Chapter 32

Thirty-Two

Iwatch the exchange closely, taking it all in from my spot behind a grave.

I watch her.

She wears a mask just as the others do, the smiling grimace ugly and distasteful. It hides the beautiful face I spent years perfecting. I want to rip it away and punish her for such a statement. How dare she gallivant across the country with these monsters? How dare she play with them?

She's supposed to be mine to play with.

The boy passes something to the man, and when he holds it up, I catch the glimmer of a red joker in the moonlight. Another card, another pattern. The card is important somehow.

Ember turns as if she feels my eyes on her, but I sink lower so she can't see me. It's not time yet, but soon she'll pay for what she did. Soon, she'll scream my name, and she'll be back home where she belongs.