“You were practically screaming at me last night when I closed my eyes,” Honor answered, as if that should explain everything.

  One of Honor’s abilities was telepathy, and she was damn good at using hers without leaving a hint that she was listening to someone’s thoughts. Growing up, she’d only ever been able to pick up messages when she was sleeping, only, like the length of her hair, her ability grew with age.

  “I’m sorry. We found the kidnapped girls yesterday, and I haven’t slept well. You could have called and I could have saved you the trip.”

  “I know,” Honor said with a sly grin on her face. “So, you’ve found the missing branch of our family tree.”

  “I have, and they’re something else. I’m not sure they trust me yet.”

  “Why wouldn’t they? You’re all kinds of lovable.”

  “Because I blurted out when three of them were going to die.”

  Honor’s brows rose up into her bangs. “Three, all together? What type of monster could take down three Bennetts, unless of course…they were cheated from having abilities. Don’t tell me they hit the normal jackpot when the rest of us have to remain freaks.”

  “They were anything but cheated,” I answered and started to pace as Honor sat down. I explained everything that had happened since my arrival. The Bennetts, finding Clara, the missing family, my mistake of determining a person was dead that was actually still alive, the missing and kidnapped girls, Clark, and his family drama. Everything including the tiny little detail I was going to have to unbox the worst of my abilities and try to survive the outcome.

  When I finally stopped for a breath, I turned to find Honor staring at me as if still trying to process everything I’d said.

  “Well?”

  She sighed. “No wonder you were screaming for me. That’s a lot to take in, in the few days you’ve been here.” Honor tilted her head. “So, you like the cop?”

  I tossed my hands up in the air, letting them fall to my sides. “Is that really all you got out of this?”

  “You couldn’t read him. That’s an important takeaway,” Honor said, shoving to rise. “Okay, so here’s what we’ll do. I’ll find this Lynnfield guy, and we’ll go after him together, and we’ll leave the cop and the others out of it.”

  “I can’t do this. I can’t control the weather.”

  “You aren’t going to do this alone,” Honor said, just as there was another knock on the door.

  I crossed the room and yanked the door open without even checking to see who it might be.

  An older woman with gray hair was standing on the porch looking at me. I knew those eyes. The ones that had shot daggers at me from outside the bomb shelter.

  A gun was pointed at me. The voice was eerily calm. “Get your coat and come with me.” He lowered his voice. “Or I’ll kill you and her.”

  “Mercy?” Honor asked as she stepped into the foyer.

  “Sorry, Honor, I have to go help Dorothy with an errand. I totally forgot I offered.”

  Honor’s brows dipped. “Can’t it wait?”

  “No. I’m afraid not. I think there’s a chance for a storm after I leave.”

  I grabbed my jacket and slid it over my shoulders before taking the gloves out of the pocket. “I’ll be back in a bit so we can figure out how to help Faith over her cold feet. No way are we letting her back out of the wedding.”

  “What are you talking about?” I closed the door cutting off Honor’s questioning.

  Lynnfield’s grip tightened, pinching into my skin as he led me around the cab of a rickety truck and shoved me inside. “Don’t even think about making a run for it.”

  Dark clouds gathered above as the first roll of thunder cracked through the silence. I wasn’t going to run. This was exactly where I needed to be. Someplace secluded where I could open my box full of surprises and die trying to kill this bastard.

  Lynnfield got behind the wheel and squealed the tires as he took off. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Clark’s mother, sister, and the others pulling up in front of the inn.

  Clark

  Chapter 23

  The two FBI agents were talking on the porch when Clark pulled into the Lynnfield family’s driveway on the outskirts of town. He slipped out of the truck and slammed the door shut, slipping on his hat as he walked.

  “Sheriff.”

  “Special Agent Tate, Monroe,” Clark said as he stepped up onto the porch. Thunder crackled overhead, making the hair on Clark’s nape stand on end.

  “Thanks for coming. We found something you might want to see,” Tate announced.

  “The Canfield forensics team has already been over the place.”

