The house was quiet, only her husband’s soft voice shifting on the breeze outside. Rose took a deep breath, mind buzzing with the task set before her. She’d assumed that the boy would be easier than the old man, but facing that prospect now, she wasn’t so sure.

She had to remind herself that the boy wasn’t really a boy, but a deceiver in a cloak of innocence. A Fury in a lamb’s coat. She was actually killing evil, not a child.

She’d poke her head in to check on Evelyn, then take some leftovers to the boy. Leftovers dosed with enough potassium chloride and thiopental to kill him peacefully in his sleep. She would have to figure out how to dispose of the body. Beyond the perimeter seemed like a natural solution. Sylous would know.

In the end, the community would conclude that the old man had died of his illness and the boy had escaped to be taken by the Fury.

The stairs creaked under her feet as she ascended to the second floor to check on Evelyn. She found her daughter reading in bed, curled up under blankets. Poor child. She really didn’t deserve such pain, surely.

“How are you feeling, honey?” Rose asked.

Evelyn shrugged as Rose crossed the room. The rash had deepened in color and spread up Evelyn’s left cheek. This wasn’t good.

“Let me see,” Rose said.

Evelyn slowly raised her hands to show her mother that the rash had also spread down across her fingers. She sniffed, her bottom lip tucked under her teeth, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mother.”

It occurred to Rose then that the rash might well be the effect of evil—not on Evelyn’s part, but a sign of the darkness encroaching on Haven Valley. It made perfect sense. The rash had come on as Ben and Eli had neared.

Perhaps her daughter had a gift. Maybe she was a prophetic siren of evil. The rash would be healed as soon as the boy was dead.

Rose sat on the bed beside her daughter, comforted by the thought. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. This is all going to go away soon, I promise you.”

“You’re sure?”

She kissed the top of Evelyn’s head. “Yes, I’m sure. I’ll be back up in a few minutes with dinner. We’ll reapply the salve later to help you sleep. I have a very good feeling that this will all be gone in a day or two at the most. Okay?”

Evelyn nodded.

“That’s my girl.” Rose stood. “Do you know how much I love you?”

“As much as the sky,” her daughter said, allowing a slight smile.

“That’s right. And the sky goes forever.”

“I love you too.”

Rose left the room, descended the stairs, and hurried to the kitchen, eager now to be done with the task at hand.