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Tommy’s holding a flask, and he takes a swig before offering some to Remy. Remy holds it up to me, and I open my mouth so he can pour some in, wiping a bit off my chin. The alcohol burns as it goes down.

Tommy stands back with his hands in his pockets, and my heart hurts for him. He clearly wants to hold me, yet he won’t, and there’s nothing I can do to change that. My feelings for Remy haven’t disappeared just because we slept together.

Talia walks up next to him, her dark hair blowing in the cool breeze, and watches our classmates carefully. She doesn’t seem to mind Tommy openly pining after me right in front of her. In fact, she doesn’t seem to register us at all. Her eyes are laser-focused on the sign, and her lips curl as if it’s a threat directed right at her.

She lets out a small laugh. “If they want a resurrection, then let’s give them what they want. In order for there to be a resurrection, someone needs to die.”

I shudder, anticipating the hell that’s about to be unleashed.

Talia slips something rough into my palm, and I look down to see a face I know better than my own. Those black eyes of the mask are etched in my mind.

“Are you ready, Diana?” she asks me.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “At least, I think so.”

We move as one, raising masks to cover our faces in perfect unison. In one moment, we are united, like a binding force is flowing through us all.

Beneath the mask, we are all the same. The perfect image of Him.

All of us, except for Talia. Something tells me I haven’t scratched the surface of her.

She spins me around, and I meet her dark eyes. She reaches out, smoothing my hair back, making sure it’s all tucked in. Her face is a blank slate behind the mask.

I reach for her hand to stop her, and I thread my fingers through hers. A wave of heat rushes through me. Different heat than what I experienced with Tommy and Remy, almost as if fueled by Shadowface himself.

I’m ready to give in to this evil, but I need to understand it. I need to understand her.

“What did Cindy do to you?” I ask softly, and she lifts her chin in response. A subtle movement followed by her hands curling into fists. A gesture that doesn’t go unnoticed.

She calmly says, “Half the fun is unpredictability. My choices have no rhyme or reason, Diana, so don’t try to puzzle me together. They won’t anticipate this. Surprise breeds chaos, and chaos breeds fear. It’s only through fear that we truly see what makes us human. Fear makes humanity powerful.” She shares a look with her brother, and I believe there is so much more they are not saying. Talia is not merely unleashing chaos; she is exacting revenge. But revenge for what exactly?

I watch Cindy’s boyfriend, clearly marked on the field as if inviting the devil to strike him down, and Talia grabs my hand. “It’s time. Let them revel in their God while burning at the stake.” She turns to Bax, who seems to have been waiting for this moment. “Time to go, Bax.”

He nods. “Yes, sexy boss.”

He moves in a low and controlled manner through a small hole in the chain-link fence. His body moves like a sharp point, rather than with his usual lanky hippy swagger. He heads to another hiding spot directly across from us.

If anyone on the field were paying attention, they would have seen him.

I hold my breath as he crouches in position and only let it out once he’s hiding again in the shadows, safe from nearby gazes.

Talia jerks her head toward Remy. “Your turn, angel of darkness.”

Remy squeezes my hips before leaning down for a kiss. “Don’t fuck up, little lamb.”

He bolts off in a similar tight crouch, but in the opposite direction of Bax. My heart is on the verge of collapse until he is in his spot, carefully covered by the shadows of the trees.

The spot beside me is now empty and cold. It’s not long before Tommy is by my side, replacing him.

We watch as the leader of the fraternity stands in front of the group. Tommy grabs my hand in the dark.

“I need to talk to Diana for a second,” Tommy says suddenly.

Talia turns to face him and shakes her head. “No. She has to move now. We have no time.”

He grabs her hands and pulls off the mask and keeps his handsome face soft. “I need to talk to her alone. For one second.”

“Don’t try to talk her out of this. Don’t go soft on me now, Tommy.”