  “Yes, well.” Justice Tate gestured to the stairs that led to the basement. “What we found wouldn’t have been spotted by the naked eye. Not unless you knew where to look for it. We pulled the house’s blueprints before we got here.”

  Their boots clunked on the wood stairs that led down into the basement below. The scent and smell of the room had been somewhat aired out since he’d been down there with Mercy before. She’d claimed evil had been in that room, whatever the hell that meant.

  Clark slowed as he neared the opening in the floor where a rug once lay. The rug was rolled back against the wall, and the steel hatch was propped open, the locks hanging undone and free on the closure. A staircase led down into a lighted area below. He followed the light and stepped down off of the last step into the secret subbasement. A ratty mattress sat on the floor on the other side. Shackles with dried blood were attached to the floor. Small dresses with filthy dark patches were spread out on the table.

  “I’d say the forensic department missed a spot. Wouldn’t you?”

  He couldn’t answer as he surveyed the room. Now he understood what Mercy had meant when she said she sensed evil. The hidden room ran the length of the house above. Pictures of the girls they’d found hung on the wall alongside newspapers from several counties away, detailing the girls’ disappearances.

  A half-eaten bowl of cereal was sitting on a child-sized table, a cup of coffee sitting next to it. Clark touched the cup. “It’s still warm.”

  “We believe he’s been here,” Tate announced, walking across the room toward where a small, rough kitchen was laid out. He slipped on gloves and picked up a receipt from the table. “This receipt is dated yesterday.”

  Clark abandoned the coffee and took the receipt. He scanned the contents. “Five-pound bag of rat poison?”

  Tate opened the cabinet beneath the counter and gestured. “It’s not here, and we can’t find it upstairs either.”

  “What do you suppose Lynnfield needs with rat poison?” Special Agent Monroe asked.

  “That’s not even the interesting part,” Tate said, pointing toward the bottom of the receipt. “Who the hell is Betty Lynnfield? If I recall correctly, that’s not the wife’s name.”

  “Probably the alter-ego,” Clark answered, stepping farther into the kitchen. He pulled a pen from his pocket and used it to lift an empty apple pie filling can from the trash.

  His heart quickened as he dropped it and pulled out his phone. No service. “I know what he’s doing with the poison.”

  Clark moved toward the stairs, and there was still no service, so he climbed them, taking them two at a time until he reached outside the property and speed-dialed Walker’s number.

  “What?” Walker barked out on the first ring.

  “Don’t let anyone eat the pie. It’s poisoned.” Clark ran his hand through his hair and rested it on top of his head.

  “Good thing you called when you did. It’s in the oven as we speak,” Walker said.

  Clark breathed a sigh of relief. “You back at the inn?”

  “Yeah, and there’s another woman here. Another Bennett,” Walker announced. “She claims to be Mercy’s sister, but Mercy isn’t around to ask.”

  “What the hell do you mean she isn’t around to ask? She better not have left.”

  “She was gone when I got here. I’ll let you talk to the sister,” Walker said.

  A second passed until a sweet female voice came on the line. “Hello?”

  “Uh… Honor, wasn’t it? This is Clark. I met you as I was leaving.”

  “Oh, right. You’re the cop. What can I do for you?” she asked.

  “Where is Mercy?” Clark demanded.

  “She left with a lady named Dorothy on an errand, and then said that when she returns, we can talk my sister out of having cold feet and not calling off the wedding. Not that Faith was even getting cold feet. Mercy was acting strange.”

  “You said she left with Dorothy?” Clark swallowed around the fear slithering down his throat. He clenched his eyes closed. This wasn’t happening.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “My mother is Dorothy. She’s the only one in town. Give the phone back to Walker. Your sister is in danger.”

  “Wait.” He heard the creak of a door opening on the other end of the phone. Clark had grown up with the tattle-telling creak that had alerted his parents every time he’d tried to sneak into or out of the house. “Where there’s thunder, there’s soon to be lightning. We have to find her and fast,” Honor growled.

