“Where does Ali live?” JD asked, realizing that he’d never gotten a straight answer to that question.
“It’s a huge house out in the Haunted Woods,” Melissa said. “All rickety and old, like something from a movie.”
JD was surprised. “I didn’t know there were any houses back there,” he said. “I thought that was just where Ascension kids went to party.” And where Henry Landon went to die. The snake charm he’d found out there was still in his bedroom upstairs.
“Not like you’d know,” Melissa teased.
“All right, all right. I get it. I’m antisocial.” He nudged her. “And Em always hitched a different ride to those parties.”
The joke fell flat, and a cloud of guilt passed over Melissa’s eyes; she more than anyone else understood the connection between Em and JD. “But the craziest part,” she said, trying to change the subject, “was this amazing garden they have out back. It’s not even a garden, really—more like a field. Of flowers. Here, come here,” she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him off the couch, nearly upending her popcorn bowl in the process.
“Come on, Mel. I have to work,” JD protested, but, keeping a firm grip on his hand, she tugged him out of the room, up the stairs, and into her own bedroom, which was painted a deep shade of purple.
She plucked a bloodred orchid from her dresser, where she’d placed it in a mason jar just next to her jewelry box. “Check it out.” She twirled it in front of his nose, and he instantly began to feel nauseous.
“Did Ali give you that?” he asked. The flower. It was too red, somehow. Unnatural—just like Ty and her cousins. And he’d been seeing it in all the wrong places. First at Drea’s funeral, in Drea’s hands. Then in Ty’s hair. In the torn pictures strewn around Walt Feiffer’s living room. ?And now here, in his baby sister’s bedroom.
It was the same flower—he was willing to bet—that they’d found in Chase’s mouth on the night he died too.
Melissa’s embarrassment was practically palpable. “She didn’t say I couldn’t have it,” she said.
“You stole it?” He grabbed the flower out of Melissa’s hand. Was it his imagination, or did it make his skin start to burn?
“What’s your problem?” she demanded, following after him as he left her room and started heading downstairs. “What are you doing?” Her voice got louder as he ignored her.
It’s just a flower, he told himself. But he couldn’t help it. He was gripped by a sense of dread. He felt instinctively that with Ali, Ty, and Meg, things weren’t what they seemed to be. He was increasingly convinced they were dangerous, and that Melissa’s minor indiscretion might have consequences far beyond the ones that made sense. JD flipped on the kitchen light, feeling the flower’s weight in his hand. It didn’t have thorns, but he was still scared the thing was going to somehow slice him open.
“You’re such an asshole,” Melissa cried out. “What are you doing? God. I hate you sometimes!”
He didn’t want to just get rid of it, he wanted to destroy it. He walked straight to the sink and shoved the flower down the garbage disposal, ignoring Mel’s hysterical tone. “You have to stay away from Ali,” he warned. “She’s not as nice as she seems.”
“Just because you don’t have a social life, doesn’t mean you can destroy mine!” ?Tears were welling up in Melissa’s eyes.
It was awful upsetting her, being screamed at—but the relief he felt when the final red petal got swept into the crunching gears seemed worth it. He’d be fine if he never saw one of those flowers again.
“It’s not my fault your friend died,” Melissa yelled before storming out of the kitchen. “It’s not my fault Em doesn’t give a shit about you!” Her final jab echoed throughout the house.
And that’s when it hit him, where he saw the first red orchid—not at Drea’s memorial service; no, it was before that. When Em wore one clipped to her bag for a few days, right around Christmas. Right before they went down to Boston together. Right before she started acting truly batty. Right before Chase died—with a red flower in his mouth when he was found underneath the Piss Pass.
He leaned over the sink, bracing himself with locked arms against the counter. Something was happening here, and it was way bigger than JD could comprehend.
Red flowers . . . and people who died.
Evil forces that Drea’s dad blamed for the deaths of his daughter and his wife.
Em acting crazy, like someone he’d never met.
Walt and Lucy raving about the Furies.
It was all adding up to something terrible, something JD didn’t want to face, but he was beginning to believe that he had no choice. He’d have to meet with Walt tomorrow; Walt had claimed to know how to get rid of the evil for good.
The Furies were in Ascension, they were killing people he knew, and somehow, he’d ended up right in their crosshairs.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Where did u go??? Gabby texted.