time.
we must decline.
secret from the children,
the one they already carry as founders.
a secret that needs to die with us.
it would be the end of us all. If you tell them
there was nothing,
to keep.
another sunrise. But you will make
She’d searched and searched, but the other half of the letter was nowhere to be found. And the fragment she possessed was tantalizingly confusing.
In a place full of secrets, what was so terrible about this one?
Violet shook her thoughts away as Justin appeared at the edge of the clearing, toting a giant cooler with a spigot on the front.
“Hey.” Justin’s smile was plastered on a shade too tightly. He set the cooler down on a nearby stump and hurried over to them, looking so grateful that it made Violet’s heart ache. She’d never expected to pity Justin Hawthorne. “So glad you two could make it.”
“How could we miss it after such a riveting invitation?” Violet pulled out her phone and read the text aloud. “‘Birthday party behind my house this Friday. The theme is “all my friends don’t want to murder one another anymore.” My mother won’t be there, I promise.’”
Justin smiled, and Violet knew he’d seen what she was trying to do: pretend everything was normal and she could still make fun of him. Pretend the town hadn’t turned on him even as it turned desperately to the other founders for the heroics he couldn’t give them.
“Did you really send her that?” May asked, shaking her head. “You’re ridiculous.”
Justin shrugged. “I was just telling the truth.”
“What’s in there?” Harper asked softly, pointing to the cooler.
May’s nose wrinkled. “You don’t want to know.”
“The Justin Shot,” Justin said proudly. “My new signature drink.”
Violet did not quite succeed in choking down an incredulous laugh. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes.” May shook her head. “He spent an hour raiding Augusta’s liquor cabinet while she was at a meeting and put most of it in a cooler. She actually pretended to believe him when he told her it was just punch.”
“Wanna try it?” Justin asked, gesturing at the cooler.
Violet looked at Harper. Harper looked at Violet.
“Fine,” Violet said, already knowing in her gut that she would regret it.
A moment later, she and Harper were holding matching red Solo cups full of strangely murky liquid. Violet raised hers slowly to her lips, sipped it, and tried not to gag. It tasted like an electric shock.
Beside her, Harper let out an unpleasant cough. “Are you trying to murder us?” she gasped, glaring at Justin. “What the hell is in this?”
“Vodka and an energy drink… and a secret ingredient.” Justin grinned at her. “Makes it impossible to get tired.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Is the secret ingredient rat poison?”
“Quite possibly,” May said. Violet raised an eyebrow as the girl downed an entire cup, then stuck it under the spigot for a refill.
“Uh… rough day?”
May’s smile was completely free of mirth. “You don’t know the half of it.”
A noise rustled in the underbrush behind the logs, a sharp bang and a crash.
“Who’s there?” Justin called out, but there was no reply, just another loud cracking of branches. The mood in the clearing changed instantly. Solo cups were hastily set down on logs; Harper unsheathed a giant blade from the scabbard at her waist and brandished it at the woods.
“Show yourself!” she called out.
“You brought a sword?” Justin said, staring at her in obvious awe and a tiny bit of fear. Violet was pretty sure Harper liked it that way. She was also pretty sure Justin had consumed a significant amount of the cooler’s contents already, considering he clearly hadn’t noticed the giant scabbard Harper was wearing. “To my birthday party?”
“You’re welcome!” Harper snapped.
“Are you seriously surprised?” Violet asked. “I’m pretty sure she sleeps with it. Like a stuffed animal.”
Harper glared at both of them. “I’ll stop arming myself for our social gatherings when you give me a good reason to believe I won’t need a weapon.”
“Calm down, everyone,” May said tersely, gesturing at the woods. “It’s just Isaac.”
At the sight of his familiar dark curls emerging from the trees, Violet relaxed. But then the lantern light caught his face, and Violet’s stomach sank. His eyes were glazed over, his cheeks slightly flushed. Violet understood why he’d been making so much noise: He was already drunk.
“What?” he asked, staring distantly at all of them. “I’m here?—Hey, where is everybody?”
Justin flinched, while Harper looked deeply uncomfortable.
“I see you got a head start,” May said, stepping forward and steering him into the clearing. “Maybe you should sit