Page 4

At this point, I had no idea when the Freaks slept — if at all. Someone was always watching me. Of course I knew that all of them had plenty of stamina, but they’d been doing this for weeks now.

It was creepy. Almost.

Valemont had gotten weird, and despite how absolutely fuming with them I was, there was a comfort in knowing they were watching.

Rubin had clearly been looking for me and being alone was becoming more nerve-wracking as his followers grew more fervent.

Leaning against the windowsill, I thought about going down there. Maybe they were just trying to respect my wishes by staying away.

We didn’t even talk about it.

There was a chance still that Blade and Nash would see logic, that they could apologize for not telling me the truth.

Just as warmth washed over my chest, music started to blare from the car. The window rolled down and a hand draped out. I was too high up to make out the tattoos. It could have been any of them.

But then I heard the beat.

It wasn’t just music.

It was Rev 22:20. The song I’d stripped to. For Cyrus.

Fucking asshole.

My jaw tightened as I slammed the window closed.

How dare she taunt me? As if I did something wrong. Had Cyrus gotten Blade and Nash on her side again, convinced them to torture me?

Or was it Cyrus lurking in the shadows every night as the Cadillac followed me home?

It was bold of them to act like their stupid stalking was protecting me from anything. I needed to be shielded from them after what they did to me.

Staring down at the hulking SUV, I gritted my teeth.

I’ll give them something to protect.

3

TESS

I turned away from the window and reached into my wallet for the fake bill I’d kept. A part of me thought if I brought it home I might be able to glean some clues from the image.

After staying with the Freaks, I’d gotten hung up on figuring out why Rubin was doing all of this, why he’d started a religious cult. But most importantly, I needed to know what had happened to Jane.

I’d planned to work out the mystery with Blade, Nash, and Cyrus. But clearly, they were too preoccupied with stalking me to do their part.

So I’d take care of it myself.

Scanning the bill, I got the location of the sermon for that evening. It would start just after 3 am. A little past midnight mass, it was a weird time for a religious service, the witching hour.

But maybe Rubin thought the crowd would like to see him expel demons or some shit.

I threw on a thin jacket and grabbed a small purse, throwing it over my shoulder and shoving my wallet and phone inside.

Grabbing the window sill, I flung it open and stepped out onto the fire escape. I tensed under the creaking metal, hoping the sound wouldn’t wake Lola or Chrissy.

Trying not to look down, I didn’t want to spook myself. I hadn’t been up this high in years, especially not alone.

God only knew how long it had been since this rickety hunk of metal had been properly inspected. With any luck, Lola and Chrissy wouldn’t wake up to ambulances and an obituary.