"Sadie," Lisa licked her lips, "Sadie, we should leave." Lisa's eyes were wide and wild. "I don't like this, not one bit."
Sadie remained a statue, one hand on the door — which was now two-thirds of the way open. Her heart bounced from side to side in her ribcage. She reaffirmed her grip on the stake. "I, uh," she cleared her throat, "I think there's something in there. Like, something actually in there."
"Yeah? No shi—"
Sadie raised a finger to her friend's lips. "Shh!" Her eyes darted back and forth and she squinted. "I'm listening."
"Sadie, let's call the cops and get outta here!" Lisa shuffled and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She swore. "Dead. This thing never holds its charge, any more! Lend me yours, Sade."
A hiccough in the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of her heart. "I left it at home."
"You what?"
"Mum 'n' Dad keep trying to track my movements. So, I left it."
"Oh Jesus, Sade. Let's go. Let's go now."
"Shush, I said! I can hear something..."
Lisa bit her tongue and held her breath. "I don't—"
"There."
A thud. A thump. The unmistakable sound of footsteps on stone.
Sadie turned to face Lisa. Her gut plummeted into the ground. "It's coming this way."
The colour drained from Lisa's face. A small squeak escaped her pressed-together lips.
Sadie grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "We've got to hide, Lis."
Lisa nodded and glanced around — a frightened rabbit in headlights. "Where, Sadie? Where?"
"Behind the crypt, c'mon!"
Sadie had to all but drag Lisa with her — further into the stone maze of the cemetery's lifeless heart. They went past one, two, three rows of vaults and then hooked to the side. Sadie hunkered down and pulled Lisa down into a crouch, the eddies of fog now as high as their chests. To dip into that greyness was to plunge into ice. She pressed her finger to her lips and nodded. "Shh."
She braced against the rear of a tomb for balance and listened.
Nothing.
No thumps, thuds, slaps, taps, groans or growls.
All was silent.
Somewhere, an insect chirped. A bird cried out, and Lisa let out a little squeal. Sadie reached out and squeezed her hand.
They waited. Sadie counted to a minute twice, and still, there was nothing. "Hey, Lis, you still with me?"
The other girl nodded.
"I think tha—"
A hoarse moan rent the air, sliced her sentence in half.
Lisa's eyes bulged out of their sockets and she clamped her hands over her mouth. Gooseflesh prickled up all over Sadie's body.
"You need to get outta here."
Lisa nodded.
"I'm gonna go see what it is."
Lisa gripped Sadie's forearm in a claw, her nails dug into the skin. "Are you crazy? This isn't a game Sadie — not anymore. Let's just get the hell out of this place and pretend nothing ever happened, 'kay?"
"But there is something there." Sadie's eyes darkened as she broke free of Lisa's grip and stood up. She clutched the stake to her chest. "And I'm gonna find out what it is."
"Are you insane? We need to go!"
Sadie cast her eyes down to the ground. "I can't," she whispered. "We'll be in high school next year, and these hunts..." Something swelled within her chest. "This year will be the last year we can do this. Properly. I don't want to give it up, Lis. Not just yet."
"I'm not going to convince you to leave, am I?" The defeat in Lisa's voice was tangible, but intermingled with it was something else. Pity? Love?
She shook her head and said nothing. "But you can go. Really." She nodded further into the crypts. "If you keep going, you'll eventually come to the other side. The fence there isn't too high, you should be able to climb it fairly easily. You can head home if you want. I'll be fine. I'll catch up with you tomorrow."
Lisa glanced in the direction Sade had directed. She hesitated for a moment, seemed to mull it over. She shook her head. "No way in hell I'm leaving you here alone." She got to her feet — with some difficulty, due to how much she shook. "We're the Bridgemoss Guardians," she pulled a crucifix from her bag, "and we do things together."
