Page 8 of Villains Series

LAST NIGHT

MERIT CEMETERY

“YOU’RE not a bad person,”

repeated Sydney, flinging dirt onto the moonlit grass.

“But Eli is.”

“Yes. Eli is.”

“But he didn’t go to prison.”

“No.”

“Do you think he’ll get the message?”

she asked, pointing at the grave.

“I’m pretty sure,”

said Victor.

“And if he doesn’t, your sister will.”

Sydney’s stomach twisted at the thought of Serena. In her mind, her big sister was two different people, two images overlapping in a way that blurred both, and made her feel dizzy, ill.

There was the Serena from before the lake. The Serena who’d knelt on the floor in front of her the day she left for college—they both knew she was abandoning Sydney to the toxic, empty house—and who used her thumb to wipe tears from Sydney’s cheek, saying over and over, I’m not gone, I’m not gone.

And then there was the Serena from after the lake. The Serena whose eyes were cold and whose smile was hollow, and who made things happen with only words. The one who lured Sydney into a field with a body, cooing at her to show her trick, and then looking sad when she did. The one who turned her back when her boyfriend raised his gun.

“I don’t want to see Serena,”

said Sydney.

“I know,”

said Victor.

“But I want to see Eli.”

“Why?”

she asked.

“You can’t kill him.”

“That may be.”

His fingers curled around the shovel.

“But half the fun is trying.”