Chapter Thirty
In the span of a few days, my life was flipped upside down.
I went from making passionate love with Shadow in the breathtaking kingdom of Cambodia to standing in the rain, staring at the corpse of a man, lying on a table.
“It’s Lucien,” Lincoln said, his eyes wide. “What the fuck is going on?”
At the centre of the room, a white light illuminated Lucien’s pale body lying on a black marble table. Soft purple petals surrounded him, creating a sickly yet beautiful display, as if his corpse was the centerpiece of some twisted artistic expression. Resting at his feet was an envelope.
Meanwhile, the entire storage facility had been converted to a cold room with several heavy-duty air conditioners blasting frigid air throughout the unit, no doubt to preserve the body for when we found it.
What really drew my attention was the black tattoo of a goat’s head, beautifully drawn onto his chest.
Was this referencing a scapegoat?
“How did he die?” I asked, shivering. I was freezing. The dampness of my clothes from the rain didn’t help either as I felt the chill seep into my bones.
Shadow examined the body and shook his head. “There’s no wound,” he said, the vapors from his breath hanging in the air like smoke. He didn’t seem bothered by the cold. “No ligatures or bruises either. My guess is either suffocation or poison.”
Shadow walked over to the envelope, picked it up and pulled out the contents inside. It was a single white card.
“What is it?” Lincoln asked.
“It’s an invitation,” Shadow replied, showing us the card, “Dated for tonight.”
“Come and play at Midnight,” I read aloud. Following the message was a fiery logo that I didn’t recognize. I was baffled. “Come play where? What’s with all these cryptic messages?”
“They want us to come to the Inferno,” Shadow said.
“A gambler’s den inspired by Satan himself,” Lincoln commented. He stared at Lucien’s body for a moment, before turning away in disgust. “I can’t say I ever liked the guy, but he didn’t deserve this. We were chasing the wrong person all this time.”
“Which leaves us with the question, who the hell is orchestrating all of this?” Shadow asked.
“Are you considering going to the Inferno?” I asked. “Not to dive right into a proverbial cliché, but I think it’s a trap.”
“What other choice do we have?” Shadow asked. “Calisto is still missing and in the hands of a complete psychopath. The only chance we have to get her is to play his game and win.”
“Sink or swim it is then,” Lincoln agreed. “Should we contact the rest of the Midnight Society and let them know what we’re up to?”
“They’re already messaging me,” Shadow said as he drew his cellphone from his pocket. “All of them at once from the looks of it.”
I saw the look of dread on his face as he scanned the messages on his phone. Something was wrong.
“Shadow, what is it?” I asked.
He turned the screen of his phone towards us so we could both see. It was the images of Brevin West, James Takeshi, and Donald Huff. They were all bound, and gagged—but still alive. The look of fear in all their eyes was unmistakable.
“For fuck’s sake,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “The fucker has everyone else.”
Shadow’s phone buzzed again. The image this time showed Calisto--wearing an elegant white evening gown--tied to a stone table like a sacrificial victim. Standing over her was the tall figure of a man concealed by a black cloak, reminiscent of an executioner from medieval times. His face was hidden behind a white porcelain mask, red tears dripping down the sides of it symbolizing blood. I shivered upon first glance of this sadistic man.
There was an additional caption to go along with this image.
“Can you save her before I kill her, like I did your parents?”
Shadow’s face changed from a look of concern to one of burning hatred. He stared at the image, his knuckles white from gripping the phone too tightly.
“Shadow, are you okay?” I asked.
He turned to me.
“I’m going to kill him. Tonight, I’ll find whoever did this to my family and I’m going to crush his skull with my bare hands.”
I suddenly felt my cellphone vibrate as well. I checked the message and was horrified to see an image of Justin, blindfolded, and tied to a pole. Beneath his feet was a pile of kinder.
Save him or watch him burn, was the text that followed, sent by an unknown caller.
“They have Justin,” I became hysterical. “Oh god, they took Justin! He has nothing to do with any of this. Oh shit, shit, shit.”
I was panicking and it took Shadow’s strong embrace to calm me down.
“He has everyone,” Shadow said. “I promise you Aria, we’ll free them, and after we do, I’ll find everyone responsible and I’ll kill them all.”
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