Chapter 238
She Knows Something.
It took too long. Too long for the footsteps to shuffle down the hall. Too long for the porch light to flicker on. Too long for the latch to even click. Every second stretched thin over the bone of my patience until it snapped. So no, I didn’t wait. I just raised my boot and kicked it clean in. The door slammed
open, the wood splintering at the frame,
Envy gasped behind me. “Elliot!”
I shrugged, stepping through the wreckage like it was nothing. “Opps.”
She sighed, that long, tired, motherly sound that used to make me behave when I was twelve. It no longer worked on me, not when Macey was missing and every second counted in getting her back. Tessa’s parents appeared at the top of the staircase, the glow frote the hall light catching their shocked faces. The mum clutched her robe closed, eyes wide; the dad froze halfway down the steps, like he wasn’t sure whether to fight or run.
“What the hell-” the father started.
Envy moved smoothly in front of me; her hands raised in a calm apology. “I’m so sorry about the door,” she said, voice low but edged with tension. “Our daughter, Macey, hasn’t come home. Your daughter was the last person to see or speak with her. Could you please wake her up?”
That did it. The father’s expression flickered from anger to alarm. “Macey’s still missing?”
Envy nodded. The mother’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh gods… of course, of course. I’ll go get her.” She hurried up the rest of the stairs, calling Tessa’s
name as she went.
The rest of us stood there in the hall, the air thick with unease. I scanned the place automatically, my eyes taking in all the framed family photos, the faint scent of lavender and candle wax, and the sound of the refrigerator humming in the next room. Normal. Too normal. Something in my chest burned hotter.
A few minutes later, soft footsteps came down the stairs. Tessa appeared, wrapped in pastel pyjamas, hair mussed from sleep, rubbing her eyes like a kid who had nothing in the world to worry about. She looked up at the crowd gathered in her living room, Envy, Xavier, Levi, Haiden, Noah and me, and froze.
“Uh, what’s going on?” she asked, voice small, uncertain.
Envy didn’t waste time. “Macey hasn’t come home. We were hoping you could tell us what she said to you last.”
Tessa blinked, eyes widening. “She… hasn’t come home?” Her hand went to her chest, mort falling open just slightly. “Oh my god, …I thought she had. She said she was going out with some new girls tonight to get dinner. I just figured she’d text when she got home.”
Her performance was good. Too good. Every expression timed perfectly, every pause deliberate. I’d seen hundreds of souls try to lie their way out of damnation before; I knew the rhythm.
Envy nodded slowly. “New girls,” she repeated. “And you saw her this afternoon?”
“Yeah,” Tessa said quickly. “She seemed excited. Said she needed a break after being grounded all week.”
The adults exchanged glances, quiet, calculating ones.
I crossed my atd. “If Marey was going out with new girls,” 1 anid, keeping my voice level but hard, “and you’re supposed to be her best friend, then why didn’t was gu with her?”
Hey yes darted to me, just for a second; it was fast, sharp, and guilty. Then she gave this little nervous laugh that made my stomach nur “Oh, well, she
7:17 pm P
She Knows Something.
said i was just a small thing, you know? And I already had plans: I didn’t want to intrude.”
“Plans,” I echoed.
Her mouth opened like she might add something, then shut again.
behind me, I felt Xavier shift, the energy in the room changing; it was subtle, but there. The kind that made liars sweat.
Envy’s voice softened, but there was steel beneath it. “Tessa, sweetheart. If there’s anything you know, anything at all, now’s the time to say it. We’re not here to punish anyone. We just want Macey home safe.”
Tessa swallowed, her hands twisting the hem of her sleeve like she could wring the truth right out of the fabric.
“I… I told you everything I know.”
But her voice cracked on that last word, just enough to tell me she was lying.
And that was all I needed. I took a slow, measured step forward, fixing my gaze on her, but when I spoke, it wasn’t to her. My voice cut through the silence
like a blade.
“Where was your daughter this afternoon?”
Her mother flinched. I caught it in my peripheral vision, the subtle shuffle, the flick of her eyes toward her husband. Guilt had a sound, and I could feel it bleeding through the air.
“Uh,” she stammered, clutching her rebe tighter. “She went to the packhouse this afternoon…”
“And then?” I asked, my tone sharper than I meant it to be.
Her mother hesitated. “And then… she came home. She’s been in her room over since.”
“Right,” I murmured, my eyes never leaving Tessa. I watched the way her threat worked when she swallowed, the way her pulse beat a little too fast at her temple. “So you didn’t have plans. Which means you could have gone with Macey, if she was in fact meeting these supposed new girls from school.”
Her eye twitched, just a flicker, but I saw it.
My jaw clenched as I took another step forward. “Which means you lied.”
The air in the room grew still and heavy. “And people,” I said quietly, “don’t lie for no reason.”
I leaned in just slightly, my voice low and venomous. “So, I’m going to ask you one more time, nicely.” My tone broke on the word, the control in it hangmg by a thread. “Where the fuck is Macey?”
“Elliot Envy’s voice came from behind me, calm but warning.
I didn’t turn. I didn’t even look away. I just raised a hand slightly behind me to silence her. The rage was building tou high in my chest, twisting hot and intter through my veins.
Tris’s bottom lip trembled. “I i don know,” she stuttered, vise cracking, even darting toward the waits like she wight find her answer there
That was it. That was all I needed. Before anyone could stop me, I reached wat and grabbed her arm. Het parents gasped, Rnvy shouted my name, but it was
23
7:17 pm
She Knows Something,
Glady done, the world folded in on itself, shadows bursting around us as the portal tore open, and then we were gone. We landed hard on the blackened stone of the pits. The torches along the wall flickered to life, reacting to my temper.
Tessa staggered back, her eyes wide with terpen, “W what where”
I took a step toward her, shadows curling at my feet. “You can lie to them,” I said, my voice low, dangerous. “But you don’t lie to me.”
1 let my power bleed out, not all of it but enough for her to derstand that hell wasn’t just a story told to scare children. It was the place where the
damned would burn.