Page 71 of Ghosts of the Dead

We freeze at the sound of rustling leaves to our right.Caspian materializes from the shadows, his gray t-shirt almost glowing in the faint moonlight. Luna is by his side, whining softly and sniffing at the air, her body tense.

“How the hell do you do that?” Mars whispers. “Wait, are you lurking around out here?”

Caspian ignores the question. His pale eyes remain fixed on Autumn’s distant silhouette. She won’t be in sight for much longer.

“I didn’t expect her to leave Luna behind. This dog hasn’t left her side since the bunker.” Caspian crouches to run a hand along Luna’s back. “Maybe that’s why she did it. To make it easier to sneak away without raising suspicion.”

“She’s meeting Lucy,” I say when the realization hits me. “Has to be. She said something to Autumn before disappearing, and I don’t think Autumn was entirely truthful about it.”

Mars’s jaw tightens. “Fuck. The pharmacy girl?” He glances at Autumn, still barely visible through the trees. He shifts forward like he’s ready to sprint after her. “I knew I should’ve followed that girl longer.”

“You couldn’t even catch her the first time,” I remind him, then start following Autumn at a slow pace.

Mars’s eyes flash, and he walks with me. “At least I wasn’t too busy wallowing to notice she’s about to walk into a trap.”

He’s right. I should’ve seen this coming. Should’ve known she’d chase any threat that smelled like hope, no matter how much it was tinted by danger.

Luna whines again and strains against Caspian’s gentle hold on her collar as they keep pace with us, and a safe distance from Autumn hearing us. “I don’t know why we haven’t thought to take this collar off her, but it’s coming in handy right now.”

“She said she couldn’t tell me what was going on,” I say, piecing everything together. I’m seeing things I should haveseen earlier, but I was blinded by my feelings for her. I was too busy trying to push her away to realize what she was going to do. “Lucy told her something at the pharmacy, something she didn’t want us to know. Autumn said it was nothing, and I believed her.”

“Come alone,” Caspian mutters. “Textbook lure. Come alone. It’s always a trap.”

Mars lets out a string of colorful curses. “Of course. And purple decided to listen.” He glares at me and thrusts a finger against my chest. “I blame you.”

“Yeah, well, so do I,” I say.

“She’s desperate,” Caspian says, his usual reserve giving way to genuine concern. “After finding that music box, she’d walk into hell if she thought Summer was on the other side.”

“Which is exactly why we need to go,” I say, checking my pistol is still secured to my hip. I’ll draw in every rotter on the planet, if it means keeping Autumn away from danger.

Mars cracks his knuckles, and a dangerous smile spreads across his face. “I’m thinking it’s time for a family reunion with Lucy’s mysterious brothers.”

“If they exist,” Caspian points out. “We don’t know how honest she was being.”

Luna whines with her tail low, sniffing the ground to track Autumn’s scent.

Mars picks up pace. “If she gets herself killed, then I’m going to kill her.”

“That’s called grief math, Mars. Doesn’t add up,” Caspian says.

I push ahead of them both. “Just shut up and move faster.”

Luna lets out a soft bark of agreement. She pulls free from her collar and bolts ahead.

The chase is on.

26

AUTUMN

The tunnel looms ahead, gaping and silent. It runs beneath the city and spits out the other side.

This was a place I tried to search for Summer once, but there were too many rotters for me to get past, even after setting off explosions. I guess it’s time to try again.

The tunnel is large and almost covered in vines. Rusted scaffolding droops around the edges where construction was abandoned when the dead rose. A rotter in a hard hat groans from the top of the scaffolding.

I almost wish I would have brought the guys with me, but they couldn’t have come. I couldn’t risk them getting caught in a trap meant for me. I know there’s always the risk of being tricked, but it’s a risk I’m always willing to take to save someone I care about.

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