Chapter 30 #2
Wait… that meant… no…
‘What else did you see?’ I asked quickly. He didn’t respond, his gaze turning dark. ‘What did you see?’ I asked again.
He took a long time to answer… ‘I saw everything.’
Shit.
He saw me chasing a ghost, calling a dead girl’s name.
‘I—’ I didn’t even know what to say. I sank down onto my bed, my breaths coming fast — too fast. My vision blurred. ‘You can’t…’ I tried to speak. ‘You can’t… tell anyone. Please… you can’t.’
‘Iris.’ He was next to me. I flinched backwards instinctively at his closeness, and his face fell. ‘Iris, listen to me.’ He took my hands in his, his grip firm and grounding. ‘I would never tell anyone. I would never even dream of it.’
I looked up into his grey eyes. They looked so genuine. So real.
‘You can see ghosts.’ It wasn’t a question.
I nodded. ‘You knew? This whole time?’
‘From the time in the library. Yes. That’s why I didn’t press you when I met you outside Ashcroft before our first date.’ After I’d seen those two horrible ghosts. He knew I wasn’t okay, but he didn’t push me to tell him what I’d seen.
‘Oh.’
‘You’ve spoken to Isobella…’ Again, it wasn’t a question.
‘Yes,’ I breathed.
‘What did she tell you?’
I was honest. ‘She told me about the society – the cult – and that they killed her. And I know they do it every year.’ I squeezed my eyes shut, my headache throbbing harder and harder.
‘And then I found that mask…’ I breathed.
‘You’re a part of it.’ My voice cracked, my eyes filling with tears once again.
‘I’m so sorry, Iris. Listen… I told you I’d explain everything, and I will.
’ He shuffled a fraction closer to me. ‘I was told that to complete my initiation, I had to do something… They make us do the worst possible thing, to ensure that anything that comes after, we’ll do – because we’ve already done worse. ’
I thought I was going to be sick.
‘It was also a way to blackmail us. To keep us in check. So if we ever had doubts, we could never turn the society in without damning ourselves alongside them.’
‘You had to kill someone?’ I asked quietly, despite already knowing the answer.
‘Yes.’
I shot up off the bed and increased the distance between us, throwing a hand out to tell him to stay away.
He hurried on. ‘But Isobella was in my class. I knew her…’ His eyes were desperate.
‘I went to her. I warned her. At first she was terrified – understandably so.’ He pressed his palms together, as though begging me to believe him.
‘But after I explained everything fully and she realised I was trying to help her, she calmed down. We worked together to figure out what we were going to do to save both of us. Because if I didn’t go through with my initiation, the society would have realised I wasn’t with them and killed me too.
’ His shoulders lifted with a deep intake of breath. ‘We came up with a plan.’
‘A plan?’
‘Yes. The sacrifice was to take place in the woods, at the very edge of the cliffs overlooking the sea. There’s an altar there. The society ties up their sacrifices and kills them in a special ceremony to appease their god…’
At my shocked expression, he continued.
‘ …The cult believes in the God of Neptune.’
‘Like… the god of the sea?’ I asked finally, the absurdity of it catching in my throat. I pictured tridents and crashing waves – something torn from mythology textbooks and legends. He nodded grimly, and a chill crept up my spine.
‘Every year,’ he continued, ‘they give an offering to appease him. A sacrifice. A gesture of gratitude.’ He spat the words. ‘They believe it keeps him satisfied.’
‘Satisfied?’
‘They believe the waters around the island are evil. It’s what originated the rumours of the Water of the Dead – that bad spirits and omens gather in its depths.
And if Neptune isn’t appeased, he lets them rise.
They think offering one human being every year pleases him and keeps the water calm,’ he said.
‘Keeps the storms from tearing the docks apart. Keeps the tides from creeping closer each year. They think they’re protecting the prestigious school they’ve built here – protecting its reputation, its students, its legacy.
’ His voice hardened. ‘They think the ritual is the reason the cliffs haven’t crumbled into the sea. ’
He ran a hand over his face. He looked so tired. ‘They are mad men.’
‘Yet you’re one of them…’ I said before I could stop myself.
‘I am.’ That was all he said.
‘Why?’
‘It started simply to find out what happened to my mother, but now it’s more than that. I’m trying to bring them down from the inside. To put a stop to all this.’
Swallowing, I asked, ‘Tell me more about yours and Isobella’s plan.’
He looked out of the window at the clouds slowly drifting across the sky. ‘She was in my class. Very smart, but quiet. She was from a poor background and on a full academic scholarship. No parents. No one who would come asking questions.’
