Page 26 of The Executioners Three
Only once, halfway through the forest, did anyone speak. “Stop looking at me,” Laina snapped at Cat.
“I’m not looking at you,” Cat insisted, but even Freddie could hear the lie. Becauseeveryonewas looking at Laina—whenever they weren’t wincing into the terrifying trees.
“Bull,” Laina muttered. “You’re looking at me like I’m gonna wig out again. I mean, not that I wigged out before. You guys know I get those headaches.”
“Of course,” Cat murmured, and they all fell into silence.
Once back at the cul-de-sac, Kyle asked: “Meet at my place?”
“Sounds good,” Luis answered before shutting himself into Cat’s car. Laina gave a thumbs-up, and in seconds, only Kyle and Freddie were left behind.
“I just want to make sure the leftover corn syrup is secure,” Kyle explained with an angelic grin next to his Jeep.
“Why don’tIdo it?” Freddie suggested. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Kyle… but, well, she also didn’t trust Kyle. “Go ahead and get the car’s heater going for me?”
His grin expanded, and while Freddie adjusted a bungee cord in his trunk, the Jeep purred to life. The radio clicked on; “Livin’ la Vida Loca” soon blasted out; and Kyle started dancing so wholeheartedly the entire SUV bounced with him.
Confident the jug was secure, Freddie shut the trunk and dusted off her hands. She was just stalking to the passenger door when a sound pealed out.
It cut through the hum of the engine and the muted crooning of Ricky Martin. Distant yet unmistakable: the tolling of a bell.
It was exactly like the bell she’d heard on Wednesday night.
Freddie’s skin crawled. A great rip of goose bumps that erupted acrossher neck and arms. Because that sound hadnotcome from the direction of Fortin Prep with its mausoleum bell and presumably bells for class too. Nor had it come from the direction of Berm’s downtown where there were two churches.
Instead, it had come from the west, from the forest of the county park, where the only bell even close to the trees was—as recently confirmed—a very, verynotfunctional replica bell inside the schoolhouse.
Maybe the clanging is a trick of the wind,she thought as she leaped for the car.Maybe there’s someplace that the wind funnels through that… sounds… like… a bell.
Yeah, that logic wasn’t strong. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a rational explanation somewhere to be found. Freddie had heard what sounded like a bell on two different nights now, so all she had to do was pinpoint fromwhereit was ringing.
And that, she decided, would be a good task for her Answer Finder self tomorrow.
6
The next day, Freddie scoured the entire Village Historique for any “secret bells” hiding in the buildings while the other volunteers helped Mom assemble the pageant stage.
But alas, there were no hidden bells or cymbals or gongs or anything at all that might produce a reverberatingclang!to fill the forest.
What Freddie did find, however, was that all the fairy lights in the schoolhouse had fallen down. Which was Vastly Annoying, and Freddie blamed Divya for the mess. After all, if Divya had onlyhelpedFreddie on Thursday afternoon, then Freddie might have done a better job and the wind would not have obliterated her handiwork.
Freddie made sure to point this out to Divya when the girl arrived after lunch so they could finally venture to the archives.
“It isnotmy fault,” Divya declared as she marched beside Freddie through the forest. (Yes, this time, they took the proper trail instead of a shortcut.) “And besides, I’ve already given you Lance for a whoppingtwo weeks,so we are more than even.”
“Harumph,” Freddie replied.
“Harumph,” Divya agreed, and for a time they stomped along in grumpy best friend silence. Freddie had her bike and pushed it by the handlebars. Divya had her Birkenstocks, which remained totally improper for the terrain.
Eventually, the silence was too much for Freddie. “Hey, did you see today’s paper? TheSentinelreleased the dead guy’s name.”
Divya made a pained grunt. “Yeah, I saw. It was Dr. Fontana. He took care of my hamster once, you know.”
“Oh.” Freddie’s stomach sank. “I’m sorry. I didnotknow.”
“It’s alright,” Divya said, even though Freddie could tell it wasn’t. Andshe understood why: it was one thing to find a faceless dead guy. It was quite another to find out you knew him. But before Freddie could pull a Dr. Born and ask how it made Divya feel, they reached the archives.
“Oh thank goodness,” Divya cried. “I’m freezing. It’s heated, right?”
