“Oh my god, Ginny, what thefuck?” Dylan shouted, throwing his hands up.
“Violet’s life is at stake!” Cherry added in a scathing tone.
“But my sister’s life is too,” Ginny said in a hollow voice. She turned to look at me. “I’m really sorry, Violet.Really. But if it’s between you and my sister…”
I sighed. I wanted to be angry, but I understood. “I get it,” I muttered, wearily rubbing my forehead. “Of course you’d choose her.”
“Don’t let her get away with it that easily!” Cherry snapped, eyes practically shooting daggers at Ginny. “We can’t—”
“Guys, we can deal with this drama later!” Jeremiah cut in. He was back at the window now, peering outside. “Right now, we need to figure out a plan to save Violet, and we’ve only got about two minutes to do it before Julian’s car pulls up. Maybe less.”
“Good point,” Dylan muttered.
“Okay, first off: we’ll tell him Violet’s not here,” Jeremiah went on. “We’ll say that Ginny was overwhelmed with guilt and told us what she did an hour ago, and Violet already left because of that.”
“But he’ll insist on checking the cabin,” Dylan said. “And it’s not like any of us can fight him off. He’s jacked. And he’s probably got some sort of weapons, too.”
“I know what we can do,” Cherry jumped in. She snapped her fingers toward the back door. “Violet, stand near that door while we talk to him, and have it open and waiting. We’ll leave the front door cracked, so you’ll be able to hear our conversation from the porch.”
I nodded, already moving toward the back door. “Okay.”
“When you hear me say the words, ‘If you try to force your way in here, I’m calling the cops,’ sneak out the back as quietly as you can and close the door behind you,” she went on. “Then go and hide behind that old woodshed out back while we make a big scene about trying to stop Julian from coming inside. He’ll eventually come in and search, because obviously we can’t actually stop him. But then he’ll see that you’re nowhere to be found in here, and he’ll have to believe our story about you leaving. And then, hopefully, that’ll be enough to make him give up and get away from this cabin.”
“That’s probably the best plan for now,” Jeremiah said, voice tight with urgency. He glanced out the window again. “Fuck, he’s parking. Go, go, go.”
I eased open the back door and ducked down while the others moved to the front door and headed out to the small porch. I heard a car door slam, followed by heavy footsteps crossing the gravel. Then Julian’s deep voice carried through the air.
“Hi, guys,” he said. His tone was calm, too calm, like someone who already knew the outcome of the game. “You obviously know why I’m here. So I’ve just got one simple question for you. Is Violet inside or outside?”
“Neither. She’s not here,” Dylan replied. “And by the way, we know it’s you under that mask,Valcourt.”
Julian laughed. “Let’s try this again. IknowViolet’s here, and I’m going to find her. So you might as well spare yourselves all the drama and tell me exactly where she’s hidden herself.”
“She’s not here!” Jeremiah snapped.
“All right, here’s the thing. I know something you don’t.” Julian’s voice was dripping with smug condescension. “I made a—”
“A secret deal with Ginny?” Jeremiah cut in. “Yeah, we know. She felt guilty and told us about it ages ago. So Violet’s gone.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah,really.We stayed behind to act as decoys for when you inevitably showed up looking for her. And it worked, didn’t it? Here we are, decoying, while she gets away.”
“I see. When did she leave?” Julian asked. He didn’t sound angry. More amused than anything else.
“About half an hour ago,” Ginny replied, voice shaking.
“How? Your van is still here. And you can’t expect me to believe she left on foot.”
“We called a friend from the theater as soon as Ginny told us about your deal,” Jeremiah said. “She came and picked Violet up.”
“Oh yeah? Which friend?”
“We’re obviously not going to tell you her name and make it easier for you to catch up to them,” Jeremiah shot back.
There was a short pause, and I pictured Julian staring at each of my friends in turn, analyzing every micro-expression, every nervous tell.
“Do you remember that conversation we had about a month ago, Jeremiah?” he finally asked. “The day before the semester started.”
