exhibited from throwaways.” He laughed, a joyful sound that even the wind didn’t want. It rang out around them, loud and spine-chilling.
Harper swallowed. Our first study failed for all intents and purposes. Our first study. Her. Jak. The other two boys. They had been the subjects of the first study. And it had failed. So now this man was going to tie up loose ends. Two of the boys were already dead, so that meant her.
And Jak? Another wave of horror washed through her, and she groaned, but it was snatched by the roar of the falling water.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Jak crept through the forest, the sound of the rushing water drowning out the other sounds around him. Meet me, the note had said, at the top of Amity Falls. They know you’re guilty, Jak. They know you killed Driscoll. I can’t let them put you away. Let’s disappear together, back into the forest.
At first his heart had dropped. She thought he was guilty? Of killing Driscoll? She knew that wasn’t true. He’d told her . . . everything. What they had shared . . . the plans they’d made . . . Let’s disappear together. It didn’t make sense. He’d gotten a ride from one of the police officers who had come to Thornland when his grandfather was taken to the hospital. He’d rushed to her door, wanting to tell her everything that had happened. But she was gone, missing from her apartment where she told him she’d wait.
Something was wrong.
He turned his face into the gentle wind, tilting his head to catch . . . there. He smelled her. Even over the fresh mineral scent of the rolling water, even over the scent of . . . another human. A male. No, two.
He moved forward, crouching, silent. He came to the edge of the trees, moving in the shadows, using the light and dark to draw closer.
“I know you’re here, Jak,” one of the men called out, making Jak freeze, a growl coming up his throat that he swallowed down. That voice. He knew that voice. “Cameras. They give the advantage, despite your stealth.” The man looked at Harper, who was standing closer to the falls, and smiled. Another man, a younger one, was standing behind the man who’d spoken, his eyes focused on the dark trees where Jak hid. “We can’t have them everywhere, of course. But I get the numerous feeds on my phone. Riveting TV. A true reality show if ever there was one.”
This man had been watching Jak too? The monster who’d been at the top of the cliff that awful night?
Anger moved within Jak, anger and grief, as he suddenly saw his life—all his suffering—in a different and even more terrible light. But on the top of both of those emotions was fear. His skin prickled. Chest burned. The fear of Harper standing in front of a man who Jak knew meant to harm her.
The man nodded back to the young man behind him. “Daire.”
Daire pulled a gun from his coat pocket, making Jak’s blood freeze.
“Come on out, Jak,” the older man said, the one with white stripes in his dark hair like a skunk. “It’s pointless to hide in the woods.”
Jak paused for only a moment and then stepped from the shadows.
The man smiled, an expression that looked truly . . . affectionate. “Hi, Jak. My, you’re even bigger in person. It’s . . . truly wonderful to see you.”
“Jak,” Harper said, her eyes darting to the gun in the other man’s hand, her smile breaking. Jak moved toward her, pulled, but neither man stopped him.
When Jak had made it almost all the way to where Harper stood, the older man said, “That’s good. Stay right there.” He sighed. “I’m going to explain to you our mission. Why, you might ask, am I telling you? Because you deserve to know. You deserve to understand that your sacrifice will not be in vain. Quite the opposite. You are both part of something so much bigger than the two of you. Despite what must happen here today, I revere you. My pride in you, and admiration for you both, knows no bounds.”
Despite what must happen here today. Jak’s brain spun, trying to understand. This man, he had been there the night it started. He was working with Driscoll. He’d watched the cameras. He’d seen everything. His thoughts tumbled, brain buzzed.
“I understand why you killed Driscoll, Jak. I truly do. It all went so wrong. If we