Fear Her Wrath III: It Runs on Blood

Chapter 5

Two nights later, me, Ellie, Ben, Emery, Hazel, and Fatima gathered in the spire of the abandoned Catholic Church on the northern end of Joplin Heights. This was the Night Chapel—my base of operations in the Fen. We'd made quite a few improvements to my hidden lair since bringing Hazel and Fatima onboard nearly three months earlier. Ellie's workstation had been significantly beefed up, courtesy of proceeds from the Night-Wrath's online merch store, and we'd somehow crammed even more furniture into the tower room. This included a second sofa, and a beanbag (for "napping purposes"), and (most importantly) an espresso machine. Emery and Ellie—who got along surprisingly well—had also "upgraded" the hideout's security with several pointlessly complicated traps straight out of a 1930s adventure serial. I finally had to draw the line at "alligator pit," even after Emery tried to calm my fears by insisting that "Naturally, they wouldn't be real alligators."

I was pretty sure Hazel would fall victim to one of their contraptions long before any actual intruder did.

I was the last person to climb up through the trapdoor, since I had to wait for my dad to leave for his late-night date with Lieutenant Corrigan. And yes, that was still going on, despite my best efforts to persuade him that he really didn't want to keep going out with the young, intelligent, attractive police officer who was nothing like his horrible ex-wife. She'd made a few attempts to befriend me, but I kept stonewalling her whenever we crossed paths at the hospital or—pardon me while I shudder—just outside me and Dad's apartment. It wasn't just that I was afraid she would recognize the way I talked or how I held my shoulders and figure out I was Night-Wrath. I really didn't want another adult in my life trying to be a parent. It was hard enough sneaking behind my dad's back. Corrigan was less of a pushover.

"How's my favorite redhead?" whispered Ben as I flopped down next to him on the beat-up sofa.

"Fine," I said, resting my head on his shoulder. "Actually, wait, no. Not fine. I am super stressed and so ready for this to be over with. And I missed you."

"You saw me yesterday."

"That was, like, a really long time ago," I said. "And what happened to that 'lonely girl sixth sense' you're always talking about?"

"Oh, I have to filter you out," said Ben with a smirk. "Otherwise it's just you pining all the time, and I wouldn't know if Chaeri Park or Lottie Williams was—."

"You need to filter out the school floozies and pay attention to your girlfriend," I said sternly, even though I knew he was joking.

"I try," said Ben. "I really do, but they're extremely persistent. Like, there's this new girl in my second period study hall who will not stop—."

"New girl?" I said incredulously. "Frizzy hair, pretty tan? No boundaries?"

"That's her. She keeps talking about how flexible she is because of ballet. You know, 'Ooh, have I demonstrated that I can do the splits in the past five minutes?' Very needy."

"Thanks, Izzy," I muttered. "Ben, you need to tell her you're my boyfriend."

"I might," he said playfully. "Oh, speaking of needy, Emery wants to go over the bombs with you again. She says it's very important. Seems almost like she doesn't trust you, Maggs."

"Why am I not surprised," I said, rolling my eyes. "Be right back."

"I would say don't take too long," said Ben. "But you do look really good from across the room."

I rewarded his immature remark with a playful punch in the abs, then crossed to the opposite end of the octagonal tower room to where Emery was working at Simon's old desk.