Page 35 of Off the Rails

Now, not only were we back at square one, but someone was going to have to punish her for lying.

I scrubbed a palm over my face. “How the fuck are we supposed to ID the world’s most obstinate Jane Doe?”

“I mean, what if we already know who she is?” Nash crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing me carefully. But I peeled away from her with a scoff.

“Would you cut it out with that already?”

“I’m just saying, there’s one really simple explanation for all of this…”

“It’s not her…”

“She recognized my eyes today, Cy.”

“It’s not her.” I wheeled around, lip curling. “We would know if it was her. I would have felt it. The cards would have shown us.”

I held Nash’s gaze, willing her to stop bringing up my worst fucking nightmare.

Eventually, she looked away with a shrug. “Okay, so maybe it’s not her. But it’s been years. What if she never comes?”

That thought hit harder than her initial suggestion, a spike of acid ripping right through the pit of my stomach. “She will, when we’re ready. And when she does, we’ll get our vengeance. But this…”

I pictured the toy waiting back in our playground. Her soft skin, her pouty lips, the fire burning behind those stubborn little eyes. This Ragdoll was nothing like the cowardly traitor the prophecy had promised me. I would have my fun with our little prisoner, but the hellfire I waited to rain down was reserved for one person and one person alone.

Still, even as I tried to convince myself, doubt wriggled at the back of my mind. Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Nash once more. “That’s actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about — away from the girl’s prying ears.”

Nash and Blade had noticed as well as I had that the girl listened to every fucking thing that happened in her vicinity. She was constantly watching, cataloguing every piece of data, every weakness she could exploit for the next Fright Night.

But this was something holy — something I wouldn’t let her vacuous curiosity defile.

“The cards… when we get home, when you’re sure that the girl won’t see… I want you to ask them for the truth.”

Nash raised an eyebrow. “I thought you just said⁠—”

“It’s time we got an update on the prophecy.” I shook my head. “That’s all.”

Her sigh told me that she saw right through the pretense. But Nash was never one to push. “You’ve got it, Cy.”

I didn’t want to believe that Nash was right. But the woman who had stumbled in through the fence… the sacrifice in blood… it was exactly what Nash’s prophecy had promised all those years ago.

It was the reason why I insisted on changing the rules, keeping her in the park. And it was the reason why I wouldn’t let her win, wouldn’t let her leave until the cards had given us their answer.

20

TESS

My solo day with Blade had been strange, to say the least. She wasn’t bad, she just rattled me. I tried to settle in on the couch with Butch nuzzled against my thigh. But it was hard to focus on anything when I could feel Blade watching me, occasionally giggling to herself.

My nervous system was ready for a much needed break by the time Cyrus and Nash came sweeping back into the apartment.

Apparently, they’d had quite the day too. After handling the “shipment” — whatever the fuck that meant — they’d both looked tired. Not disheveled the way I’d have expected from doing manual labor, though. Which inherently narrowed the options of what they were moving.

Mostly, though, Cyrus had looked fucking angry. She wouldn’t even look at me as she stalked down the hallway and slammed her door. Not five seconds later, heavy metal blared from a speaker in her room, followed closely by the sound of her shower.

Nash had smiled weakly and shrugged. “She just needs to decompress. Blade, maybe you should take a break too?”

Blade shook her head. “That’s okay, I don’t mind. I can st⁠—”

“Blade?” Nash interrupted, cocking a brow. “Good night.”