Original Sin

witches aren’t strong enough to control the ritual and the demon possesses the person he’s supposed to mark, and it becomes a bloodbath. But Fiona is not a weak witch, and frankly neither was I. I was marked … but I didn’t know what it was for until later …”

Her voice trailed off and she looked over at Lily still sitting in the passenger seat of the truck. Did the girl have a mark on her?

“Moira,” Anthony prompted.

“These people had to have been marked by a demon, but I couldn’t tell you when. It could have been the other night, during the ritual Rafe interrupted, or today, or ten years ago. I don’t know!”

“Skye is investigating their last few days; would that help narrow it down? Abby had a similar, not identical, mark on her. I don’t have a picture.”

Moira didn’t know how so many dead people could have gone through the ritual if they weren’t on the cliffs. It wasn’t fun, and took years of preparation to accomplish. If Lily was marked unknowingly, it had to have been when she was a young child and something she didn’t remember.

“Was there anything else weird besides the marks?”

“They all died under odd or unusual circumstances. Three of the four victims worked at or went to Santa Louisa High School.”

“That’s no coincidence.”

Anthony asked the question she’d been thinking but couldn’t quite put into words. “Can someone be marked by a demon if they didn’t know anything about it? What if they were minding their own business, but somehow were touched-not possessed-by one of the Seven?”

“I didn’t think so,” she said, “but theoretically it could happen, I suppose.” Moira stared at the photo.

She shook her head, handed it back to him. “I’ve seen something like it before, but can’t remember where.” She took a deep breath. “Don’t let Lily out of your sight. I’m going to stop by Santa Louisa High School before I go to Pastor Garrett’s church. If I get arrested for breaking and entering, I hope you’ll convince your girlfriend to keep me out of jail.”

Jared hadn’t wanted to come to school, but his father drove him on his way to work this morning and said he’d be calling in to make sure he was in every class.

He wanted to leave for good. Walk out of the school, pack his stuff at his dad’s house, get Lily, and leave. His father had called him an idiot for giving his truck to a stranger, though Jared didn’t consider Moira O’Donnell a stranger. Not after what they’d seen … Still, maybe he had been stupid to loan Moira his truck. He hadn’t talked to her since yesterday morning, and he hadn’t spoken to or seen Lily; he felt like he was in the middle of a dream. A nightmare. He couldn’t talk to his father, and Mrs. Ellis hung up the phone when he called and asked to talk to Lily.

He considered skipping out second period-by that time, Mrs. Ellis would be at work and he could go see Lily.

He crossed the parking lot when he heard someone call his name.

He turned and saw Ari Blair motioning to him from the driver’s seat of a small car, looking like she was waiting for someone. For him? He’d known her most of his life, but they never really moved in the same social circles.

He walked over to her. She looked like crap-no makeup, her hair pulled haphazardly back in a lopsided ponytail, pale as a ghost. “Hey.”

“Get in.”

He frowned.

“Please, Jared. It’s about Lily.”

He hesitated. After what he’d seen these last two days …

Ari pleaded with him. “I know what happened on the cliffs when Abby died. I was there. I need to fix it. It’s the only way, or Lily will die. Please, Jared, I need your help. I can’t do this all by myself.”

“I’ll listen.”

“Listen in the car, okay? We’ll just drive around. I’ll tell you everything; I just really need your help. Or it won’t just be Abby or Chris-”

“Chris? Chris Kidd? What happened to him?”

“He died last night. He was killed, I’m sure of it, to keep me from doing what I’m going to do. I can’t let anyone else die.”

Jared walked around to the passenger door and got in. “Tell me everything, Ari, and don’t lie. That’s the only way I’ll help.” He only hoped he could tell if she were lying, he thought, as she drove out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

TWENTY-NINE

Before Skye had left the morgue, she’d spoken with Andy Rucker, the distraught husband of the dead Barbara Rucker.

According to Rucker, he and his wife had been happily married for twelve years. Barbara had always been insecure about her weight and upset that she hadn’t had a baby, which she desperately wanted. But Andy thought she’d been relatively happy until she turned forty and found out she couldn’t conceive.

Barbara had called him yesterday afternoon on his cell phone. He was in a meeting, let it go to voicemail, and when he called her back she was crying and wouldn’t tell him why. He almost went home but was delayed by an office emergency.

Just after five in the afternoon, Barbara showed up at Andy’s office in Santa Maria. She accused him of having an affair. When his colleague walked into the office without knocking, Barbara stared agog at the very pregnant office worker. Barbara then chased the woman out of the office and pushed her down the stairs.

“Barbara just … I don’t know, lost it. I thought it was because of the baby. Martha was seven months pregnant, and Barbara can’t have kids …”

After pushing Martha down the stairs, Barbara Rucker ran out of the building. Fifteen minutes later, her car crashed into a light pole traveling, according to the accident investigation, in excess of seventy-five miles an hour. There were no signs that she’d attempted to brake.

A second suicide by car in as many days? Both women who worked at the high school? It made no sense- unless Skye listened to Anthony. And even he didn’t know what was going on.

But Andy Rucker was 100 percent certain that his wife was home all night Tuesday-far away from the demon-ridden cliffs. Skye didn’t see why he would lie, and though she supposed the secretary could have slipped out of the house for a couple of hours and sneaked back in without her husband waking, that was doubtful.

When she arrived at Santa Louisa high school, the principal had confirmed to Skye everything Andy had told her: Barbara Rucker was sweet, a little insecure, very much in love with her husband, and yesterday she’d been unusually emotional.

After talking to the principal, Skye asked the receptionist to call Ari Blair into the office between periods, but not to alert her that the police wanted to speak with her.

“Ari is absent,” she said.

“Did her parents call in?”

“We have two hundred sixteen first-period absences,” the receptionist said. “I couldn’t tell you if they called yet; we’re still processing the attendance slips.”

“Is two hundred and sixteen absences unusual? It seems high.”

“Extremely unusual. We average thirty-two a day, sometimes double that in flu season. But over two hundred?” She shook her head. “Most of them are juniors and seniors.”

“Isn’t that strange?” Skye asked. “Is it a senior prank or something?” It was Friday. Maybe a group had driven south to Disneyland. She dismissed the thought as soon as she thought it. A dozen seniors, sure. But two hundred? Not likely.