Page 81 of Hide And Seek

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

Jasmine let out a sharp breath, already turning back toward the cabin. “I’m going in there right now,” she said. “With or without you.”

“Jasmine…”

“I mean it, Alissa.” She glanced back at me, eyes blazing with a kind of reckless certainty that made my stomach drop. “I’m not walking away from this.”

For a split second, I considered letting her go alone. Then I swore under my breath and followed. There was no way I was letting her walk into that cabin by herself.

The last stretch of ground disappeared beneath our feet in seconds. Jasmine reached the door first. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t knock. She grabbed the handle, found it unlocked, andshoved it open with enough force that it slammed against the wall.

We rushed in together, axes raised. Then we froze.

Knox was standing in the middle of the room, half-turned toward us, eyes wide with shock. Beside him was Rhys.

Very much alive.

18

“What the fuck?”Jasmine’s voice cracked through the cabin, sharp and loud. Her ax was still raised in both hands like she was seconds away from swinging it.

Knox’s hands shot up instantly. “This isn’t what it looks like, I swear!”

I barely heard him. I was still staring at Rhys.

My brain was simply refusing to catch up with what I was seeing, like it had hit some kind of wall and just… stopped. Rhys was here, solid and real and clean. Not bloodied, not broken.

Alive.

A strange, dizzying rush of relief hit me all at once, almost hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs. He was alive. He wasn’t lying in a woodshed. He hadn’t been dragged off and dumped somewhere to rot.

But the relief didn’t settle. Instead it twisted into confusion and fury. Why the hell had he let us believe he was dead?

“Oh yeah?” Jasmine snarled, her focus still locked on Knox. “Because what it looks like is you helped Rhys fake his own death so he can throw everyone off the fact that he’s the fucking killer!”

Rhys took a step forward, hands lifting slightly. “That’s only half true,” he said. “Knoxdidhelp me fake it. Obviously. But it’s not because I’m out here killing people. I swear.”

“What other possible reason could there be to do this shit?” Jasmine fired back, angling the ax toward him now. She flicked me a quick glance. “Alissa, run and get the others. I’ll stop these two from going after you as long as I can.”

“Wait. Please.” Rhys raised his hands properly now, mirroring Knox. “Just give us five minutes to explain. Neither of us are armed, and you can hold onto your weapons the whole time. And if you aren’t convinced when we’re done talking… well, then you can go and tell everyone.”

Knox’s head whipped toward him. “Dude, that’ll wreck the plan!”

Rhys ignored him, his gaze fixed on us. “Deal?”

Jasmine hesitated, jaw tight. “Fine,” she finally said. “Five minutes. Start talking. And I want every single detail. Because we all saw youdead, Rhys. You weren’t breathing.”

Rhys dipped his chin in a short nod. “Yeah. That part took some work. I couldn’t have pulled it off without him,” he said, glancing over at Knox. “Want to start, man?”

“Okay.” Knox dragged a hand over his neck. “Jasmine, do you remember that Juilliard girl I dated for a while?”

“You mean the one you wouldn’t shut up about all last summer?” Jasmine said, rolling her eyes. “The actress.”

“Yeah. Her. She taught me a few things. I can’t cry on command or anything, but I can fake shock pretty convincingly. Like… finding my best friend dead, for example.”

“I wouldn’t be bragging about that,” Jasmine said snidely. “It was a real dick move.”

“I’m not bragging,” he replied. “Just explaining how I sold it. And the blood was fake too, obviously. It was a mix of stuff Rhys and I found in the arts and crafts center.”