“Why aren’t you in the panic room?” Cole’s mom said to Cole, her eyes glittering way too brightly, but Cole ignored her.

“Boys,” said Betty, smiling, “there you are! Cole, did you find that key?”

The gun dug into the small of his back, and Austin held up the key. “He found it,” he said.

The way Betty’s eyes fell on it, it was like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment. “Oh good,” she said softly.

Cole’s breathing hitched, and he took the gun from Austin’s back, but before he could make his move another door opened and a man came out.

Cole’s mom wrung her hands. “These people were just leaving. I told them the festival is about to start. Why hasn’t it started? It should have started by now.”

Cole muttered something and shoved the gun back into his waistband.

“Actually, it might be delayed a little longer,” Cole’s stepdad said. “I’m going out to see what I can do to …” His eyes fell upon Austin, and he smiled. “Who do we have here?”

“Bill and Betty,” said Bill.

“Bill and Betty,” Cole’s mom said, nodding quickly. “Yes. Bill and Betty, this is my husband—”

“Oscar,” said Cole’s stepdad, stepping forward. “Oscar Moreno. How do you do?”

Chapter 45

THE BARN WAS OLD and cold. It had a hayloft without any hay, and snow drifted down through the hole in the roof.

Kelly ran her fingers across her forehead, wincing at the pain. It was already swelling. She wondered how Amber’s shoulder was holding up, then wondered about Amber. She glanced at Woodbury as he lay there, unconscious, and looked up at Milo.

“Why are we here?” she asked.

Milo kept looking out. “What?”

“There’s no point to this,” she said. “What does this achieve?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean it’s done. It’s over. They’ve got no reason to …”

She got to her feet, waited until she was steady, and walked to a hole that had been blasted in the wood by the shotgun that Milo now held.

“Hey,” she called through the jagged wood. “You out there. Why are we doing this? We saved the boy and we stopped Hell Night. That’s what you didn’t want us to do, right?”

There was no response.

“But we’ve done it. It’s done. So what are we doing here? We’re standing in the cold, freezing our butts off, shooting at each other, and for what? For nothing. So I have an idea. We all walk away from this. What do you say?”

She could hear voices now, the cops talking among themselves.

Then Lucy’s voice. “Kelly. That you?”

“Hey, Lucy. What’s up?”

“Kelly, I’m going to need you to let Woodbury go.”