Page 104 of Bound By Fury

“You’re not mad at us for wondering if your dad is a murderer?”

“Or an accessory to… a murderer… maybe?” Sam adds as they pace back to their seat.

He laughs. “I mean, he’s not. A murderer. So no, I’m not mad. You’ve got to rule out all suspects.”

“Well, what do you think happened?” Daisy finally asks him.

The rumors have been inconsistent. Some say Fiona was attacked by an animal. Others think she drowned in the creek after tripping and hitting her head on a rock. Or perhaps it was both of those things or none of those things given that no one at this school besides my friends can be trusted, and none of us saw the body for ourselves.

Lucas looks down at his lap. “I think she took her own life.”

We’re quiet for a moment after that, like we’re really considering it. But I can feel Daisy buzzing beside me.

“No,” she finally says. “That’s not it. I know it’s not. Harper knows it’s not. Missy knows it, too.”

At the mention of Missy, Lucas rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything else. Just scratches at his chin and looks out over the field.

Missy has been pretty much MIA since Fiona’s body was found, like nothing matters anymore now that we know she’s dead.

“Sam, what do you think?” I ask, turning to them as they pull at the laces of their Converse.

“I—uh…” They tilt their face to the sky. “I think she’s dead, and there’s nothing we can do to bring her back.”

Daisy scoffs. “So we should just leave it?”

“Yeah, maybe we should just leave it.”

“You don’t even believe any of this is real. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Their face turns red. “I don’t believe in it, but I don’t believe in the Candyman either. You don’t see me in the bathroom saying his name five times!”

I sigh.

They have a point.

Daisy plops down in front of us, her bottom lip pushed out. “We can’t give up now. Fiona deserves to have her voice heard. She deserves justice.”

Daisy has a point, too.

“I know that Fiona’s not the first one to go missing from campus,” I say. “And she’s not the first to die. What if… what if there really is something sinister going on at this school? What if we could save other people from meeting the same fate?”

Daisy’s eyes brighten just a little. How did I not notice the dark circles beneath them before now? I suddenly realize she’s looking as drained as I’ve been feeling.

Lucas reaches over and squeezes my hand. In fact, he’s the only one of us that doesn’t look like he’s been deeply traumatized.

“Please?” she screeches as she turns to Sam, her pitch several times higher than usual. “I’ll even take one for the team and ask Missy myself.”

“Uhh…” Sam looks at me, eyebrows raised.

I look at Sam.

“Seriously?” they squeak.

I turn back to Daisy. To be honest, accidentally awakening some sort of Paranormal Activity-style demon is not at the top of my to-do list for today, but for some reason, Daisy needs this. “Okay, well, I mean, how would the séance even work? Where would we do it?”

“You can leave the details to me. Just meet me in my room tonight at eight.”

Sam and I exchange another look, but in the end we both agree. Because we love Daisy, and because we still want answers—and I for one am willing to do just about anything to get them.