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The three of us curled up on the blanket in the cold room, drifting in and out of dusky sleep, until the door unlocked again.

This time they were all here. Sol, Joe, and Steven all carried guns while Moon and Catherine held lanterns. How gendered. My hands were clammy and I wiped them on my pants. It was go time.

“Hello again.” Sol wore a weird smile, and his eyes looked glazed. Was he on something? “So, let’s go to the tower.” He tossed a pair of my shoes towards me. “I hear you’ve offered to leap to your deaths. Which sounds unlikely, but stranger things have happened.”

Karen nudged my arm as I pulled on my shoes, and I could sense her question: Had Moon not told Sol that we were all planning to do so? Was she going to put him on the spot upstairs? It’d make sense—there was no way he was going to agree with it beforehand. Or ever.

“Each of you will get a chaperone.” Sol strolled forward. “Thea, I’d love to accompany you.” He gestured for me to walk ahead of him. As we exited the room, I caught eyes with Catherine. She, like Steven and Joe, looked deadened and strange.

Though my body was flooded with fear, I felt a stab of pity for her. Moon and Sol would never have been able to seduce her if she’d been happy and healthy. They preyed on people in pain, who just wanted someone to tell them how to feel better. If I’d met Moon, I couldn’t say for certain that I wouldn’t have been pulled into her web of nurturing in the same exact way.

Maybe in different circumstances, Moon’s healing could’ve remained just that. But her longing to help had mutated, devolving into something dark. All because of her fury towards an unfathomably unfair world.

I led the slow procession into the courtyard, up the stairs, down the hall, and up the spiral staircase. The metal staircase shook, and I wondered if it’d detach and fall under our combined weight. Sol shoved the cold, hard muzzle between my shoulder blades, urging me to go faster.

It was a clear night, the stars blazing overhead as I stepped onto the roof. The frigid wind had strengthened, whipping our hair. I thought of when I’d come up here the first time, mere days ago, viewing the rolling hills, the winding gravel drive, the mountains beyond. Now the horizon was black, like a drop cloth, beyond the weak light from the lanterns.

“Stand at the ledge, please,” Sol instructed.

I stopped about a foot from the edge, lined with the slightly raised adobe. Below, the SUV and sedan looked like toy cars. This tower roof was the highest part of the castle—at least sixty or seventy feet up. Karen grabbed my hand and squeezed. Mikki stood on my other side. The three of us faced the group.

“Mikki shouldn’t be here.” I gestured. “She got caught up in this, but she’s not one of us. Moon, you know that.”

Moon nodded. “Mikki, you can go.”

“What?” Sol cried. “Babe, no.”

“I said she can go.” Moon glared at Sol. “That’s my final decision.”

Sol’s mouth worked. After a second he dropped his gun to his side and laughed. “Well, okay, then. I guess it’s her word against ours.” He smirked at Mikki. “But you know who the cops will believe, right?”

Mikki ignored him, keeping her eyes trained on Moon. Raising her hands, she took a step forward, then two. She then fled past Joe, Steven, and Catherine, racing through the doorway, down the clanging steps.

“Good god,” Sol muttered. He waited, watching over the side. “Oh, there she goes.”

We could just make out Mikki’s small figure below as she sprinted past the vehicles, down the long driveway. Something in my chest loosened. This part of the plan, at least, had worked. Mikki would get to Clint’s car, flag the first car she saw, get them to call the police.

“You happy?” Sol faced Moon. “That could really bite us in the ass, babe.”

“Don’t worry.” Moon smiled. “This is all happening as it should.”

“Are you a believer, Sol?” I asked.

His mouth was tight with irritation. “What?”

“I don’t think you are.” I gestured. “Joe either.”

Sol squinted at me. “What are you playing at, Thea?” He and Moon were standing closest to us, Joe and Steven behind them, and Catherine by the door. There was not a ton of room to maneuver with this many people up here.

“We all have to go, Sol.” I smiled at him. “You realize that, right?”

A slow grin spread across his face. “I see. You’re playing chicken, huh? Because I sure as hell don’t buy this new believer act.”

“She’s right.” Moon set down her lantern. “It was never just Catherine or Thea. It’s supposed to be all of us. We’ve been blinded by fear, Sol. We have to practice what we preach.”

“What the fuck?” Sol whirled towards Moon. “When did this happen? You can’t just make unilateral decisions, you know. We’re supposed to be a team.”

“The three of us came to this decision. Thea, Catherine, and me.” She looked back at Catherine, leaning against the door. “Right?”

“Right,” Catherine replied, her voice gravelly.

So Moon had talked to Catherine about my plan, and she had agreed. Then again, she would always agree with whatever Moon brought to her. She no longer had a working brain of her own.

“Babe.” Sol sighed. “They’re messing with you. They’re trying to get us to off ourselves so they can go free. It’s so obvious. It’s so stupid .”

“None of this is stupid.” A note of irritation crept into Moon’s voice. Steven came towards them, slowly, slipping his gun into his waistband.