  Chapter 24

  I sat across from the crazy lunatic. The wig on the man’s head was crooked. His lipstick outside the lines. The dress he was wearing was buttoned up to the neck, the sweater pulled tight around his chest. He stared at me over the rim of his coffee cup. The table was set for two. Plates, forks, and thank you, dear God, a knife.

  “Drink up, dear,” he said in a voice that was slightly different from the one that had yelled at me in the bomb shelter.

  “No, thank you,” I answered, watching him closely, unsure what to expect.

  “You must be wondering why I brought you here,” he said.

  “That and more.” Fear had clogged my throat when he’d pulled me inside the house and into the checkerboard-back splashed kitchen. This was where things were going to happen; only now the rest of the Bennetts were out of harm’s way.

  “Ask away,” he said, taking another sip, never taking his eyes off me, like I wasn’t taking mine off him.

  “Lynnfield, right?” I asked.

  “Betty Lynnfield,” he/she corrected.

  That’s what I was afraid of. Danger was one maniac. This guy appeared to be at least two.

  “Betty. Why the young girls?”

  Betty visibly shivered. “He’s a monster, isn’t he?” She sighed and tilted her head. “Unfortunately, you can’t pick your family. I wasn’t around when he took them. No, I wouldn’t have condoned such a thing had I been, but once I saw them, I knew he was going to kill them, and I couldn’t let that happen.”

  This was bad. Real bad. The woman was certifiable, but as long as I kept her talking, maybe with a wing and prayer, I could talk my way out of this situation without the use of a lightning strike.

  “Is that why you brought me here. To tell me that you helped stop him.”

  “Of course,” she said, rising from the table and turning her back to grab the coffee pot.

  I slipped the knife from the table onto my lap and out of view.

  “I can help you,” I offered, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice. “Let me help you.”

  She poured more coffee into her cup, and I picked up mine for the first time and sipped the now lukewarm brew.

  “I don’t need help, dear,” she said with a sigh. “But I’m afraid you do.”

  I lowered the cup back to the table. “Is that why you brought me here? To kill me?”

  “Heaven’s no,” she said. Her voice slipped from the high pitch to a slightly lower tone, and I watched as she closed his eyes and shook her head back and forth, violently, until she finally stopped. Her eyes opened and met mine. “I brought you here to warn you. He’s fixated on you now. You took away his toys. You need to leave town.”

  “Thanks for the warning, but you could have told me that back at the inn.” My heart sped up, and the muscles in my neck tensed. I slid the knife up my sleeve before I rose. “I’ll just be on my way out of town if that’s the case.”

  He/she watched me over the rim of her cup as I walked backward to the door on shaky legs. She moaned and swayed, eyes squeezed shut. I turned and had my hand on the doorknob when I felt her rush up behind me. “Thanks, Betty,” I offered without turning around.

  A hand grabbed my arm and flung me around. Okay—I wasn’t dealing with Betty any longer.

  His thick fingers grabbed my neck, and he lifted me off the ground, my legs kicking in the air, his wig now completely off.

  “I’m stronger than she is. She couldn’t hold me back.”

  His wild eyes gleamed with evil as I clutched his fingers, trying to pull them from my neck as I struggled to breathe.

  I slid the knife out of sleeve and plunged it into his chest as hard as I could. He dropped me, and I coughed as I reached for the door and, in two seconds, was outside.

  The house was surrounded by forest, and I ran for the trees without looking back. If I was lucky, the knife had nicked an artery, not that I was ever that lucky, but I wasn’t waiting around to see.

  Chapter 25

  Honor appeared in her astral-projected state before my eyes between two trees. I knew this form, I’d seen her ghostly looking appearance before when she was cheating at hide and seek. Her lips were moving as if she were talking to someone wherever she was, even if she wasn’t talking to me.

  Honor pointed to the east when all I wanted to do was run farther straight. Faster and quicker. I turned, knowing I was taking a chance.

  My sister appeared to be floating beside me. “They’re coming for you. Stay the course.”

