Page 48

CHAPTER

FORTY-THREE

ASHER

A sher had always thought that ‘bone chilling’ was a really weird way to describe something.

But now?

He couldn’t think of anything else that explained the way the sounds made him feel. It was something deeper than just fear. There was a wrongness to the human voices, as though they had somehow mingled with something else.

Something dark. Something evil.

He wanted to call the sound chanting, but the voices occasionally shifted into yelling and cheering before changing back again. How had he ever convinced himself that this was anything natural?

Then again, it had never been so loud before now.

“I’ve heard this before,” Karlin said as the yelling rose and crested once more. “I thought it was an animal or something. It always stopped just when I thought for sure it had to be human.”

“Me too,” Asher agreed. “In hindsight, the truth seems pretty obvious.”

The side of Karlin’s mouth pulled up in a half-smile. “The cult?”

“You can’t seriously still think I’m being paranoid.”

“Not at all,” Karlin admitted. “I actually heard the sounds once when I was with Lily and Cora. Lily tried to convince me they were nothing, including assuring me that her brother worked with the sheriff. At the time, I thought I remembered her mentioning she was an only child, but I forgot to double-check on her story.”

Asher sighed.

“There’s a lot we missed,” he said, “and I’m the one who should have known better. I’m sorry.”

“Is there anything else we haven’t accounted for?” Karlin asked.

“Kind of,” Asher admitted. “I didn't want to freak you out, but you need to know. Cora told me that she had to get rid of me temporarily–”

“Lily said the same thing.”

“Cora also told me why.”

That got Karlin’s attention. She didn’t look thrilled with him for not telling her, which he supposed he fully deserved.

Especially considering the painful secrets she’d been willing to share about her own past. “I’m sorry, what? I thought it was for some creepy ritual.”

He nodded and let out a long breath. “I mean, yeah, but she told me that you and I would be fine because only one person had to die tonight.”

He expected her to look afraid, or maybe to yell at him for not sharing this information sooner, but to his surprise, she did neither.

Instead, she reached down and took off one of her shoes, shaking out a couple of tiny rocks before shoving it back onto her foot.

“No more fooling around. We have to find them. We have to stop this. Right now.”

Asher reached up and placed his hand firmly on her arm. “No. I have to stop this. This is what I’m trained to do.”

He tried not to think about the times he’d failed, making some foolish mistake, or worse, starting to panic and putting his team or a client at risk.

But he’d succeeded a whole lot of times, too. And this time, he was especially determined. Messing up simplywas not an option.

Not when it came to keeping Karlin safe and putting an end to the nightmare they were currently trapped in.

“You can’t do this by yourself,” she argued. “You need backup.”

“Ideally,” he agreed, pulling out the handgun that remained holstered to his ankle. “But in this case, this is the backup I have available. It will be enough.”

Karlin opened her mouth to argue, but before she could, a jagged bolt of lightning raced across the sky, followed by another clash of thunder.

The wind was picking up, too, joining in the storm’s renewed ferocity.

They were protected by the roof of the cabin’s porch, but just beyond it, the rain was now coming down in thick sheets.

“What if you have another panic attack?” she asked, her voice apologetic.

“I might,” he admitted without hesitation. “But that doesn’t mean I’m putting you in harm’s way just so you can hold my hand and tell me the scary noises won’t hurt me.”

He stepped off of the porch steps and onto the ground.

And at that very moment, a rush of water began flowing over the tops of his shoes.

“Axel!” Karlin screamed, pointing toward the hill.

“On second thought,” he said, reaching out to grab her hand, “you’re coming too. Move!”

KARLIN

There was no chance for either of them to speak.

Karlin followed Axel at a run, the entirety of her focus dedicated to remaining upright as the mud at her feet grew thicker and thicker.

Up ahead, sticks, brush, and other debris were rushing down the hills that led into the valley, carried in a flood of brown liquid.

It was surreal how quickly the water had risen, racing over sand and rock, submerging everything in its path in filthy sludge. Bushes were yanked from weak roots, toppling over and mingling with the rest of the deluge as it continued to flow downhill.

“Come on!” Axel yelled, shoving her forward until she was in front of him. “Run!”

She could see what he was looking at immediately.

Up and to their right, maybe seventy feet ahead, she could see a steep ridge of rock that was still wet, but mercifully free of the slick mud that now covered the floor of the valley.

Allowing Axel to support her body from behind, she rushed toward it and began clambering up the stone, still managing to slip on the craggy surface thanks to the pouring rain.

Her arms were aching as she gripped a sturdy-looking bush overhead, allowing it to take some of her weight as she pulled herself up and onto a flat plateau.

She helped Axel up behind her as best she could, only then pausing to rest, her chest heaving as she collapsed hard onto the stone ground.

“You okay?” Axel asked, but she barely heard him.

Her attention was focused behind where he stood.

The valley below was filled with churning mud. The cabin was already half buried, and the entire front porch had been torn away by the force of the water.

Karlin felt suddenly rooted in place, shaking in the cold as her adrenaline began to wear away. “If we hadn’t–” she stammered, struggling to get the words out. “If we hadn’t heard those noises outside and decided to move–”

“But we did move,” Axel said firmly, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. “God saw us. He protected us, even using the evil of this cult to do it, because He’s in control. And hopefully He’s using us to save someone else’s life tonight. I need to keep moving.”

She couldn’t argue with his reasoning. Not after what they had just survived.

“Fine. But I’m still coming with you,” she said.

This time, he didn’t bother to argue.

“I think the voices were coming from this direction,” he said instead. “Hopefully, the desert wind isn’t playing any tricks on us tonight.”

ASHER

The lightning and thunder had stopped, and the lingering rain slowed once more to a gentle patter as they wound their way through the wild, flood-torn desert.

Asher’s knee still hurt, but it was manageable, and now that the wind had let up, the chill of his damp clothes felt a lot more bearable. Karlin was keeping up with him easily, and if she was uncomfortable or exhausted, her face didn’t show it. Her blue eyes were filled with pure determination.

To the east, he could see that the sky was beginning to lighten just a little, though as far as he could tell, the coming sunrise was still shrouded in heavy cloud. Still, so long as they didn’t encounter another flash flood, he could handle a little gloom.

In the distance, they could see a building that Karlin didn’t recognize, and every so often, the chanting and shouting sounds started up again.

He felt confident that the ritual sacrifice had not yet been completed.

Somehow, some way, he could feel in his heart that the person Cora and Lily were planning to kill, whoever she was, was still alive.

He had to believe that was true. He couldn’t bear the thought that he could be putting Karlin in more danger for nothing.

Part of him was lost in worry, wondering about what was to come, but a bigger part was just thankful that this endless night was almost over.

However this ended, it was going to end.

And so long as he kept Karlin safe, he would call it a victory.

That was his only prayer now as they walked together in silence, Karlin’s hand gripped firmly in his own.