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FORTY-FOUR

CASSIE

We reach the house set at the foot of the mountain and my blood chills. It’s like something out of a horror movie and doesn’t appear occupied at all. There are several cars already here, and yet it appears deserted.

“What are we going to do?”

I am fearful we’re too late and Luca says darkly, “We are here for Imogen. We do nothing but watch.”

“Nothing!” The hell I’m doing nothing and leave my best friend in the hands of a psycho creep.

Summer rests her hand on my arm.

“Ssh, Cassie. We’re not supposed to be here at all.”

“I don’t understand.”

It’s as if everyone else knows something I don’t, and Frankie reaches out and grasps my hand tightly.

“I know the back way in. Follow me. There’s a galleried landing that runs the length of the main room they are using. We can observe from there.”

I’m shocked when he removes a case loaded with guns from the trunk and hands one to Luca and Jack in turn.

“I want one.” I say through gritted teeth and Frankie shrugs.

“If you’re a good enough shot, then you can have mine with pleasure but only at the opportune moment.”

“You may shoot, Imogen. It’s not safe.” I hiss, overwhelmed with anxiety.

“That’s why you’re here, baby girl.”

He drops a light kiss on my head and Siri adds, “So we get Imogen while you cover us. Is that your plan?”

“It will work.” Luca says with a sinister gleam in his eye.

I stare at Jack in dismay, but his expression is grim. “It will be okay, Cassie. Trust us to have this sewn up.”

He adds briskly, “We’re wasting time.”

We head toward the back of the house and as we reach the door, it opens without force. I have an uneasy feeling about this as we creep inside, the house in darkness. Is it a trap? It could be, and I’m not happy at all.

I follow Frankie up a staircase leading to the top of the house and he places his finger on his lips as we reach a landing. I hear voices coming from below and as we crawl in the shadows and lie low on the floor, I witness a sight that will live with me to my dying day.

Red cloaked figures are arranged in a semicircle around two trollies.

On each is a young girl, a blindfold tied around their eyes and they are held down by handcuffs on their wrists and ankles, shackled to the beds.

They are wearing the clothes they were dragged here in and my heart almost gives out on me when I spy Imogen in her white toga.

She isn’t moving.

Are we too late?

I swallow the sob that is threatening to reveal our location to the figures below.

One of them steps forward and a familiar voice fills the entire room.

“I sacrifice my slave. She betrayed me and told a stranger our secrets before asking for his help to escape me.”

A shocked murmur fills my head and then the man at the foot of the trollies says loudly, “I sacrifice the victim of an apprentice who betrayed the society. She will pay the price for his sins and her blood will be on his hands.”

I gasp as he parts the robe and draws out a sword, the blade gleaming in the darkness as he growls, “Get ready my fellow serpents. Kidnap is complete. It’s time to move on to the next part of the challenge.”

As the first man parts his robe, I notice he’s naked underneath and as he approaches Imogen, Frankie stands up and yells, “Not so fast!”

A shocked sea of faces glance our way and as we all stand, Frankie, Luca and Jack train their guns on them and Frankie hisses, “Set the girls free.”

The man turns, and it chills my blood to the bone as he laughs out loud. “How amusing. You have come to save your friend. Do you really believe I didn’t anticipate that?”

The click of a gun pressed to the back of my head causes me to freeze and as the others suffer a similar outcome, my world stops spinning as the man says with amusement, “It appears that we have some more victims. What a night this is turning out to be.”