Page 11

I picked up the phone from the nightstand, where it lay next to the crown of wilting flowers. A dozen chat notifications crowded the lower half of the screen.

Callie: WTF

Priya: yeah

Callie: I feel super weird

Priya: me too

Callie: I’m beyond confused about literally everything

Priya: so are we officially in a cult now or were we the sacrifice

Jess: lol you’re so dramatic

Priya: last night WAS dramatic

Jess: was it tho

Callie: something happened

Jess: what

Callie: between me and Kai

Priya: what???

Jess: what happened

Callie: it was like 1 am. I went to the bathroom. Kai was still awake. we made out

Priya: omg

Jess: wow

I heard distant voices and checked the time. It was almost nine.

My bones felt too heavy for my body when I pulled myself from bed. I rummaged through my bag for Tylenol, then threw on a tank top and pants.

I trekked down the path squinting at the sunlight in my eyes. The fog had retreated, and the Pacific went on forever under a blue sky. The black sand of the cove glistened like crushed tourmaline.

Callie was already seated at the table, her hands around an earthen coffee mug, her blonde hair knotted on top of her head and a slouchy shirt halfway off her shoulders. Dark circles sat like bruised moons under her eyes. She passed me the fruit bowl when I sat down.

“Sleep okay?” she said, her voice weak and dry.

“About as well as you did,” I said. My heart was thudding too fast for the rest of me, which wanted to lie flat and look at nothing.

Her eyes widened.

“Seriously? Who?”

I looked over my shoulder. “I’ll tell you later.”

Priya trekked down the path and joined us, hair neatly styled, her shirt looking like it had been ironed before it was packed. Jess followed, sunglasses on.

Aurora arrived with breakfast, glowing more than the rest of us combined, as if she’d drunk nothing but water the night before and started the day with a bath and a string of positive affirmations. She wore a knotted tank and a long, peacock-blue skirt, crystals and silver clinking around her neck. She set down bowls of peaches, vegan yogurt, sourdough, and pumpkin seeds.

“Eat up,” she said. “We need grounding after ceremony work. If you don’t feed the body, it holds a grudge.”