When Devils Sing(112)
Sam pulled the knife from Jonah’s stomach, content to let him bleed out in the water. She rolled off his squirming body, returning to the bass boat. With trembling hands, she yanked the tarp from the boat, and slid into it. As Sam cranked the engine, several Clearwater people appeared at the edge of the trees on the other side of the shore. They ran forward as the engine kicked off and propelled her away from the shoreline.
Sam didn’t look back as she motored between boats filled with drunken people on Lake Clearwater. There were so many of them. Pontoons, deck boats, cruisers. It was almost impossible to steer through. Slowly, she made it work. No one paid any mind as a girl covered in blood navigated through parties of celebratory Southerners cheering at the fireworks exploding in the night sky.
Shades of blue and red cast Sam’s blistering skin in an eerie glow as she rode. The wind swung her matted, bloodied hair around her face. She steered the boat toward a hidden dock on the southern part of the lake, praying there was enough gas to get her there. Sam was afraid she was minutes away from passing out. But she was so close—she had to keep going.
As Sam neared the shore, she spotted a lit cigarette glowing in the dark. It was a pitiful beacon of light. As she drew closer, she made out the faint silhouette of Jack leaning against his Jeep, cigarette dangling in his mouth. He gave her a casual, impersonal wave.
Jack met her on the dock as she approached. “Hey, Red,” he said, crouching beside the boat. “You’ve seen better days.” As he extended his hand out to her, Sam met him with the point of the bloodied knife. Jack didn’t flinch but eyed it cautiously. “You’re upset—I get that.”
Sam stared up at him from the boat as it bobbed unevenly in the dark water. “Upset?” she repeated, nearly choking on the word as angry tears threatened to fall. She could no longer parse through the myriad emotions she’d experienced that night. But looking at Jack now, one feeling grew clearer: a sense of betrayal. “You left me to die.”
“You didn’t need my help.” Jack’s expression softened, and she remembered how he’d looked when they met. The night she’d bargained for her brother’s life. There were traces of genuine remorse in his worn face. “I knew you’d make it out.”
“Just barely.” Sam’s hands stained the wood of the dock red as she climbed onto it, knife still in her hand. She looked over her shoulder at the inferno swallowing the island in the middle of Lake Clearwater. Dozens of people swarmed around the shore, fighting over boats and safe passage. Warily, she looked back at Jack, then asked, “You gonna try and take me back there?”
Jack slowly shook his head. “It don’t matter to me what you do anymore. I’m free, Red.”
“Free?” Sam repeated. “How’s that?”
Jack nodded to the island. “Turns out, not even the devil is immune to fire. My brother’s dead. It’s over. I answer to no one.” He tossed his lit cigarette into the water. “You’re free, too.”
Free? It took a moment for the finality of the word to settle over Sam.
“I’m tired, Jack.” There wasn’t much fighting power left in her. “What am I supposed to do now?”
Jack grinned, and it was all teeth. “As it stands, I have one good deed left in me, if you’re interested.”
Sam eyed him. “No more bargains, please.”
Jack pulled a folded piece of paper from his jeans pocket, then handed it to her. “It’s yours. No strings attached.”
Sam unfolded it carefully, leaving bits of blood on the paper’s edges. It took only a moment for her to understand what was in her hands. “Is this real?”
“As real as you or me,” Jack said simply. He then pulled the Jeep keys from his pocket, tossing them at her feet. “I don’t need it anymore.”
With that, the devil walked away, leaving Sam in the dark.
In one hand, she held the finalized paperwork for her brother’s adoption, and in the other hand were the keys to the devil’s Jeep.
It was finally time for Sam and her brother to go home.
REID
REID MANEUVERED THE pontoon boat through Lake Clearwater, away from the screams of the Fourth celebration, away from everyone. He headed for the north shore, where he’d parked a van early that morning. Dawson was beside him, shivering, despite the warm night. He’d calmed the other captives sitting in the back, who all had grown silent.
Only seven of them had made it out and onto the boat. Seven people out of thirteen. They had truly intended to save them all, but the others hadn’t been fast enough. But with the fire at their backs, Reid made sure there would never be another ritual again. He hoped the mysterious powers of Lake Clearwater had gone up in flames with the burning pines.
“Where’re we going, Reid?” Dawson asked, his voice hoarse.
“Far away from Lake Clearwater,” Reid said, drawing closer to the shore. “We’ll need to go into hiding for a bit until things settle down. I’ve got it all covered.”
“Are we gonna hide forever?”
“No,” Reid said as he navigated the boat to the nearest dock. “Once I know we’re safe, we’re gonna expose Lake Clearwater’s crimes to the world. I’m gonna make sure they never hurt another person ever again.”