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“Brooklyn, thanks for listening.” All of a sudden she smiled. “Hey—we made some more fruit jewelry using your mother’s Fuji apples. They’re really pretty. You should come to the farmers’ market tomorrow.”
“I’ll try to come by. See you, Melody.” I turned to leave, but something sharp and painful slammed against my head and I went flying forward. And that’s the last thing I remembered.
I woke up in darkness, completely disoriented and with a blinding headache. I was covered up and lying on something cold and bumpy and moving so much that I kept sliding. After another few seconds, I realized I was on the floor of a truck or a van and someone was driving it around curves and up a hill.
Because of the tarp covering me, I couldn’t see who was driving. But I knew it had to be Melody.
So now what? I hadn’t even screamed to alert Derek and Gabriel, so I was on my own. Or was I? Maybe they had heard the screen door slam shut when I walked outside to talk to Melody. Maybe they were following us. I had to cling to that small possibility if I was going to survive with my wits intact.
Melody would arrive at her destination eventually, so I had to come up with a plan, fast. I maneuvered myself around under the tarp until I was facing the back doors of the van. Then I got up on my hands and knees. And waited.
I replayed my conversation with Crystal at the farmers’ market the other day. She had been gushing over Solomon, to the point where I was slightly revolted. But I never thought it meant she loved him in the worst way, which was what that scene in the cabin bedroom clearly suggested.
Crystal must have been the woman who lured Solomon to the cabin with promises of sex and God knows what else. Solomon had confessed that he hadn’t been grateful enough for some big favor she had done for him. Had Crystal killed Angelica as a favor to Solomon? As the van lumbered around another curve and I skidded across the cold steel flooring, I had my answer. It had to have been Crystal. With help from her sister, Melody?
Five minutes later, the van pulled to a stop and I heard the driver’s door open and slam shut. Seconds later, the back doors were flung open and I sprang forward. Directly into Crystal.
Crystal screamed and threw her hands up. I tackled her and we both fell hard onto the ground. I scrambled to my feet and took off ru
“I’m really sorry, Brooklyn,” she said. “I hate to hurt you, but you need to stop ru
Strangely enough, she sounded sincere.
I had to shake my head to clear it. With one hand Crystal pulled me to my feet, and it took me a few steps to get my equilibrium back. That’s when I noticed the deadly-looking gun she held pointed at me.
“Crystal, why are you doing this?”
“I heard you through the window of the cabin and saw you take Solomon away. I followed your car down to the restaurant to see if I could help him, but the police were already there. So I sent Melody over to distract you.” The gun shook as she spoke and I knew she was nervous. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but I knew Crystal wasn’t really a bad person. Not like Solomon or Angelica.
“Crystal, let’s talk about this. I can contact the police for you. Don’t get yourself in trouble by kidnapping me.”
“I have to think. Walk that way and let me think.” She nudged the gun in the direction she wanted me to go and I turned and started walking. I stumbled over a tree root but managed to right myself. Feeling achy now, I clutched my jacket closer to me—and remembered my pockets were full of Hershey’s Kisses. I pulled one out and dropped it on the ground, then repeated the same thing every fifty steps or so.
Crystal put the gun in her pocket and pulled me along as though she knew exactly where she was going, probably because she did. I couldn’t see a thing in this deep part of the woods, but Crystal seemed to know her way without the aid of moonlight. She was as good a survivalist as anyone in the Hollow.
I prayed Derek wasn’t too far behind. If he couldn’t follow the chocolate-kisses trail, he wasn’t the man I knew him to be. That thought kept me going as I tried to assimilate everything. “Did you kidnap Emily?”
“I didn’t really kidnap her,” she said. “I’m just doing Solomon a favor. It’s for the greater good. I prayed over it, and I shared my blood with the earth.”
“You shared your blood? How does that work?”
“A bloodletting is considered a sweet sacrifice by the Great Ogun.”
After a pause, I said, “So you cut yourself? Is that what you do in your church?”
“Only in times of uncertainty, when you find yourself at a crossroads.”
“So you cut yourself to find answers?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes Father Ogun requires blood sacrifice in exchange.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Knowledge. Grace. Power. Whatever you’re seeking.”
A sense of dread overwhelmed me. “What did you mean when you said you’re doing a favor for Solomon? Did he tell you to hurt Emily?”
“No, of course not,” she said in surprise. “Solomon wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
She was so wrong, but I said nothing.
“It was my decision to take Emily,” she explained. “I’m using her to lure Max Adams out into the open. And then we’ll see what happens.”
So Emily was still alive. Thank God. But what did she have in mind for Max?
“Why do you want to lure Max into the open?”
“Because Solomon detests Max. Max stole Angelica from Solomon and it made Solomon crazy. I couldn’t figure out why he cared so much about her because we both know she’s a…well, a you-know-what. But after talking to Solomon some more, I realized that his pain wasn’t about losing Angelica. It was because of Max Adams. He really hates that guy.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“Exactly,” she said with enthusiasm. “Solomon was so unhappy, I began to pray for him. And that’s when Father Ogun revealed my true calling to me.”
“True calling?”
“Yes, I was meant to bring order and calm back to the church. And to accomplish that, I first had to clear the path.”
“Clear what path?”
“The path leading to peace. I had to take care of the obstacle in the path.”
“And that obstacle was…”
“Angelica.”
“You had to kill Angelica?” I said slowly.
“I had to,” she said. “I’m sorry, but Solomon was losing sleep; he was beside himself with anguish. He couldn’t concentrate on his church duties and it was begi
“So you owe him your honor and duty.”
“Yes,” she said, sounding pleased that I’d caught on. “It’s all in the bible, Brooklyn. We can look there for all the answers.”
“Which answer are you referring to?”
“An eye for an eye,” she said.
I dropped another chocolate kiss and hoped for rescue. “What do you mean?”
She stopped to explain. “Max Adams took what Solomon wanted: Angelica. Now I will take what Max wants: Emily. This will cause Max to suffer, which will make Solomon happy. And it all provides blood for Ogun.”
Blood? So she intended to kill Emily? “But Emily is an i
“Ogun decrees. I obey, honor, and serve.” Crystal refused to talk to me after that, just continued walking me briskly through the darkness. Leaves slapped at my face and thick bushes pulled at my clothes.