Page 182 of Like Grim Death: Part One
“There’s a lot of things in there I immediately dismissed. Stuff about lizard people…” She glances at me and I tear my eyes away from the second page, smiling a little as I meet her gaze while she gives me a knowing look. “Robots controlling the world. But there was a dark photo he posted, something… strange. It looked like it was from the perspective of a person in the middle of a lake, on a boat or something. And there was an island, maybe? A few docks, well-maintained from what I could see. Then just… woods. Except at the very top of the photo, there were white columns, the start of some sort of giant house.” She stops, staring at the papers. “It’s the next one.”
Her lips are pursed, like she’s biting her cheek, trying to figure out how to continue.
I turn the pages again, and I see the one she’s talking about. It’s the only post on the page, and it describes exactly what she said. A square photo of a lake, a glimpse of the point of a small boat, and at the top of the photo, past the docks and the inky lake, there are four large columns, presumably holding up a home. I drop my eyes to the username,SamsonSavage,then read the caption at the same time Sid says the word verbatim.
“Where the children go to die.”She whispers those words.
My fingers feel shaky, holding onto the pages as I drop my gaze further and she describes exactly what I’m reading.
“There’s a ton of comments there on the post. You see, people asking where he is, if he’s okay, who lives on the island.” After I read those very comments, I look up.
Sid closes her eyes, and I watch her throat bob as she swallows.
I feel strangely elated she’s sharing all of this with me, but fear and confusion spike through my body too.Where the children go to die?What had Natalie’s little brother been up to? What did he know? And did he know it because of…Atlas?
Who was at The Madilyn?
Sid doesn’t say anything else, so I ask the first question that comes to mind. “Who gave you this?” I gesture toward her with the papers. “When?” She hadn’t seemed strange in the car, like she was carryingthisheavy of a secret.
She slowly blinks her eyes open, her gaze on the pages. “I told Lucifer I wanted to check on Rain.” She carefully doesn’t answer the question at all, but she adds, “I also found my phone works well here on this floor, when it doesn’t often everywhere else.”
Like they throttle the service. Prevent people from having perfectly working phones while they’re here.
I draw my shoulders in, turning to look at the pages, my index finger flicking under the one of the house, but I don’t turn it yet. “But who gave these to you?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Goosebumps erupt on my arms. I want to press her, but she’s already confided so much in me when she never has before. I decide to drop it.
“When are they from?” I nod toward them. “The newspaper one? How does it fit in?”
She laughs, but it’s bitter. “Decades ago.” She nods her head to my hands. “Look at the last page.”
I realize I haven’t reallywantedto look at the last page as thoughts of Atlas and his warnings and who might have been at The Madilyn swirl inside my head. But gingerly, with Sid’s command, I turn the page, the paper smooth beneath my fingers. There’s a photocopy of what looks like the classified section ofAlexandria Cult, judging by the title running across the top of the page. There are black and white photos of older model cars for sale that might have been new at the time, even a handful of fuzzy kittens complete with a photo.
I’m about to ask what I’m looking for, but there, at the bottom and to the right, someone has circled an entry in marker. The circle is scanned too, done before the page was printed. I quickly read it, see it’s something about a job offer at a luxury hotel calledLiar’s Island.No location is given, and I don’t see a web address either. Just a phone number that may or may not be in service.
The listing doesn’t make sense to me.
I lift my gaze to Sid. “Liar’s Island?”
She arches a brow. “I searched for it online. After the first three pages of results, there’s a website with a long, convoluted URL, no mention of the island but somehow it shows up in the search anyway. I clicked the link. It opens a blank screen, asking for a password.”
I crinkle the pages in my fingers a little, waiting for her to continue.
She swallows hard, like she doesn’t want to say her next words. “It was all oftheirnames, in order from oldest to youngest.” She closes her eyes, smiling a little but it seems sad. “I had to try it a few times to get it right. I’m only sure of Lucifer’s birthday. But his didn’t work at the end. It was a different birthdate to complete the password. Took me like, fifty tries to guess it, I’m surprised the system didn’t kick me out.” She takes a shaky breath in. I’ve never seen her look so discomposed. “August seventh,” she whispers.
My stomach tightens.
“It’s Rain’s birthday.”
“I’ll confront him with you.”I say it quickly after I’ve handed the pages to her and she’s folded them back up, gripping them tightly in her hand. “Right now, if you want to.” I imagine she won’t want Rain to be away from her anymore tonight, and she probably doesn’t want tobe here,either. I understand we need to lie low for a few days, but there has to be many more hideouts the boys have access to. Some place where she didn’t stumble over this eerie information.
I have so many questions and I’m sure she has more. About Atlas and Natalie and Samson and the Unsaint’s involvement in Liar’s Island. And whatisthe island?
Who gave Sid these papers?
But surprising me, she shakes her head, only once, drumming her bitten, bare nails along her lean biceps. “No,” she says, staring up at me. “Right now, he’s focused on guarding us from Mikhail. That cannot become secondary. Besides, it’s not like he’d let me leave with Rain.” She gives me a weak smile. “He won’t let me leave at all.”