  A shot rang out as I pumped my arms and legs harder and faster. Clouds formed overhead. The deep growl of thunder rolled above my head. Tears gathered in my eyes, and I felt the first drop of rain mixing with the sweat on my brow.

  I ran faster, glancing over my shoulder in the direction of the house. When I did, my foot caught, and I fell. My ankle burned as another tear slipped free.

  “Get up,” Honor prodded and glanced over her shoulder as if she could see the danger chasing me. “Get up, Mercy. You’ve got to run.”

  I staggered to my feet and put pressure on my foot, holding in my scream from the pain. I met Honor’s gaze as I hopped around a tree, trying to hide from my impending doom.

  “Don’t you dare give up,” Honor yelled and pointed her finger. “They’re coming for you. Don’t you dare give up.”

  Another tear fell free, and the rain came harder. My sister glanced up at the sky. “That’s it. Bring on the tears. They’ll help to hide you.”

  I put my foot down, adjusting my weight, and the tears turned into a steady stream as the thunder clapped louder overhead.

  I heard the cuss words through the trees, and my heart stilled as I covered my gasp with my hand. Lynnfield was near, and there was no way for me to escape.

  “Come out, girly,” Lynnfield called out. He sounded out of breath.

  “He’s bleeding where you stabbed him,” Honor said, staring out from behind the tree in the direction of the voice. “Don’t let him find you, Mercy. He has a gun.”

  I couldn’t even walk, much less run. I turned to hold on to the tree for balance, afraid if I moved, he’d hear me. This was it. I knew it. My sister was going to have to watch me die in these damn woods.

  The footsteps got closer, making me inch farther around the tree. I held my breath, ignoring my urge to peek to see where he might be. Instead, I concentrated on the footsteps until they moved farther away. I rested my head on the tree trunk and let out a shaky breath.

  “No time to rest. Start moving,” Honor yelled.

  I pushed off the trunk, and I half limped and half hopped back in the direction of the house. If I could find a weapon, I might survive.

  The house was in sight, and more tears fell as I heard the engine of a car nearing.

  My heart flooded as I hobbled closer.

  Band of arms snaked around my waist as I was lifted off my feet and a gun pressed against my head. “Where do you think you’re going, girly?”

  “Betty, I know you’re in there. You aren’t going to let him kill me, are you?”

  “She’s gone,” he whispered. His words were said through a sneer as Clark’s truck pulled into the drive. It had barely stopped when he jumped out with a gun pointed at us.

  “Let her go, Lynnfield,” he growled and cocked the trigger.

  “I don’t think so, Sheriff. This one is mine,” Lynnfield answered, turning the gun on Clark and pulling the trigger.

  Blood bloomed on Clark’s chest as he fell to the ground.

  Anger flashed with my scream. Lightning tore through the darkening sky.

  “Concentrate, Mercy. You can do this.”

  I clenched my eyes closed. If I was going to die today, I was taking this son of a bitch with me. Anger ruptured from within me. My muscles tightened until all I could see was red. The thunder clapped, and then I felt it. The sweet feel of heat striking the ground near us.

  Lynnfield’s hold tightened as if he were terrified and was going to use me as a shield.

  The world tunneled. There was no more house, no more Clark bleeding on the ground, just Lynnfield and I.

  “It’s your turn to die,” I said calmly as the lightning grew closer. The hair on my neck lifted in anticipation.

  “Mercy, no,” Honor screamed. “You’ll die too.”

  I met her gaze as the tears continued to fall. I pulled the lightning closer and closed my eyes. Lightning struck at our feet, lifting us off the ground and throwing us into the air.

  I landed hard on the ground. My gaze turned hazy. I blinked once and then twice when Lynnfield came into view, his hair standing on end. The smell of singed flesh drifted to my nose.

  The thunder clapped again when a shot rang out.

  Lynnfield dropped to his knees. The gun fell from his hands.

  “I’m so sorry, dear.” Betty’s voice returned only seconds before she fell over onto her side. Her eyes glazed and wide, unseeing.

 

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