Chapter 48
48
Sonny
M y eyes crack open and the sun assaults my irises, forcing my lids to close back shut. Digging my fingers into the ground beneath me I feel . . . sand?
The grains burrow beneath my skin like tiny shards of glass, and I hiss at the burning pain they send shooting up my arms. Why do my limbs hurt this much?
And I’m frozen to the bone.
I don’t know where I am, or how I got here in the first place.
To my right, I could swear I hear the sound of waves crashing into shore, and while I know it’s near, I’ve never physically seen the ocean around Nocturne Valley or Ravenshurst.
Am I on a beach somewhere?
The ribs on my left side throb with pain as something slams into them three times.
“See? Not dead. Just horribly obtuse,” a male voice offers derogatorily.
I try to open my eyes again, fighting past the blazing sun searing into my pupils and what feels like glass behind my eyelids to squint at the sky above me.
Aunt Divina, Dr. Whitlock, and two other men clad in black suits stare down with stern expressions.
“Good morning, sunshine,” One of the strange men crows with a wide, sadistic smile spread across his face.
In a panic, I sit up on my elbows, wincing at my bruising ribs and fatigued limbs. The two men wait, watching with impatient scowls as I roll onto my knees and force myself to stand on wobbly legs. Raze keeps his expression neutral, never one to display his thoughts on his face while Divina looks like she just saw a ghost.
Why the hell am I so sore?
“Miss Ellery, we’d like to have a word with you,” one of the unfamiliar men says, taking a step backward when I stumble in his direction.
Frowning, I look between the four of them, trying to make sense of how they’re all connected. A breeze picks up around us, ruffling the few leaves that are stubbornly hanging on to their branches, and the sound activates something in my mind, reopening the floodgates. Memories of the past twenty-four hours come crashing through.
“Who are you?” I ask him, then nod toward the other stranger in silent question.
“I’m James Stanson, mayor of Nocturne Valley,” the first man introduces before he extends his hand to the man beside him. “This is Ashton Payne.”
Payne . . . I’ve heard that before. Could he be related to the same Payne who was in Finley’s journals?
Probably, considering how everyone is somehow tied together here. The sour look pinching his face right now certainly matches Finley’s description of the man who ordered his death.
“Why are you here? With her ?” I direct the question toward Whitlock. My lip raises in disgust at the woman who committed such unforgivable acts.
After what I witnessed in those visions—regardless that it happened more than two decades ago—I wouldn’t have been able to stand within ten feet of her without hurting her if I were him.
She killed his brother. She’s a murderer. How is she still able to stand here as a free woman?
The statement seems to stir something up in her. “That’s no way to address your aunt,” Divina says in mock offense, clicking her tongue as she side-eyes me from over her upturned nose.
“There’s quite a bit you don’t know about me,” is all Whitlock supplies in that annoying, smug tone.
Divina steps toward me. While the mask of irritation she usually wears around me is still in place, there’s something lifeless about her eyes. “Raze is the man we send when someone commits unforgiving crimes against us,” she bobs her head and explains slowly, as if I’m a child.
“We?”
They all share a questioning look until Ashton speaks. “Might as well tell her. She already knows about us.” He shrugs.
“The Midnight Syndicate, dear,” Divina supplies.
Matilda was right. The Syndicate is real. And Aunt Divina is a part of it? How the hell could she have hidden this from us for all these years?
“The Midnight Syndicate reaches far beyond Nocturne Valley. You would be surprised who is a part of it. Everything from family members, friends . . . lovers.”
Matilda knew. She tried to warn me, and I blew her off.
Swinging back to face Whitlock, I tilt my head. “You’re . . . you’re a part of the Midnight Syndicate?” I ask him disbelievingly.
All this time, I’ve been blindly searching for the elusive secret society while sleeping with one of their members.
He keeps his mouth shut, lips forced together in a thin line.
“A part of it? Darling, he’s the last thing people see before they die,” Ashton chuckles.
My heart drops into my stomach. “You’re lying . . . ”
Divina lowers her chin, eyes boring into mine to make sure she’s got my full attention to land her blow before she asks, “Who do you think killed your parents?”
“No. My mother killed them . . . ” I slowly say. My mind scrambles to put these pieces together and form a full picture, but my heart doesn’t want to acknowledge the truth.
While I’ve been sneaking around as Poppy, they’ve been playing a much more insidious game.
“He did an outstanding job posing it as an accident, didn’t he? Probably his best work,” James muses adoringly, winking at Raze.
I give the bastard my attention again. Out of everything I’ve learned the past twenty-four hours, his betrayal has been the most impossible to reconcile. How do I connect the man before me with the killer they’re accusing him of being?
“You?” I ask in disbelief. It comes out in a broken whisper, somehow conveying all the hurt and confusion I’m experiencing into that one word.
The air feels like it’s been sucked out of my lungs, my chest aching for oxygen.
He doesn’t deny it. In fact, he doesn’t react at all. Instead, his bored stare pierces into me—through me—as if he’d rather be anywhere but here, dealing with this mess.
Is this what they meant when they said he was cursed and dangerous?
How could I have betrayed my parents this way?
When words finally form in my head, they fall out in a rushed jumble.
“Why would you do that? You know it was her who killed your brother, not my mom.” I point an accusatory finger toward my aunt, my lips twisted in disgust at what I watched her do. I have no trouble connecting my idea of her to the murderer she is.
Raze’s face falls, and for the first time since I woke up in this strange, alternate reality, he allows his emotions to play out on his face for a fraction of a second.
I’ve surprised him. I can feel his shock as strongly as if it were my own.
But there’s something else there, too.
Terror?
Why is he terrified about that?
Divina crinkles her nose in an angry scowl, swinging to face the man who I thought was an ally. “You know the consequences of spreading lies about that day,” she says through her teeth.
