Page 25 of Where Daisies Breathe (Star Meadows #2)

“He’s one of them.” She lowers her head, her shoulder shaking as she sobs. “There’s more. I hate them all. There are so many. Too many. So much fucking more.”

I’m struggling to follow her. “More what?”

“People involved. There are so many that it makes it impossible to do anything about it. That’s why everyone gets away with it.

” She reaches for the middle console, opens it, and takes out a glass pipe and lighter.

“The people in charge are part of this group—cult—I don’t even know what to call it.

” She puts the end of the pipe to her lips, flicks the lighter, heats the glass from below, and takes a hit of the crystals.

The cab of the car fills with a musty, almost odorless, smoke, and my old addiction nips at me like a salivating monster, begging to be fed.

She just told me my father dated her.

That Trystan, my cousin, led her into the woods that day.

That Trystan was there.

That my family is liars.

That this town is a tangled mess of rotting secrets.

I’d been suspicious of all of this, but with the billowing holes in my memories, I hadn’t had any proof. Not to mention, I always second guess myself. But Camilla confirmed it.

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask as she takes another hit.

“I told you this all started because you came back.” She sets the pipe down in the cupholder and reclines back against the seat, staring out the window where rain continues to pour down against the rippling waters of the lake.

“Nothing happened while I was gone?”

“Not the murders.” She tilts her head toward me. “The ones being found out about anyway. They might all be connected in their own way, but not entirely. The girl in the park… She’s not the same. And there’s been others like that.”

I swallow down the lump in my throat. “How do you know this?”

“Because I told you. You’re either hunted or part of the hunters.

I chose the latter, so I know everything that goes on at night when darkness possesses the trees.

There’s also whispers, little secrets being told amongst the monsters.

” Her pupils are so big that her eyes look black.

“Tell me, Ava, did Clover ever tell you about the daisies?”

I slant back in the seat, panic setting in. “How do you know that?”

“Because I saw her once, hiding her secrets there.”

What is she talking about?

What secrets?

And how does she know about the fucking daisies?

“Did you… Were you the person who left those daisies in front of the door?” My tone simmers with rage at the idea that she did that.

But when her forehead creases, I know it wasn’t her.

“No, why would I do that?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” I mutter, the rage in me shifting to puzzlement. I slump back in the seat as she positions the pipe in front of her lips again. “Where are these daisies that Clover hid her secrets underneath?”

“In the darkness, they’re everywhere.” She’s growing higher by the second. “In the light, they live in the shadows.”

I’m worried I’m going to lose her to the drugs, so I ask, “Do you know anything about my father’s death?”

“No,” she coughs as she exhales. “But there are a lot of people who wanted him dead.”

“Why would you think someone murdered him? He died accidentally.” That’s what the public should know anyway.

She lets out a dry laugh while staring at the lake. “If you’re referring to that bullshit the police are feeding everyone, then yeah, sure, his death was accidental.”

I study her. “Did you…” I bite my tongue.

Am I foolish enough to ask her if she killed him?

“Did I kill him?” she asks, glancing at me.

“I wish, but it wasn’t me.” She holds the pipe in her hand.

“They control everything that I do. And I don’t fight back.

At first, it was because I was afraid, but I don’t feel much of anything anymore.

” She positions the pipe in front of her lips, flicks the light, and takes a hit.

“That’s what the end goal of this was for them.

Numbness and addiction equals compliance. ”

Sadly, I know what she’s referring to.

“Do you know who killed—” My question is cut off by blue and red flashing lights suddenly filling the cab as a police vehicle pulls up behind us.

“Shit.” I glance at the pipe Camilla is holding and then at her expression.

The calmness emanating from her has me questioning what’s happening.

“Like I said, they control me.” She places the pipe in front of her mouth, heats the glass, and inhales, disregarding the fact that two uniformed officers are approaching her car.

The rain has calmed down, so I can see them clearly. The older one is kind of friends with my parents, but I doubt that’ll help me. It might even work against me, depending on whether they’re part of whatever this group—cult—whatever it is that Camilla told me about.

Unless…

“Was everything you told me a lie?” I hiss, knowing I’m probably about to get arrested over drugs being in the car.

“No.” She drops the pipe into the middle console. “They never told me to lie to you. Although they probably expected me to. But loopholes are loopholes. Not that it matters. You and Ellis won’t be able to solve this—they’re too powerful for you to get anywhere, no matter how hard you fight.”

I want to scream at her to snap out of this, to stop doing what they want.

But her addiction is making her mind more pliable, just like she said.

That’s one of the many downsides of being an addict.

Under normal circumstances, Camilla would probably never do this.

But the monster living inside her, the one that begs to be fed, is overpowering every part of who she is.

One of the officers knocks on the driver’s side window.

Camilla reaches to roll the window down, but not before whispering under her breath. “I’m sorry, Ava. I really am.”

I think I actually might believe her. “I’m sorry too,” I tell her. “For not saving you.”

Maybe, though, I still can, if I somehow get out of this.

Maybe I can figure out all the pieces of this scattered mess and finally save her from that day in the woods.