Page 161 of Rattle the Cage

Lola’s offer, although very sweet and maybe the most helpful idea any one of us had so far, was too dangerous.

Before she could insist, I raised my hand. “It’s too much. You have Chrissy. If something happened…”

“It wouldn’t.” Lola straightened her shoulders, her eyes assured.

I got the feeling that my friend had been considering this for a long time, ways that she could help us get rid of Rubin.

And getting a bug into his compound was key to taking him down. We needed to know what was going inside that house. Once we did, we could figure out how to take his whole cult down without leaving a power vacuum.

How much more could Valemont take?

Even now, as kids ran from house to house with their pillowcases and Halloween baskets, Messenger followers stood on every corner. Children ran back to their parents with pamphlets instead of candy.

His influence was only getting stronger.

But Lola grabbed my shoulders. “Tess, having this kind of ideology around a young girl is bad enough. Someone has to step up. And if I can help, I want to. Young girls and women are disappearing into that place. I won’t let my girl grow up in a world like that.”

After a second, Lola’s eyes were stern. “Surely, you can understand how dangerous that is.”

Nodding, all of it hit home for me. Heirs of Promise had trained me to be docile, compliant. Every day in that foster home had instilled another reckless piece of misogyny that would damage my perception of myself for years to come.

All under the guise of being part of God’s army.

But no god that I could believe in would want young girls to be treated like this.

Lola lowered her voice. “I can use Travis’ connections to The Messenger to coordinate a handoff. You give me the bugged device and I’ll pass it to Rubin.”

Every part of me wanted to say no, to keep her out of this. But it was the most logical option I’d seen so far. No absurd thirty-foot ladders. No mechanical mice. No ridiculous disguises.

“Can I think about it?” I asked, knowing that the truth was that I’d have to convince my Freaks to rope someone else into our scheme.

And I’d learned the hard way that cracking open their tight cliche was not for the faint of heart.

Lola nodded. “Of course. Just know that I really want to help.”

Looking over her shoulder, I jumped as I spotted three familiar masks in the crowd. Splatter, Spades, and Stitches. As the crowd shifted around them, the Freaks held still. Their gazes were peeled on me and Lola.

A wave of warmth washed over me in the cold Halloween chill.

Catching my eyes, Lola turned and spotted the masks, twitching as she saw them. “Fuck. Are those yours?”

I swallowed hard. “That’s my people.”

“Terrifying.” Lowering her voice to a whisper, Lola lifted an eyebrow. “Do they… ya know… with the masks on?”

Giggling, I nudged her shoulder. “No. Well, not every time.”

A scoff escaped Lola’s mouth. “Damn, girl. You’re freaky as hell.”

“Maybe, a little.”

If only Lola knew the truth, just how feral my Feverpoint Freaks were. She’d never look at me the same.

But knowing their heated gazes were on me, that they were only focused on keeping me safe at all times, was more comforting than I was willing to admit. They would — had killed for me.

Nothing would be allowed to hurt me ever again.

As children screamed and laughed as they Trick-Or-Treated, I felt a truth wash over me.