I squeeze the phone in my hand, slamming my palm over the push-to-start button just as Ruby slides into the passenger seat, slowly lowering her purse onto the ground in front of her while looking at me as if one would a rabid dog.

“What’s wrong?”

I slam the gear into reverse, not wanting to tell Ruby because that would mean this is right. That would mean he has come back to deliver his promise like I knew he would… And now… now I know all of our lives are about to change…

Six-years-old

I knew some things more than others. I knew pain. I knew that if I cut myself deep enough, I could feel all of my pain release, but the problem was that all I knew was pain. And to release it all… well… I would simply need to die. I watched anyway, though. I sat in the corner and I watched because I knew it was my time soon. Everyone knew it was my time. The chapel was as old as time. Well, it was older than me. The wooden benches were empty, but dark cloaks stared back at me from one side, where the other wore white. Where the dark cloaks stood with hoodies on, animal masks covering their faces—some elongated cows, some deer, some—a little more human-like, to the right, the Pure stood calm, tall, and at peace. Their robes weren’t hiding their faces, but white paint covered them. Everyone was silent. Silent because tonight was a ritual, one we had waited for.

“Do you think it’s going to hurt?” a voice asked from behind me, and I turned over my shoulder slightly to see another boy, around the same age as me, chewing on his lip nervously. Then my eyes skipped down the line. Head after head. Kid after kid. All the same as me, only different.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “We can only hope that if it doesn’t, death takes us first.”

Present

“Wicked, you’re scaring me…” Ruby’s hand brushes my arm and I pull away from her, driving us farther onto the highway.

“Good. You should be scared.”

“Why!” She looks between the highway and me. “What is happening?”

I think over all the different ways I can tell Ruby without involving her. Now I wish Poppy being taken was Cosa Nostra related, then that way I’d know that I could blame someone else. Take my anger out on other people, and I know, at the end of the day, Victor would make sure we got her back. He had to. But now? Now I know the chances of me seeing my sister again are slim to none.

“Wicked!” Ruby yells, and I finally whip my head around to look at her.