an inconvenient flame, n. goode

Chapter Eighteen

Y/n's POV:

Deena and I shot back away from the bones. Fear filled both of our eyes and we realized we had both just seen the true story behind Sarah Fier. I was mortified. Nick was behind everything and I never once thought to wonder if it was him. I had been so caught up with our relationship that I became blind to the real situation at hand. How could I have been such an idiot?

How could he have lied to me when I needed him most?

A few tears fell from my eyes at the thought of it. Deena then snapped me out of my daze.

"Y/n, we have to go!" She hinted at the approaching police siren. He was here.

Deena and I saw that Josh was in the middle of talking to Nick. Before we could think of a plan, Deena ran to her brother. "Josh!" She pulled him into the woods with us and we began to run.

When we were far enough, we hid behind a few trees to catch our breath.

"What the hell?!" Josh panicked.

"Shhhh" We both shushed.

"It's him." Deena whispered.

"Josh!" Nick yelled through the woods. "Your sister is very confused. She's clearly suffering from some kind of a...a breakdown. She needs help. Josh?"

"Goode is evil" Deena said.

We then devised a plan to steal Nick's car. I fought Deena on this, but it didn't matter. By the time I tried to convince her what a bad idea this was, we were already running into the car and driving off. This was really really bad.

"We were back in time. She was Hyacinth Adams and I was Sarah Fier, and Sarah Fier was innocent." Deena explained to Josh who sat in the backseat. "She isn't turning people in Shadyside into killers. She wasn't a witch!"

Just then, a woman over the radio chimed in. "We have a 5150 in possession of car 961. Suspects on their way."

"Josh! Listen! Solomon Goode—"

"Who?"

"Nick Goode's pilgrim ancestor, he made a deal with the Devil, then framed Sarah to cover his own puritan ass. The Goodes, they're trading us. People from Shadyside. Goode gives a name to the Devil. The Devil takes over that person. Then that person kills and murders. And the Devil feeds on this blood of dead Shadysiders. And Goode gets whatever he wants. He becomes Sheriff. His brother becomes mayor. All of Sunnyvale gets better and better."

"And Shadyside doesn't" I finished.

Deena continued, "And the Goodes do it over and over, again and again. One Goode from every generation passing down the evil. Solomon...Solomon's son...Firstborn to firstborn. Right to today. Right to Sheriff Nick Goode."

I wanted to throw up. This was too much to process. I wanted to believe it wasn't true, but I didn't see any other way around it. Nick brought happiness into my life, I didn't want to believe he was the source of evil.

"Y/n, pull yourself together." Deena ordered, not knowing the real situation. She then turned back to Josh. "He framed her! She's the only one who's ever figured out the truth...until us."

Josh reinforced. "And the killers came after us to keep us from uncovering it?"

"Yes, to protect Goode's deal with the Devil."

Oh fuck. It just hit me. "Deena? If the killers were after us before...now that we know the truth, now that we know about Goode's deal...w-what happens now?" She shared a panicked look with me. Great. We're all gonna fucking die.

I blocked out everything else that was said on the way back to Ziggy's house. I didn't want to hear anymore about what a horrible man Nick was. This was all his fault...I knew that, but I still wouldn't brush aside my feelings for him.

Song - "Death Is My Heir : Abel Korzeniowski"

When we returned to Ziggy's place, Deena and Josh brought her out to explain our new findings. I still stared off into space, trying to tell myself it wasn't real. None of this was happening. I would soon go home to Nick and we would all just move on with our lives. We watch old movies, have sex, spend the holidays together...just like we had talked about. I was brought back to reality with 5 heartbreaking words.

"We have to kill Nick." Deena explained.

"What?!" I jumped to my feet as all three of them stared at me. "We're not killing him."

Deena rose to face me. "Y/n, you were there. You saw what Solomon did to Sarah!" She struggled. "It's...It's the only way."

I ran out of the room as the tears started to build. I wouldn't stand by this. I splashed my face with more water and tried my best to breath, but it was becoming harder and harder.

"Y/n?" Deena asked from the doorway. "What's wrong with you?"

There was no escaping it now. She had to know. I had to come clean. "I love him."

"Huh?"

"Nick...I...I love him." I sniffed as I brushed away my tears.

She began to laugh, "You're not serious...right?"

I bit my lip until it bled, trying not to cry anymore than I already was. "I've been living with him. He took me in when I was facing foster care and one thing lead to another and here we are." I explained. "I love him, Deena."

She was left speechless.

Before she could say anything, Josh ran into the room. "We need to go, now!"

Apparently Ziggy had called Nick, thinking he could help. We grabbed Sam and hopped in the car. As we drove, they tried to come up with a plan of attack. I sat in silence, looking out the window. I would do anything for my friends, I would, but this was asking too much of me. I had already lost so much, I wasn't about to lose Nick.

We picked up Josh's friend, Martin, on the way to the mall. He said he could be of use to us and we were desperate for any kind of help...I should say that they were desperate for help. I didn't want to be here anymore, but it's not like I had much of a choice.

When we got to the mall they went over the plan. The killers were after Deena and I because we bled on the bones, just like they did with Sam. We would be using that to lure them into the stores before locking them in. It was then Ziggy's great idea to Carrie him. We would drench him in our blood so the killers would kill him.

As everyone set everything into place, I sat on the counters of a pizza place thinking hard about what I should do. Sam was tide up behind me and Deena then approached me.

"Everything's almost ready." She said as she sat beside me. "Before we ran out of the house, you had mentioned something about you loving Nick? And that you'd been living with him for a while?" I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared. I didn't know what you would think. I girl my age with a guy like him."

She sighed, "I can't say that I support it or condone it. All that matters to me is that you're happy, but Nick is not good. You saw it yourself. I'm sorry, y/n. This is what we have to do. We bled on the bones. It won't stop till either we die, or he dies."

"That's not true and you know it! Drown me or I'll OD like we planned for Sam, we can bring each other back!"

"We don't have that kind of time...I'm sorry."