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21

Matty Says the Words

“Not how the Covenant works, bro .”

That sentence, an indictment, still hanging in the air like something altogether more acrid than the campfire smoke. A bitter, burning tang.

Something had gone wrong between her and Matty. It was plain to see that now. This wasn’t just a fight. This was, to Owen, something fundamental. And Matty didn’t like it. Didn’t like—what, exactly? Owen didn’t know. He could tell only that Matty was bothered by something—something had challenged him, had set him off his perfect axis, and now he was spinning wildly. It was strange to see.

Good, he thought.

Followed up by: Fuck you, Owen, these are your friends .

No one else said anything. The campfire crackled—the only response.

“Fine,” Matty said, laughing it off at first, but then the reiteration of that word came with a harder, sharper edge: “ Fine . Figures, right? Time comes I want to call on the Covenant, I don’t get to? Whatever. I don’t need it. I don’t need you. You guys don’t want to come with me, don’t come with me. But no one can stop me. I’m going to go out there. I’m gonna climb those creepy-ass steps. And then I’m going to jump off them, into the dark. If I’m not allowed to invoke the Covenant, then I’ll get you the old-fashioned way. I dare you. I fucking dare you.” He grabbed up a flashlight and gave it a baton twirl. “You coming? Or are you all cowards?”

Matty didn’t wait for their answer. He marched off into the woods.

Silence spread in his wake.

“He seems fuckin’ serious,” Hamish said finally, a throaty chuckle in his voice that was half amusement, half worry. “Maybe we should listen. It’s Matty, guys. It’s Matty . If he wants to use the Covenant like that…”

“ Welp, ” Nick said, standing up. “I won’t be suckered in by his Covenant bullshit, but I am definitely vulnerable to a man telling me I’m a pussy if I don’t do a dare, so I’m going with him. Follow the bouncing flashlight, I go.”

He started to wend his way around the tents and the campfire.

“No,” Lauren said, abruptly. “Matty’s right. He never calls upon the Covenant for himself, so if he wants this to be that, let him. It must be important to him, and we do things that are important to one another.” She said it like it was an obligation—something she had to do, even if she didn’t want to.

She got to her feet, joining Nick. But as he and then Hamish went past her, she just stood there, staring again into the fire. Lauren put her hand out in front of her face, as if to feel the warmth of the flames—but it was like she was entranced by her hand. Slowly, she moved it toward the fire. Closer. Closer—

Owen got up and gently caught her wrist.

“You okay?” he asked her.

She seemed startled by the question. Or by his presence entirely.

“Y—yeah. Totally.”

He didn’t want to ask, but he asked anyway: “Is…Matty okay?”

“How the fuck should I know?”

She yanked her wrist from his grip. And with that, Lauren spun heel to toe and marched off into the woods.

Leaving Owen alone.

He didn’t want to go into the dark. But he didn’t want to be alone, either. So he did what he always did: He followed after.