Page 111 of Ash and Poison

“I will be.”

“Thank you. See you tomorrow.”

I hung up.

This was beginning to sound a lot bigger than anything I had ever dealt with… and a part of me was scared just as a part of me hungered to end this madman for once and all.

“I called Tabitha’s mother. I’m going to town to meet her tomorrow,” I said when Asher came in for his one-on-one session.

“What did she say?”

“She thinks her daughter couldn’t have killed herself. She said Tabitha got worse after she came to Hollowhaven. She became increasingly paranoid, and she talked about spiders. Like Millie and Riley. I’m meeting her tomorrow.”

“We don’t know who he is, Diya, but he might already be looking for us. If he finds out we’re digging…”

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” I said. “But I’ll be careful.”

“You’re at a disadvantage here. If he has hunted here for years, he is either a local, or he’s lived here for a long time. He knows this place better than you do, Diya. Better than I do. Please, please.” His eyes were soft as he subtly ran a finger down my hand. “Stay alive.” His voice hitched.

He looked desperate, he looked like he wanted to lock me in a room and keep me safe.

“I won’t die, I promise. I’ll be extra careful. Did you look into the hunting cabin? Find anything?”

“Nothing about the cabin yet, but I found what you asked for,” he said, pulling a piece of paper from inside his pocket. “I saw Millie’s sketchbook and this… I stole it from her. You’re right. Millie is his first victim.”

My heart froze as I stared at the picture, eyes wide. Row after row of men stood behind tall, gnarled trees, their postures rigid, almost inhuman. Each one of them had four eyes, and horns grew from their forehead like gnarled branches.

In the middle of the woods, a dead girl lay on top of leaves, her body unnaturally twisted. She was faceless, but I could somehow sense her pain.

“This…” My voice caught, thick with unease as I spoke. “This is horrible.”

“This is just one of many. But this one reminded me of Riley’s letters. The monster in the woods. The horns.”

Was it a fragment of something Millie had seen or was it just her mind exaggerating the horror of what had happened to her years ago?

It could be either.

Of course, there were ways to get Millie to remember what happened to her, but even after years, she was still barely holding on. She might not survive remembering it. Not when… he was still alive.