Page 49 of Rattle the Cage

“Not much to tell,” Cyrus shrugged. “Looks like he fled to South America when the investigation into Heirs started. Started up a non-profit in Ecuador while the group home was getting shut down. Been hiding out there ever since.”

I didn’t realize my jaw was hanging open until I almost caught a fly. Shaking my head, I turned to look at Nash and Blade, who seemed equally stunned.

As much as I hated to admit it, Cyrus was kind of right. That wasn’t much information at all. And there wasn’t much to do about it besides feel weird.

How deeply Cyrus of her to bring the mood down again.

No one knew how to move on from there. Gazes grew distant as everyone quietly sipped their beers, contemplating the architect of our earliest suffering.

But as time moved on, nature refused to let us stay stuck. The sun finally began to dip below the mountains, painting the sky in beautiful shades of pink and orange.

“Come on,” Nash patted my leg. “This is the best part.”

The three of us followed her over to the ledge, standing in a line as the colors began to dance across the clouds. Nash was right about how beautiful it was — and about how special the valley was in the fall. Nash was right about a lot of things, it seemed.

But while Blade and I joined her in the revelry, Cyrus could hardly keep her eyes off her cellphone.

Are you serious?

I bit my tongue, fighting back the urge to fight with her. It was impossible to enjoy the view with her being so rude.

Peeking out of the corner of my eye, I saw a text conversation open on her phone. She was typing away furiously before a little gray bubble popped up: two short words, impossible to make out from this distance.

The curl of her lip told me it was nothing good though.

I tried to lean closer to catch a closer glimpse, but she locked her screen before glaring down at me. “Nosey much?”

Caught, I swallowed down my panic and forced a shrug. “Just curious what’s so fucking interesting.”

The rumble from her chest told me that she wanted to keep it private. But I crossed my arms and stared her down anyway. She might be too stubborn to apologize, but we both knew there was no point trying to keep a secret from me while we were stuck at Feverpoint together.

Growling, she looked past me, locking eyes with Blade and Nash instead. “It’s The Oracle. They have a delivery for tonight.”

Frowning, I turned to Nash and Blade for clarification. Instead, all I got were looks of shock on their faces.

“Already?” Blade asked. But unlike Cyrus, her tone was underscored by disbelief and excitement.

“When?” Nash quirked a brow.

“Dusk.” Cyrus muttered.

With a clap, Nash stepped away from the ledge. “Better get a move on then.”

I followed after her quietly, waiting for someone to explain what the fuck was going on. But in the bustle of packing up the cooler and rushing through the hike down, it was impossible to ask.

It wasn’t until we were all the way down the mountain and back at the car that I had a single second of Nash’s attention. “Hey, what the fuck is the Oracle?”

Dropping her pack into the trunk, Nash considered her words carefully. “It’s an organization of vigilantes that neutralizes predators.”

“That’s fancy-fuck for killing rapists,” Blade offered from the backseat.

Cyrus slammed the trunk, “If you’re going to talk about it, can you idiots at least do it in the car?”

Heeding her haste, Nash hustled me into the backseat, sandwiching me between Blade and herself. I was hardly buckled in before Cyrus was slamming on the gas, chasing the setting sun back to Feverpoint.

As Blade looped her arm around my shoulders, toying with the dip-dyed ends of my hair, I couldn’t suppress my curiosity. “Is that what you do in the park? Kill rapists?”

“Not just rapists,” Nash tilted her head. “All sorts of monsters: abusers, pedophiles, murderers…”