Conner groaned and opened his eyes. Glaring at the ceiling, he muttered, "Dammit. That's so annoying."
When Jared didn't answer, Conner sat up. "Don't tell me you're sleeping through this."
Jared wasn't in bed.
Conner cast his gaze to the bathroom. The light was off, and he heard no noise. "Yo, Jared. You in there?"
A dark shadow in the corner of the room caught his eye. "Jared."
But it wasn't Jared, and Conner felt stupid for talking to a shadow.
He poked his head into the bathroom, but it was empty. Then he thought of the goat and the man and the cambion. He dashed to the guest room and swung open the door. Adam and Trevor both lay sleeping in the bed.
He poked Adam's arm. "Hey. Wake up."
Irritated, Adam looked at Conner with half-opened eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"
Trevor turned onto his back with a groan. "What's going on?" Then he grimaced. "Those locusts are loud as hell."
"Cicadas," Adam mumbled.
Glancing over his shoulder at the hallway, Conner said, "Um. I don't know where Jared is."
"Check downstairs."
"Yeah seriously, dude," Trevor said. "What time is it?"
Conner grabbed a cell phone from the nightstand. "Almost four o'clock."
"If he's not downstairs, then come and get us."
Sighing, Conner walked away. "Fine."
"And tell those effing locusts to shut up."
Adam uttered an annoyed grunt. "Cicadas."
In the hall, Conner stood in the darkened hallway with nervous energy tingling throughout his body. He didn't understand it. So what if Jared wasn't in the guest room? That wasn't reason enough to feel anxious. Perhaps it was the shadow that had spooked him, or the goat and the man and snake and Lake Bantam. He couldn't wait until they returned to Newman the following day.
Jared wasn't downstairs. When Conner passed through the dining room on his return to the stairs, he spotted a figure outside. He peered through the window. Jared stood with his back to the cabin. Dressed only in his underwear, he seemed to be staring at the treetops.
Conner stepped out into the cool air. The cicadas screamed in a unified oscillating wail. The gravel hurt the soles of his bare feet. The wind caused the leaves to rustle like the crumpling of paper.
"Jared."
When he didn't hear a response, Conner tapped Jared's shoulder. He was hot to the touch. "Jared, are you okay?"
Rigid, he didn't react to Conner's touch. Then he suddenly flinched and glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, hey. What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"Dude, it's four in the effing morning, and you're out here in your underwear staring at trees."
Jared looked Conner up and down. "Dude, you're out here in your underwear."
"Yeah, 'cause I was looking for you."
Jared shrugged. "It's the last night here."
"Let's go back to bed."
Playfully slugging Conner in the arm, Jared said, "Party pooper."
Walking to the wooden steps, movement near the street caused Conner to whip his head to the side. For a fleeting moment, he expected to see the man. Yet he saw nothing but the dim beam of a streetlight and the gently swaying shadows of trees on the pavement.
"What is it?" Jared asked. "You look kinda freaked out."
"Oh. Um. Nothing."
Jared glanced at the road. Then he slung his arm onto Conner's shoulders. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you."
NINETEEN
Stella reclined in her seat and folded her arms. "Hmm. Well, it seems this strange man has everything to do with what happened to Jared."
"Obviously, something happened to Jared that he didn't tell his friends about." Lou returned the folded sheets of paper to the inside pocket of his jacket. "At some point, I think Jared knew what was happening to him. That's why he started pushing his friends away."
"We may not have all the answers or all the puzzle pieces to figure it out completely, but you and I know more than these kids do. That man at the lake was performing some ritual to conjure a demon. Apparently, he'd planned to use the goat, but when the kids set it free, he used Jared as a replacement."
"Exactly. And now these boys feel responsible for it. I think they believe their actions caused this terrible thing to happen to Jared."
* * *
Hailey sat at the desk in her bedroom, involved in a text conversation with Jasmine. The atmosphere in the house had been tense since her announcement in the car. At dinner, her father had maintained his expression of disapproval and her mother had continued to look disappointed. Yet everyone had avoided the topic of Hailey's virginity. That is, until her mother entered the bedroom at nearly nine o'clock.
"Honey, I'd like to talk to you."
"Mom, please. I know what you want to talk about. And I don't want to talk about it. I should have kept my mouth shut."
"Well, I wish you would have shared that information at a more appropriate time. Honestly, while we were driving home from church? With your sisters in the car?"
Was this the best time to confess that she'd lied? Would her mother view the lie more harshly than her loss of innocence? "I apologize for that. Obviously, it was a momentary lapse of good judgement."
"What about losing your virginity. Was that good judgement?"
Hailey rubbed her eyes. "Partially"
"Partially?"
"I didn't lose my virginity. I did some stuff. But I only said I lost my virginity because Dad was treating me like a little girl. And I'm sorry. I wanted to shut him up. So, I just said it."
"To wound your father?"
"No. Not to wound him. I can't explain it. Not now. Can't we talk about this another time? Or maybe never."
"Did you give your consent?"
Hailey searched her mother's expression for a sign of comfort and understanding, but her disappointment was set in stone.
"Yes, Mom. It was totally my choice. Don't worry. Conner didn't take advantage of me or pressure me, okay?"
"So, it was Conner Preston."
"How many guys have you seen me with?"
"We've had the conversation
