn’t super worried about the hunt, so it made sense that she’d take silly risks like that.” Cherry’s voice was cracking slightly now. “So… I waited. But she never came back, and she didn’t respond to any of my texts or calls.”
“Or ours,” Jeremiah added, motioning to himself and the others. “Cherry called us when she finally realized Cal was missing, so we left the party right away and spent the rest of the night searching. But… you know how it ended.”
I frowned, piecing it together. “Hold on. You said the hunters can track phones. So how were you texting and calling my sister? Wouldn’t she have ditched her phone before you took her to the motel?”