His mask is already firmly back in place when he responds, “I haven’t spoken a word about it in years. Rest your guilty conscience, Divina. Paranoia is quite unbecoming on you.”
I press on, hoping I can unravel her enough to find a way out of this. “He didn’t have to tell me. I know everything that happened that day. The way she pushed that boy into those violent waters. How my mother went after him and tried to save him. The way you screamed?—”
“Do not speak another word about something you don’t understand,” Divina bites out, but I purposely wasn’t speaking to her.
I was facing Raze, making it appear that I’m some lovesick girl trying to get through his stony armor.
Of course, he gives me nothing and Divina falls into the trap.
Realizing I won’t be getting anything from him again, I turn back toward her with a sigh.
“You knew they killed them—your best friends and family—and you still choose to partake in this sadistic cult?” If I can get her confused and spiraling, I may be able to negate all her credibility.
Divina shrugs, her tight features relaxing as she registers the change in subject. She’s had time to prepare this mask. “I was out-voted and your mother refused to keep her mouth shut. I tried for years to get her to let up and she only pushed harder. It was out of my hands.”
“You’re a monster,” I accuse, shaking my head.
“I did what I had to do!” she screeches, pointing toward the spot her heart would be, if she had one. The three men beside her wince at the shrill sound of her voice, then exchange irritated looks.
“She knew what she was risking. And I’ve spent the past decade reaping the consequences of her actions. Trying my best to protect you and Poppy, but you two were just as dense as she was.”
That has my blood boiling. “Fuck you. We were trying to find a way to survive in spite of the impossible circumstances you created for us.”
“And where has that gotten you?” She opens her arms, gesturing behind us. “My daughter is gone because of you. ” Her voice breaks on the last word. “I told you that I’d find out if you were behind her odd behavior.”
I scowl. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”
Divina’s gaze flicks to the two men standing beside her, then toward the ground. She even bites her lip, as if to stop herself from saying more.
My heartbeat ramps up in my chest.
“What do you mean, she’s gone , Divina?” I repeat through my teeth, enunciating every word.
She doesn’t falter, though. Turning her head away to look out at the ocean, I watch her blink rapidly to clear the tears forming in her eyes. When it’s clear she won’t be clarifying, I turn my horrified gaze to the others.
Raze maintains his stoney stature, but the other two appear to be having a mental debate over which one is going to deal with me.
James must draw the short stick. “Penelope Ellery was found deceased in Eugene, Oregon three days ago.” He delivers the news with zero emotion. A sentence as cold and heartless as he is.
But my entire chest seems to implode. I frown into the sand, trying to make sense of the information they just gave me. Shock has my lips twisted together, unable to form a response.
Deceased.
In Oregon?
Three days ago…
“Do you even understand the danger you put her in?” Divina spits bitterly, interrupting my thought process. When I lift my glare back to hers, I see nothing but hatred shining through her eyes. I can feel the loathing and devastation that’s taken over her entire being.
“This is not what we came here to speak about,” Ashton interrupts. Shifting his weight to face her, he points a disciplinary finger in her face. “We warned you… your family drama can wait.”
She cowers, revealing a detail that I missed before. These two men are superiors to her in some way.
Instead of arguing with my aunt—an effort that I would find more success in if I were speaking to a wall—I compartmentalize my thoughts and respond to the strange man instead.
I can process this news later, where it’s safe.
Still, the grief holds on, silently clawing into my chest and ripping my heart into shreds as I find a way to speak through the pain.
“Why are you here? How did you even find me?”
James smirks. “Raze is very good at his job.”
I don’t like the predatory expression that creeps onto the other man’s face at those words, or how Raze refuses to meet my eyes after he says them. How can he stand there, acting as if the past couple of months never happened?
How could he have even taken an interest in me after what he did to my parents?
Could he have known that I was related to them? That he made a mistake in not taking my life, too?
And how the fuck is Poppy dead?
The gravity of the situation dawns on me like a lead weight barreling into my stomach. They wouldn’t admit to any of this if they were going to let me walk away. Not when having this information get out would destroy the false image they’ve created.
No, they have no intention of letting me set foot out of these woods. Not alive, anyway.
Hopelessness overcomes me, nestling beside the devastating grief like an old friend.
I won’t be able to manipulate my way out of anything at this point.
“We’ve been watching you for quite some time, Sonny. We knew something was off. Raze suspected you weren’t who you say, but there was no proof against you. Until you visited home on Thanksgiving, then ran to that old hag, Matilda,” Divina explains through a hollow voice, as if she’s rehearsed this.
My ears perk up at the mention of Matilda’s name. “You better not hurt her . . . ”
“She’ll get what’s coming to her, just as you will,” Ashton promises, stepping toward me.
“You can either follow us on your own, or I’ll have Raze drag you back to Ravenshurst myself. Either way, you need to come with us,” James offers in a deceitfully calm voice. His features appear friendly and cordial. As if he’s talking about the weather, and not my eventual demise.
My eyes flick to Raze, who only dips his chin in confirmation.
He would follow the order if it were given.
He’d escort me to my death.
Stiffening my upper lip, I square my shoulders and force myself to look away from those deceptive navy eyes. The same eyes that found me across lecture halls and captured me. The same ones that gazed up at me from between my legs and guided me over the edge of ecstasy.
It was all a lie. Everything was a manipulation to bring us to this moment.
I refuse to let him see his betrayal destroy me. My back hurts worse from his knife in it worse than the treachery of the woman who raised me.
I’ll survive this. In pure spite, I’ll survive this.
They think they’ll silence me by sending me off into the darkness.
I’ll alchemize it.
And every single person who contributed to my downfall will pay.
As Finley promised in his journals:
There will be a reckoning.
And that reckoning is me.