The Dead and the Dark(72)

Logan exhaled. “Can we sit for a second?”

Ashley nodded. They climbed onto the picnic table at the water’s edge and let silence pour over them. It was all wrong. The world was unsteady under Logan’s feet, like one too many stones had been pulled from the foundation. The grave was supposed to contain answers, but she’d dug it up and only had more questions.

She pressed her face into her palms. “It doesn’t feel real.”

“The letter?” Ashley asked. “Or…?”

“God, any of it.” Logan reached for the rain-spotted paper in her pocket. The handwriting was Brandon’s, but she couldn’t untangle the meaning. An apology, but it didn’t say what Brandon was sorry for. Logan traced the letters—they were jagged and misshapen, like he’d scrawled them in a panic. The letters were shaped like they hurt. “Whatever’s doing all this, I think you were right. Brandon’s connected to it. So am I.”

Ashley looked down. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Logan waved a dismissive hand.

Dusk settled into the valley as the storm clouds burned away. The horizon was a crown of black hills blanketed in shadow and, beyond that, the sky was bloodred and bright as fire. Specks of white starlight crept through the sunset, promising that night was only minutes away. Dark water lapped at the gravelly shore, rhythmic and calm as a heartbeat. Other than the crickets and the water and the tender, cautious sound of Ashley’s breathing, there was quiet. The night smelled like juniper and gentle anticipation.

Logan closed her eyes.

“I bet people used to think this was paradise.”

“Yeah.” Ashley stared at the hills across the water and her eyes were full of sunset. “I did. Maybe I still do. I don’t know. I look at it and there’s nowhere else I wanna be.”

“Not me,” Logan said.

“I wish you saw it before all this,” Ashley said. “It wasn’t like this before. I used to actually like how it felt like we were the only people in the world. There’s no one around for hours. You could do anything you wanted here and it would never matter to anyone else.”

Logan’s laugh was a bitter stab. She hadn’t expected to laugh. The sound felt hollow in her chest. “That’s terrifying. It explains how you’ve got three dead kids and no one outside Snakebite cares.”

Ashley’s expression darkened and Logan realized what she’d said a moment too late.

“You think he’s dead?”

Logan started to speak, but she didn’t have the right words.

Ashley looked out at the water. Her eyes were the color of freshwater in the hazy half-light. The breeze buffeted her hair over her shoulders. “I don’t wanna give up, but I don’t think he’s coming back.”

“Hey,” Logan said. She cleared her throat, reshaping herself into someone with a softness she’d never had. “I didn’t mean it. He could still be out there.”

“You don’t think he is, though.”

Logan grimaced. No, she didn’t think Tristan was alive. But stranger things had happened in this town. She hardly knew who she was anymore—hardly knew what being alive even meant. Who was she to say Tristan was gone for good?

“I just don’t know anymore,” Logan said finally. “When I got here, I thought people were alive or dead. I thought you remembered things or you didn’t.” She traced the veins along her wrist. “I don’t know if we’re ever gonna figure out what’s going on. Every time I think I’m getting there, it gets more confusing.”

“I made it worse,” Ashley said. “I don’t know what I thought it would fix. I’m so sorry.”

Logan grimaced but said nothing. For a long time, Alejo had been the glue holding their family together. Without him, Logan understood how alone she truly was. How many days she could go without speaking, without leaving her room, without doing anything. “They’ll realize he didn’t do it soon, and then they have to let him go. But I wanted to solve this for me. I just wanted to understand.”

Ashley ran her thumb along the picnic table, considering. “What if you didn’t solve it?”

“I don’t know,” Logan said. “I’ll keep trying, but—”

“No, I mean what if you didn’t try to solve it?” Ashley shifted to face Logan, eyes wide with either fear or excitement. “What if we just gave up?”

Logan narrowed her eyes. The breeze off the lake was warm now. The suggestion sounded like nonsense, but Ashley seemed genuine. Something small and hopeful sparked in Logan’s chest. “What do you mean?”

“I could go to Paris and tell him Alejo didn’t do it,” Ashley said. “It’s the least I can do. I know we keep thinking we have to fix Snakebite, but what if we just … didn’t? What if we just left?”

“I…” Logan wiped rainwater from her cheek. “Are you serious?”

Ashley nodded.

Logan stared into her face—really stared—and tried not to cry. Because, for the first time since she’d been dropped into this hellscape, there was a way out. She wanted to understand everything happening here, but more than that, she wanted out. She wanted to breathe again. She didn’t want to be alone.

“Yeah…” Logan breathed. She laughed and dabbed at the hot tears welling in her eyes. “I think I’d like that.”