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Remy rolls his eyes and adjusts his leather jacket as the fire crackles. “Alright, why are you pouting?”

I snort. “I won’t tell you if you roll your eyes at me.”

“Is it Stephen?”

My jaw ticks. “I don’t get why your sister needs to sleep around. Am I not enough for her, man?”

Remy quirks his brow. “You’re sleeping around.”

I kick some rocks at him. “Not the same. You took my fucking girl from right under me. I like Talia, I really do, but she can’t go around acting like that. It’s not right. And I haven’t slept with Didi since that night. All we ever do is kiss…that’s all she’ll let me do.”

He lets out a deep sigh. “Look, Tommy. I never meant to take her from you like that. I fought how I was feeling for her. I swear, I fought it so hard. I wasn’t sure if Talia was going to let me keep her. But now that she’s here…I can’t let her go. You have always had feelings for Talia. You can’t deny that. Talia needs a guy like you in her life. Otherwise, she will end up with a guy like Stephen Garcia, who won’t treat her right. You need to marry her, man; it has to be you.”

He’s right. Talia needs me. If anything, she needs me to make sure she doesn’t completely lose her damn mind and go on a killing spree or something.

I stare at the embers as they crack and spark, and smoke circles around the frosty December air. The trees around us have an ethereal glow that’s not helping my ominous mood. I keep staring at the road, waiting for them to come home. I’m so wired I can’t even strum my guitar.

“Have you ever thought about leaving? Getting out of here? Away from all this?” I ask after a few minutes of quiet.

Remy shakes his head. “Don’t even think about it, man. There is only one way out—silence or death. Plus, Talia won’t let you leave, so just take the money, power, sex, and leave it alone.”

I lean back on my hands, staring up at the dim sky just as Dream Weaver comes on my mix tape, and the weed kicks in.

I’ve discovered something over the past few weeks, mainly by observing and keeping my damn mouth shut. Talia’s not seeking nirvana…she’s trapped in a layer of hell and can’t get out. Death is the only way forward.

I stare at our pathetic fire as a heaviness presses over me. “I need you to tell me what happened to her, Remy. No more lies or half-truths. I want to know everything about her.”

He shakes his head and takes a swig of beer. “You don’t wanna know, trust me.”

I grind my teeth together. “I’m sick of everyone thinking I’m so soft and weak. Tell me what the fuck happened to Talia to make her the way she is. I’m not stupid, man. I know something messed up happened to her.”

“She was buried alive,” he snipes, and my blood runs cold. He keeps his head down, and the night goes silent, like sound itself doesn’t exist—even the music stops.

“What?”

A pause just as the chorus comes on. “She was sixteen when it happened. Masked men took her in the middle of the night and buried her in the forest behind our house. I followed them and dug her up…” He swallows a swell of emotion. “If I was a minute later, she wouldn’t be here. She didn’t have a damn pulse when I pulled her out. She was white as a ghost and so small. I couldn’t give her air because she had dirt in her lungs. I froze, man. I panicked. There was nothing I could do to help her. And then she just…opened her eyes and expelled all the dirt out of her mouth, like she was spitting out hell.” He grabs the back of his neck and stares right at me, his eyes blood red. “She died that day, Tommy. Whoever came back to life wasn’t my sister.”

Goosebumps prickle my skin all over. I don’t respond. How the fuck do I respond?

“Jesus Christ, man. Who did that to her?”

He chokes up. “You don’t want to know that, either.”

“Tell me,” I bark at him. I remember that year; I knew Talia at sixteen. I worshiped the ground she walked on. I could have helped her…

He swallows hard. “I have no definitive proof since they were all in masks, but I suspect it was Father Malcom. Talia had an affair with him, and when it came out, his reputation was stained, and they blamed her for everything. He marked her, man. You’ve seen the mark.”

My jaw ticks. I have seen the mark, I wondered but never dared ask. “How…how would he be able to mark her if he’s not one of us?”

He doesn’t answer.

He swallows hard and sighs. “The sickness in this town runs deep, Tommy. It’s extended beyond our families. I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did. Now we must contain it.”

Headlights suddenly shine over the driveway, and Bax’s Shaggin’ Waggin’ pulls up, jerking to a stop and shining light right in our eyes.

Damn…finally.

I glance over at Remy. “This conversation isn’t over.”