The Thrashers(73)

“I went over there and found it while I was looking around,” Jodi said.

He glanced at her then, searching her face. “So, why haven’t you told the police about it?”

“Because Emily’s phone is also hiding there,” she said. His knuckles turned white. “I checked it. I couldn’t find what you texted her. But I’m not sure the police won’t be able to.”

She watched him as he turned into her aunt’s neighborhood, waiting for him to say something. When they pulled up in front of Rosa’s, she didn’t move to unbuckle.

“Are you gonna tell me what you sent to her?” she said.

He watched the neighbor kids playing on a tire swing and ignored her question. “Why’d you tell me all this?”

“Because I wanted someone besides me to know that we can’t trust anything in that journal.”

He nodded, and his eyes slid over to her. She stared at him carefully.

“Were you really driving that car?”

A muscle tensed in his cheek before he responded, “I already told you I was.” He reached for his unlock button. The car clicked. “Later, Dillon.”





Case No. 4512420

Excerpt from the journal of Emily Mills

Entered into evidence 6.08.2024 by Det. Chelsea Harding

MAY 3, 2024

I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M EVEN WRITING THIS. BUT SOMEONE THREW SOMETHING AT ME TODAY.

MY HANDS ARE STILL SHAKING. I GOT OFF THE BUS EARLY SO I COULD GRAB A SNACK AT THE MARKET, AND WHEN I WAS WALKING ALONE DOWN 40TH OR ONE OF THOSE STREETS, I HEARD A CAR COME UP BEHIND ME. I WASN’T SCARED OR ANYTHING. I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS NORMAL.

BUT THEN I HEARD IT SLOW DOWN. AND BEFORE I COULD TURN OVER MY SHOULDER, I HEARD A CRASH AND FELT SOMETHING SPLATTER MY LEG. IT WAS A SODA BOTTLE. ONE OF THOSE GLASS ONES. ONE OF THE SHARDS NICKED ME AND I WAS BLEEDING A LITTLE. WHEN I LOOKED UP, THE CAR WAS SQUEALING AWAY, AND I COULD BARELY CHECK THE LICENSE PLATE OR ANYTHING.

BUT I THINK I HEARD THEM LAUGHING.

WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO THAT? I’M CRYING AND SHAKING AND I WANT TO SCREAM. WHY WOULD SOMEONE THROW GLASS AT ME? WHAT IF THEY HIT ME?

AND THE WORST PART IS—I THINK I RECOGNIZED THE CAR. I THINK IT WAS LUCY REED.

I CAN’T BE SURE. I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING BUT THE SOUND OF THE GLASS CRACKING AGAINST THE SIDEWALK AND THE WAY I JUMPED OUT OF MY SKIN. BUT IT WAS DEFINITELY A BLACK CAR. I THINK A JEEP.

HOW DO I ASK LUCY REED IF SHE THREW A BOTTLE AT ME? AND WORSE, HOW DO I ASK IF SHE MEANT TO HURT ME?





Chapter Twenty-One


FEBRUARY

The requirements for a séance were simpler than Jodi would have thought. No solstice needed, not even a full moon. Jodi had approached Paige at her locker on the first day back to school.

“Do you still want to try talking to Emily?”

“Yes,” Paige had replied instantly, her eyes wide and hungry. “You’ll join me?”

Jodi sighed. The texts hadn’t stopped, and the numbers kept changing. Just yesterday Zack got one wishing him luck on an exam. Jodi was still having unsettling dreams, and Lucy and Paige had their sleep paralysis. Not to mention the trials.

“I want to know what Emily wants,” Jodi said. “I want to know if she can clarify why these things are happening.”

Paige nodded, agreeing. “Same.”

“And you don’t want to go back to Nan?” Jodi asked.

“I want to go to the rose garden. She told us to go there.” Paige walked with her to their next class. “I’ve been doing a lot more research on all of it. I was gonna go without you all, but if you’re in…”

“We’ll all go,” Jodi said. “We have to do this together.”

Unfortunately, Jodi learned, the reason Paige knew so much about this was because Kiera’s older sister was a practicing Wiccan. It was Kiera who Paige had been getting her research from, inviting her to lunch, quizzing her on the spirit world.

A week later, the five of them and Kiera sat at Burr’s. Kiera would be joining them as their “guide” or whatever. Jodi met Julian’s eyes over the table, giving him a look she hoped conveyed You were supposed to take care of this.

But here Kiera was, smiling and sipping her milkshake, letting Zack steal her fries.

Julian slurped his iced tea and lifted an innocent brow at Jodi. When they’d gotten back to school for their final semester of senior year, Jodi was surprised to find Julian in three of her classes. Paige was still in English with her, but Julian was in economics, second-semester anatomy, and her sign language elective. When sign language let out into a five-minute crossing period before anatomy, he didn’t pack up and run off. He waited and walked with her, showing her the dirty signs he’d learned already.

Now, while Kiera told them instructions, Julian signed to her—Who, me?

She glared as Lucy interrupted Kiera’s prattling.

“So we show up, we hold hands, and she ‘comes to us.’” Lucy tilted her head. “What the fuck does that mean?”

Kiera coughed. “Well, sometimes the spirit may interact with the world around us, so we’re going to bring a Ouija board in case she wants to use it. But Paige tells me she communicates with light?” She looked to Paige for confirmation.

“Yeah, she can control streetlamps,” Paige said, as if that was normal.