Revealers by Amanda Marrone Page B

wasn’t nice. Are you afraid someone’s going to get—”
    “Shut the hell up!” Margo yells. “Are you insane?”
    Dani, Z, and I exchange looks. Frosty breath puffs out from our open mouths.
    “Are you okay?” I ask as I help Sascha up.
    “I’m fine,” she says, brushing mud and leaves off her hands. “Just a happy hunter.”
    “Will someone tell us what’s going on?” Z says. “All this cryptic shit is totally getting on my nerves.”
    Sascha laughs. “Isn’t it annoying? But guess what? Our mothers weren’t just being tools about all the cryptic shit— there really is a good reason why they wait until our birthdays to dump a shitload of shit on us.”
    She raises the flask to her lips again, and Margo snatches it away. “Just shut up, okay? Just shut up and I won’t tell anyone what you just did.”
    “Did they tell you what happened to my dad, Margo?” Sascha whispers.
    “Just stop,” Margo pleads.
    “Why? My big mouth doesn’t affect you!”
    “It might! You don’t know.”
    “Guys!” I interrupt. “Cut the crap and tell us what’s going on.”
    Sascha tilts her head at Margo and sways a bit. “We can word it carefully. You don’t honestly believe we can’t—”
    “Look,” Dani says, “someone’s coming.”
    Headlights work their way up through the trees along the dirt road.
    “Shit,” I say. “She’s here—what are we doing?”
    “Wonder drunk is supposed to have all the details,” Margo hisses as we slowly retreat toward the forest’s edge.
    Sascha giggles again, and Z grabs her cape. “Get it together and tell us what the deal with the wolf is,” she says through clenched teeth. “Is it just one?”
    Sascha pushes Z off her. “Yeah. It’s just one lone wolf, and she’s expecting to meet someone for a payoff. We get her, and then Connor cleans up.”
    My heart skips a beat.
    “What about Michael—won’t he be here, too?” Dani asks.
    “Tonight it’s just Connor.” Sascha points toward a lean-to just off the dirt road. “He’s already over there waiting.”
    I see the van parked. As the other car—some sort of sports coupe—pulls up toward it, Connor flashes his lights a few times. Connor is the person she’s meeting?
    “Is there anything else we need to know?” Margo asks.
    Sascha heads over to the car. “Nope—just some little detail I need to take care of—I’m sure they’re testing me.” She looks back and gives Margo a big, cheesy smile. “And don’t worry, Margo, I’ll make the inner circle proud.”
    Margo rushes up to Sascha. I strain to hear what she’s saying, but the wind roars past carrying her words away.
    Sascha pulls out her star necklace, and wraps her hand around it. Her whole body goes rigid for a second and then she breaks into a run.
    ” What is going on?” Dani whispers to me as we hurry after her.
    “I don’t know.”
    Connor gets out of the van and holds up a white envelope. “All set for you, Diane.”
    A tall woman with long, white hair opens the car door. “Great,” she says. “And you tell your mom it’s been a pleasure doing …”
    “Silence!” Sascha screams, running at her. A bolt of white light streaks from her palm and hits the woman in the head knocking her down. “We bind you to the earth!” Sascha throws a binder, and the mud and debris on the ground coil up and pin her down on her back.
    “Nice work,” Connor says.
    I hope he didn’t mean that.
    I purposefully avoid making eye contact with Connor, and join in the circle around our wolf. I hold my palms toward her and gasp. The woman’s mouth looks like it’s been sewn closed with thick, black thread. Normally a silencing spell would just keep someone from talking, but for whatever reason, Sascha decided to put a little more effort into this one.
    The woman’s eyes bulge, and her nostrils flare as she struggles to open her mouth. A wave of nausea hits me as Kelsey’s voice echoes in my head.
    Do you always torture your vics?
    I hear the