“Here!” I call.
Kendall’s eyes widen. “Shut—”
“We’re here!” Seth hollers.
The footsteps grow closer.
And then a figure comes bursting through the trees.
It’s Gen.
She’s the last person I was expecting to see. She’s out of breath and red in the face, and it’s clear she’s been crying.
And she has Jeremy’s silver gun in her hands.
“Gen.” Kendall’s voice is a broken whisper. “Thank God you’re here. It was them—they killed Fiona and Thatcher. They brought me here to kill me—”
I find my voice. “Gen, no,” I say loudly. “She’s lying—”
“Do you have service?” Kendall’s eyes are fixed on Gen, even as she keeps the gun trained on Seth and me. “Can you call the cops? I don’t know how to work a gun, Gen, I’m scared—”
Gen looks from Kendall with the gun to Seth and me frozen near the edge of the ravine. “I—I don’t—”
“Call your uncle,” Kendall orders. “Tell them we heard everything, they confessed, they told us how they planned both murders, and why. If both of us swear to it, they’ll have to believe us.”
Gen reaches into her pocket, looks at her phone, then back at us. “But they—”
“Gen, you know me.” I swallow. She can’t really believe Kendall right now, can she? “I didn’t kill Fiona. I didn’t kill anyone. It was Kendall. She shot Jeremy!”
“She’s lying,” Kendall breaks in. “She shot Jeremy. She’s such a good liar, you know that—”
“Gen, call your uncle,” Seth orders. “Do it, before she kills us all.”
Gen stands with her mouth open, phone in hand. “I—don’t have service,” she finally whispers.
“Okay, so here’s what we’ll do,” Kendall says. “I’ll keep my gun on them while you go find service, then you call—”
“Gen, please don’t leave me.” My voice chokes up. “She’s going to kill us.”
“I’m trying to keep myself safe from you—”
“Gen, please—”
“She’s a liar, she lied to you about Jeremy because she wanted him to herself, and now he’s dead!”
“Because of you!” I scream at Kendall. I’m full-on crying now. “Jeremy’s dead because of you.”
“I could never do this!” Kendall’s crying now, too. “My brother, my best friend—Gen, please, you have to believe me.”
Gen looks between us, her phone still limp in her hand. Then a look comes into her eyes I don’t like.
She turns to Kendall. “I believe you.”
I feel like I’m going to throw up. “Gen, no—”
But she’s walking toward Kendall, then standing right next to her. She aims Jeremy’s gun at us.
My heart sinks.
Kendall’s face shows a flash of triumph. “We need to get our story straight—”
It happens fast.
One moment the two of them are standing there—and the next, they’re on the ground.
A gun is sailing through the air.
It clatters to the rocks.
And goes off.
47
“Addie!”
I force my eyes open. Clutch at Seth, in front of me.
Alive. Whole.
