He isn’t calling anymore. He’s listening as closely as I am. He’s hunting me.

I hold my breath, ready to fight, until the noises fade slightly. He’s walking away from me.

This is my only chance, so I push a different number, hearing it ring once, twice, three times, then I hang up.

I call again and count one, two, then stop.

And then again, three rings this time, the end of a pattern I pray Dad remembers.

And then I call for a fourth time, and before the first ring has even finished, he answers, “Jessica? What’s wrong?”

“Mom’s grave,” I whisper. “He’s here. Help me.”

Before Dad can reply, I hang up and throw the phone into the darkness, and it can’t be more than five seconds before the crack behind me is too close to be anything except the Magpie Man.

“Found you,” he says.

Chapter 138

I swing around and hit him as hard as I can in the face, and as he steps back, I run.

I’m praying Dad will come, but I need to give him enough time. With no traffic, with no red lights, he could be here in less than ten minutes, and I use that as my motivation to run faster, dodging between the gravestones, fighting against my beating heart and my aching legs.

I hear him behind me, feel him reach out and touch my shoulder just as I find another gear and slip out of his grasp.

I turn quickly to my right and run deeper into a cemetery that stretches farther than I ever imagined.

I want to look back, but that’s the first mistake they make in movies. You look back and you fall and you’re caught. I keep my eyes forward, trying to make out every obstacle a few seconds before I have to dodge it.

The second mistake is that people always run in a straight line, so I weave through the gravestones, then turn sharply to my left and go harder and faster than before. My heart’s pounding, but I keep going.

The third mistake is stopping, thinking you’ve outrun them, believing they aren’t as desperate to kill you as you are to survive. Once you hide, it’s only a matter of time before you’re found.

So I run until my legs burn…and then I keep running.

Except there’s one thing I don’t see until it’s too late: the metal railings forming a border around the cemetery. Keeping people out…and in.

I’m about as far away from the only entrance as I can get, and if Dad does come, I’ll be dead long before he finds me.

I touch the railing for a moment, trying to take in a few deep breaths as quietly as I can.