Might as well ask me the meaning of life. “I have no idea. I think it’s like an experiment or something. Or some sick ritual.”

Though if what I’d read in that book was true – this one I warned you not to touch – then I had a vague idea of what was in store, but couldn’t burden Cassie with the prospect of that happening to us.

She took another calming breath, winced when she swallowed.

“Here, let me get you something to drink,” I said, and she nodded thanks.

I ran the tap until the water cleared like Al had instructed. Had he been reciting a script? I handed the water to Cassie and she sat quietly, drinking half the glass one measured sip at a time. I wanted to shake the information from her, but knew it was better to wait until she was ready.

“The cops, they pulled over to the side of the road. They made me put on a blindfold. I tried to put it on so that I could still see out the sides, but they made sure it was tight. They turned on the radio to some creepy guy who was telling these sick, like, campfire stories, but way inappropriate. Mostly stories about people getting abducted by fake cops and then raped and dismembered. Even, like, eaten. Like that’s what they were going to do to us or something. Then after a few hours or so, I could tell we were off the highway and driving off-road and eventually they stopped and let us out. They let me take the blindfold off but it was so dark out in the woods I couldn’t really see anything anyway.”

Her face turned red and I could see a wave of emotion threaten to wash over her but she held it at bay. “They took us into this old shut-down convenience store, all the way to the back where they have a hidden hatch to these rooms underground. It looked like a hospital, kind of. Or maybe like a lab, like you said, for experiments. Just clean and sterile with plain concrete walls and two-way mirrors, I think. Or a place to interrogate people. Or maybe all of the above. One of the rooms had a bed and a desk and a toilet. Basically like a prison cell. And that’s where they put us and left us overnight.