“No, I just mean…” Sol puffed out air. “We need to discuss this.”

Steven snatched the gun out of Sol’s hand.

“Hey!” Sol lunged for it, but Steven backed away, training the gun on him. “Moon!” He turned to her, his eyes wide and desperate. “Honey, what the fuck!”

Steven handed the second gun to Moon. She pointed it at Sol. “We’re all going together. You can go by choice, or not. It’s up to you.”

“Babe, please, stop.” He held up his hands. “This isn’t right. She tricked you. Thea and Catherine—both of them tricked you.”

“Go to the edge.” Steven said it in a gruff voice.

“Fuck no. This is ridiculous. I’m leaving.”

“Sol,” Moon warned. “Stop.”

“No, I’m out of here.” He strode towards the door. Catherine jumped out of the way.

Sol was in the doorway when Moon pulled the trigger.

The boom was deafening. I crouched down, hiding my face. There came a low groan, then nothing.

I opened my eyes. Sol was splayed out on his stomach, half in the doorway. The back of his jean jacket was soaked with blood, black as oil in the moonlight.

Karen started murmuring, praying, under her breath.

Moon went to him and bent over him, whispering. Catherine stared down at them both, hand pressed over her mouth.

One down!

I looked wildly around; now that the deaths were starting, they wouldn’t end. There was no way Moon would have them all die first, leaving us for last. Our plan had extended to shrinking the pool of our captors, but there were still too many of them.

And there was just this small platform, a steep vertical fall over the edge. No way out.

Moon stood up, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“I can feel it,” she cried. “It’s working!”

Joe went towards Sol, bent down as if to check his pulse, then stepped over him and took off down the stairs.

“Go!” Moon shouted and Steven ran after him. She scoffed, shook her head. “So many unbelievers. No wonder it didn’t work.”

Karen and I glanced at each other. Now it was us two against Moon and Catherine. Only one gun.

“They’ll come back,” I said. “Moon, it’s your turn. You, then me, then Catherine.” It was worth a shot.

Moon’s eyes gleamed. “ Was this your plan, Thea? Test our faith so that we self-destruct?”

“Of course not.” I could hear the desperation in my voice; I tried to force it down. The only way this could work was if I could remain calm and convincing.

“Because I think you should go next. Sol has already sacrificed himself. It’s your turn.” She gestured to the ledge. “Either you or Karen. You get to choose.”

“I’ll go,” Karen said, pausing in her mumblings. “Let me.”

“No, Karen.” I pushed her away from the edge.

Moon trained her gun on me. She wiped at her face and a smear of blood appeared on her cheek. “Let’s do this now before Steven brings Joe back.”

Karen tried to take my place, but I shoved her back hard. She stumbled and fell, her head slamming into the raised edge of adobe. She remained still, in a heap.

Fuck. Now it was just me. And if I ran at Moon, she would pull the trigger.

“I’m sorry.” I forced myself to take a deep breath. “I’m sorry you went through what you went through. You had a hard time. You lost people.”

“I didn’t lose them,” Moon snarled. “They were murdered . By evil people possessed by greed.”

“I know. And it ripped a hole in you that never healed. I know.”

“But this will heal it!” She laughed. “Aren’t you ready to end the pattern? Haven’t you been waiting your whole life for it?”

“I think we should stay, Moon. We can end the pattern here.”

She shook her head. “This is the only way. Come on. We’ll go together.” She lowered the gun and strode towards me. I envisioned the pushes that had sent Clint down the cave steps, Talia over the tower’s edge. I steeled myself, leaning towards her.

But then Moon stopped with a gasp. Catherine was behind her, one arm slipped around her waist. Moon whipped around and I saw it: the same kitchen knife lodged deep in Moon’s side. Catherine let go, and Moon raised the gun at her.

“No!” I leapt behind Moon, holding her hand down. The gun went off, shaking the ground beneath our feet. She twisted her wrist, but I held it with all my might.

“Stop!” Moon screamed, struggling. “You have to come with me! You have to come with me!” She tried to wrench from my grip while Catherine, breathing hard, propelled her towards the ledge. Moon stumbled backwards—one step, two, three—until her heels just kissed the adobe edge.

The three of us were connected, and if we weren’t careful, Moon’s jerks would pull us all over.

“Let go,” I shouted at Catherine, whose arm was clamped on Moon’s shoulder. She would have to be quick: unlocking and pushing Moon backwards at the same time.

But Catherine didn’t let go. As I released Moon’s wrist, I saw her other hand snaked around Catherine’s waist, grabbing the back of her shirt, her knuckles so white her small hand looked like a skeleton’s. They pressed against each other like they were slow dancing.

Moon raised her freed hand, pointing the gun towards me, eyes flashing with rage. I froze in place, watching the barrel’s swift ascent.

With a cry, Catherine managed to shove it back down, blocking me with her body in the split second before they jerked over into empty air.

“No!” I cried, but it was too late. They tumbled over the edge.