Cody pulled me into a hug. “Oh, Mare. Now I feel like a jerk for getting mad at you. It’s just…you’ve been gone for hours and your phone was shut off, so I had no idea where you went. And with Vera missing…I don’t know. Guess my thinking’s a little morbid these days. I thought you were dead on the side of the road or something.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m alive and well.” I grinned up at him.

“Please don’t scare me like that again.”

“Okay, I promise.” I pressed my ear to his chest, listened to his heart thump back at me.

He ran his hand over my hair. “I can’t shake this feeling like you’re hiding something from me, Mare. I wish you’d tell me what it is. Because whatever it is, we can figure it out together.”

I wrapped my arms around him, held him tight.

“What if some things can’t be figured out, Cody?”

What if some things were just too horrible that if they ever came to surface, they’d destroy everything?

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Felicity

I’m freaking out and don’t know what to do. BS warned me. Told me something bad would happen if I wasn’t careful. Guess who wasn’t careful? Me. I should have known not to trust anyone. Not my friends, not my family. They only hurt me. BS told me there’s no way out of this but one. One that will kill me. And I have a bad feeling it’s only gonna get worse. Way worse.

Things couldn’t get much worse than they were right now. Every breed of worry attacked my mind. Cody wasn’t speaking to me, which was probably for the best after what he did. What we did, if I was being honest with myself. Oliver was angry at me for lying to him about keeping Vera’s journal instead of turning it over to the police. But turning it over meant turning myself in. It wasn’t an option…was it?

I had weighed that choice on every scale. If turning myself in could guarantee Vera’s safe return, I would have done it. But there were no guarantees, and I wasn’t much use to anyone behind bars. Who would ensure Sydney was properly cared for? Her health was worsening by the day. I could see it in the pallor of her skin, the sluggishness that overtook her by late morning, the whole-body swelling. And Vera, the only one who could save us all, remained gone.

All of our lives hung on Vera. The worst part about it? I wanted to heft that cross on my own shoulders but couldn’t.