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And with a kiss he was gone with the other Congregants headed to Bloodmoon Ritual.

I wonderedwhereon earth my brother had gotten it, but I found it didn’t matter who or what shop he had stolen it from.

Settling into the living room to read, I pulled aside the curtain.

The clearing in the center of the settlement was empty, eerily so, a few dried leaves the only thing rustling across the empty, dry clearing.

It was a spooky sight and I quickly dropped the curtains and settled into the couch.

I had only gotten a few chapters in when suddenly there was a tremendous pounding on the door, and a loud, urgent voice calling for me.

Shit

What had happened?

Had something happened to Rhyder?

I hurried to the door, but hovered at the knob.

My brother had told me to stay inside.

“Open up, Temperance!” a man called.

I recognized Abel’s voice.

“I thought—I thought we were supposed to stay inside,” I called.

“You are needed for something,” he ordered. “Open this door now!”

When I still hesitated, he pounded even louder on the door.

“I’ll break this door down,” he threatened. “Open it, bitch!”

When I heard the scraping sound of something in the door frame, my stomach tightened with panic and I cursed to myself.

My fingers still hovered indecisively on the doorknob, wondering if screaming would reach Rhyder wherever he was doing the Bloodmoon Ritual, when the door broke open and Abel was there, stinking of something and looking at me with those little rat eyes.

“You are needed to go pick herbs for a sick Helpmeet,” he said.

“But—but it’s the Bloodmoon Ritual,” I said, stupidly.

Of course he would know.

“Rhyder said to stay here,” I began, backing up and trying to shut the door, but Abel stuck his foot in it and grabbed me by the hair.

“Don’t talk back, whore. Go get the herbs and run back or I’ll slit your throat right here.”

He flicked a knife out and never had I wished more fervently that my brother was here.

But I didn’t have a choice

My legs trembled as I hurried across the clearing and into the forest, clutching my headscarf as the wind picked up.

Distant lightning lit up the sky, flashing a sickly green. A storm was coming.

The silence in the trees was eerie and I felt hairs rise on the back of my neck.

What was the Bloodmoon Ritual?