memorize where we’re going, a slow, low burn of worry building in me. Periodically, I look behind us and every once in a while I see headlights, but they are way in the distance.
We cross a bridge, cut through a rural area, and eventually turn off onto a narrow road that looks like it leads into utter darkness. “Where are we going?”
“Here.” She pulls into a long dirt drive tucked between huge oak trees and the car jolts, kicking up gravel, until the lights finally shine on an ancient double-wide surrounded by nothing but dirt, grass, and a few abandoned appliances.
The three other cars parked there look completely out of place, yet familiar. I recognize Amanda’s silver SUV and Candace’s bright-green cube-shaped thing as we park and walk to the dimly lit mobile home.
The night is silent, and cool. Beyond the trailer are a wooded area and some fields. I rub my jacket-covered arms against the chill and follow Dena.
Inside, the girls are gathered in a rattily furnished living area, a few on a plaid sofa, some on the floor. They are all staring at something on the coffee table, but a few look up to greet me.
“Maybe Kenzie can help,” Kylie says. “Aren’t you, like, some kind of freak with foreign languages?”
My chest tightens a little and I lean to the right to see around Amanda’s head to what’s on the table. “Just Latin,” I say.
“This looks like Latin.” Amanda scoops something up and holds out her hand, the shiny gold making me gasp.
“Where did you get that?” I exclaim. I grab for it, but Amanda yanks it away.
“You’ve seen this before?”
Today, as a matter of fact. “Please, Amanda. Let me look at it. It could have a tracking device and someone could be on his way here right this minute to kill us.”
Seven sets of horrified eyes stare at me as Amanda slowly opens her hand and relinquishes the coin.
It’s exactly like the one Josh left at Kipler’s. “Where did you get this?”
“I found it in my bathroom,” Candace says from the sofa. I look at her for the first time and barely recognize her with shorn hair. I can’t help but recoil in surprise. Her thick, waist-length hair looks like someone hacked it off two inches from her head.
She gives me a hard stare, like she doesn’t give a crap about her locks. She’s alive.
“Holy shit!” Dena lunges at the coin. “I found one like that, too. Right on the floor where my cat chewed the cord.”
“Do you have it?”
She shakes her head. “I thought it was my dad’s because he just got back from a business trip in Europe. It’s probably still sitting in the junk drawer in our kitchen.”
I look around. “Anyone else find something like this?”
“Maybe,” Bree says, standing to get a better look. “I heard my parents talking about finding something gold after that power line fell into our house. I didn’t pay any attention, but they were fighting over where it came from. My dad accused my mom of buying it at the flea market even though she said she wasn’t going there anymore, but she swore she didn’t. I just ignore them when they fight.”
“Maybe it’s the mark of a curse,” Kylie says.
“Or a calling card,” Candace suggests.
I give her a nod. “That makes sense, except for two things. One, the inscription means ‘to leave nothing behind and no trace,’ but that would mean someone left something behind. Two, worse than that …” I lift the coin to the dim light and try to imagine a chip or something inside. “It can track where you are.”
“Holy hell,” Shannon mutters, standing up. “I’m out of here.”
“Wait a minute,” Amanda says. “How do you know this?”
I search a few faces and debate what’s safe and smart to tell them. All of their lives are at stake—and mine. I can no longer doubt that this coin—which showed up after these freak accidents—is somehow related to the deaths of two girls on the list and the near misses of several others.
“I know it because I was followed by someone when I had a coin like that today in my hand. I was—”
“Shit!” Dena jumps back from the window, eyes wide. “Someone’s coming.”
A collective shriek rises from the group.
“Let’s hide!”
“Run!”
“Kill the son of a bitch.” Candace stands, fearless, fixing Shannon with a hard look. “Surely your grandmother kept a gun in this redneck hellhole.”