He swallowed.
‘So they chose her… As part of my initiation, I was instructed to lure her out to the woods, where they would put a bag over her head and drag her to the altar. They’d tie her up with ropes, have their ceremony, and then I’d have to kill her.
’ Nausea churned in my stomach. ‘The same exact thing that they’d done to hundreds before her.
‘Our plan was simple. We’d go through with everything as though Isobella didn’t know anything. I “lured” her to the woods by telling the Society that I’d drugged her.’ He looked disgusted at the memory. ‘See, the initiates get the choice of how…’
‘What?’ I asked, feeling sick.
He shook his head. ‘Are you sure you want to know?’
‘I want to know everything,’ I said stubbornly. If there was any chance I was going to forgive him, I had to know everything.
Nodding, he reluctantly continued, ‘The initiates get to choose how to get their selected target to the clearing. The more creative and twisted the idea, the better… It’s a game to them, Iris.’
He rubbed at his temples and closed his eyes.
‘So, Isobella and I decided on something that would benefit us, as well as the society's sick mind. She followed me through the woods, under the ruse that I’d drugged her and was…’ he face screwed up, ‘making advances towards her… and that she was reciprocating.’ I tensed.
‘The date rape drug,’ he clarified. ‘And just before we reached the pre-arranged meeting spot – a small clearing near the cliffs, where I knew they’d grab her – she smuggled me a vial that she’d taken from the science laboratory,’ he scoffed.
‘I thought it was a terrible, insane, and dangerous plan, but we couldn’t think of anything else and we were out of time…
’ I saw his throat bob as he swallowed. ‘She didn’t need to act,’ he said slowly, eyes dark, ‘because she was truly terrified… Iris, I’ll never forget the look on her face as they grabbed her.
They stripped her of her clothes, placed her in a white ceremonial gown, and dragged her away.
I followed them, trying to play the part – thank god for those masks, as I wouldn’t have gotten away with it otherwise. ’
He pressed his palms to his eyes, breathing heavily. ‘They forced her to that altar, ropes so tight they burned her skin as she struggled against them, and carried out their ceremony.
‘After it was over, it was my turn. I stepped up to her, my entire body shaking, acting as if my life depended on it – because it did – and forced the contents of the vial down her throat.
She screamed.
God, I remember her scream. It plays on repeat in my nightmares. I thought for a moment that somehow she’d given me real poison, not just water, but it wasn’t. She was okay.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘She was untied from the altar and carried over to where I thought they’d bury her later.
I had just started to believe somehow that we’d done it, that I’d sneak back as soon as they’d cleared out and rescue her.
Then I’d smuggle her out of Stonewall and ensure she was safe…
’ His voice broke on that last word, a full sob breaking free.
‘And that was when they lifted her up in the air and threw her body over the side of the cliff.’
My expression fell. ‘Fuck…’
‘She died,’ he said plainly. ‘She either smacked against the sharp rocks at the bottom of the cliff, or drowned in the deadly waves, but either way, I didn’t save her…’ He paused. Swallowed. ‘And I will live with that guilt every day, for the rest of my life.’
I hadn’t realised that I’d moved back to his side. I’d sat down on the bed next to him and put my hand on his leg. ‘Archer…’ I whispered.
‘I didn’t save her,’ he said again. ‘I’ve had a long time to think about all the things I could have done to change it. All the different ways to save her from that fate. But it’s too late.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ I said, lifting a hand to his face.
‘Yes, it is. I was supposed to help her. No one was supposed to die by their hands ever again once I’d joined their ranks. I was supposed to have ripped them apart from the inside. But I’d failed… I’d failed at everything I’d worked towards since I was fifteen years old.’
‘But…’ I said, ‘you didn’t kill her, so they had nothing to hold over you… why didn’t you go to the police?’
‘I couldn’t.’
Why not?’ I asked, my voice gentle now.
‘Because the chief of police… Sinclair? You met him on our first date…’
‘What about him?’ I asked, although I already knew what he was going to say.
‘He’s one of them.’
‘Oh.’ My world seemed to crack open even further. ‘I see.’
We were silent for a long while.
I rested my head on his shoulder as it shook gently, and I entwined my fingers in his.
Suddenly, the door swung open and we both pulled apart.
‘Iris?’ Adora called as she entered the room. ‘Oh!’ She jumped upon seeing us pulling away from each other. Her eyebrows drew into a slightly confused frown before she slowly said, ‘So… he’s not a serial killer, then?’