Kate Brian - Endless

He put his hand gently on the small of my back, and we moved away from the crowd. We’d barely made it five steps when the sight of the twins stopped me cold. While most of the visitors were keeping a respectful distance from the proceedings, staying near the point where the hill dropped off toward town, the Tse twins were much closer. They’d chosen a spot in the middle of the field, just yards behind the mourners, standing beneath the cover of a wide black umbrella. Their clear eyes stared directly at me, directly through me, making my insides curdle. Sebastian was rolling a coin across the back of his hand from finger to finger, a trick I’d never been able to pull off myself.

“I still can’t believe he’s your charge,” Joaquin said under his breath. “How did you not know?”

“I’m as confused as you are,” I said. Normally we knew who our charges were the moment they arrived on the island—knew everything about them once we saw them. Then, when they were the next in line to be ushered, we would find out about their deaths, the better to help them resolve their issues. “Maybe it was because they arrived on the ferry? Everything was such a mess that day.”

“Maybe,” Joaquin mused, narrowing his eyes at them. “Is it just me or does it seem like when it comes to the Tses, nothing’s quite what it should be?”

“It’s not just you,” I replied.

Just then, Sebastian turned slightly, and I saw that the coin he was toying with wasn’t silver, but gold—one of the Lifers’ ushering coins.

“Joaquin!” I exclaimed, gripping his arm.

His face paled when he saw the coin. Before he could stop me, I’d taken off after the twins, grabbing Sebastian’s arm.

“Get off me!” Sebastian snapped, shrugging off my hand.

My teeth clenched. “Where did you get that?”

“It’s none of your business, is it?” he replied, quickly pocketing the coin. “Unless you want to try explaining what it is.”

He and his sister eyed me and Joaquin shrewdly, their light eyes glinting with malice. I pressed my lips together tightly.

“We didn’t think so,” Selma said.

Then they turned as one and walked away, their steps perfectly matched.

“What the hell is going on?” Joaquin asked as a stiff wind off the ocean blew my hair across my eyes.

“Pete said he was working with someone. We just assumed it was a Lifer, but what if it’s not?” I turned to face him. “What if one of the visitors has something to do with this?”

“But, Rory, it can’t be them,” Joaquin said. “They didn’t get here until the ferry sank. Aaron, Jennifer, your dad…they’d been ushered already.”

“Unless they didn’t get here that day,” I replied, my pulse racing. “What if they’ve been here all along?”

Joaquin shook his head. “What?”

“Think about it,” I said, everything coming to me in a rush. “Steven Nell managed to sneak in under everyone’s radar. What if the twins got here earlier and were hiding out until the ferry sank? Maybe they used the confusion of that day to come out of the woodwork and start stirring things up with the locals. Cause a distraction so Pete could keep ushering souls.”

Joaquin eyed the line of visitors along the ridge. A few of them parted to allow Sebastian and Selma through, then followed the twins toward town, casting suspicious stares over their shoulders at us. It was as if the Tses were gathering forces. As if some of the visitors had become willing minions.

“Why else would they have a coin, Joaquin?” I asked. “Why else would they be asking us these crazy questions as if they already know the answers?”

Just before he dipped below the hill, Sebastian paused and looked back at the weather vane atop the mayor’s house. Ever so slowly, his narrowed eyes slid in our direction, sending a creeping chill down my spine. He smirked and was gone. Joaquin’s jaw tightened.

“We should take this to the mayor,” he said. “I think it’s time she had a little chat with the Tses.”

I stare at the graves long after everyone else has gone. No one has covered them over yet and the piles of mud on the once clean surfaces seem wrong. Everything about this seems wrong. They didn’t have to die, but it wasn’t my fault. It was theirs. If Nadia had just stayed in hiding like a good little scapegoat, if Cori hadn’t interfered, these graves never would have been dug.

I could have ended this without killing anyone, but what’s done is done. There’s no going back. Soon I’ll have everything I want. And that’s the only thing that matters.

I waited in the lobby of the twins’ boarding house on Magnolia that afternoon with Krista, Liam, and Bea, while Joaquin, Fisher, Kevin, and Dorn made their way past the staircase to the door of the first-floor room where the twins had been staying. I still couldn’t believe they had been placed so close to my house. The very idea of their proximity to it gave me the creeps. But then again, I had been staying with Krista for the last few days anyway, and hopefully, when and if I ever felt comfortable in my house again, the two of them would be long gone.

I glanced nervously at the front door and the weather raging outside, and hoped we could get through this without a scene. After the funeral earlier, there was a sort of unease between the Lifers and the visitors.

Fisher pounded on the door. It sounded like thunder. Liam startled and even I flinched. Apparently he wasn’t as concerned as I was about being discreet. Not that I was surprised. All my friends were on edge with another member of our group gone—someone they’d laughed with, hung out at the cove with, shared secrets with. They wanted answers, they wanted justice, and they wanted the deaths to stop.

“Selma? Sebastian? We need to talk to you,” Joaquin said. “Please open the door.”

There was no reply. A door on the floor above creaked open, and I could feel whoever it was eavesdropping. Joaquin glanced at Dorn, who’d worn his Juniper Landing Police uniform for the occasion. His police cruiser—the only one in town—idled out on the street.

“Selma and Sebastian Tse?” Dorn said, heaving a sigh. “This is the Juniper Landing Police. Open up.”

Several more doors opened overhead. One man actually stepped over to the top of the stairs, his fuzzy bathrobe hanging wide over a T-shirt and boxer shorts. “What’s going on down there?” he asked Bea, who was closest to him.

“Nothing.” She shrugged casually. “The police just have a few questions for someone. No big deal.”

“Selma and Sebastian Tse, we know you’re in there,” Dorn said, lowering his voice. “Open the door or I’ll be forced to break it down.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing,” the man said, creeping down a few steps but keeping a safe distance.

I gritted my teeth and stared at Krista, who looked pale against the backdrop of the yellowing flowered wallpaper. This was not good. Finally, the door at the end of the hallway opened a crack, and either Sebastian or Selma—it was impossible to tell which—peeked out.

“What do you want?”

“Mr. Tse?” Dorn began.

“That would be Miss Tse,” Selma corrected him with a sneer.

“My apologies,” Dorn said, sounding not a bit sorry. “Would you please step out into the hallway?”

She didn’t move. The door didn’t move. “Why?”

“Is your brother inside, miss?” he asked, tugging up on his utility belt.

Selma’s eyes flicked to his gun in its holster. “Why?” she said again.

“Because we’re going to need you both to come with us.”

The door ripped open so fast that the guys jumped back, and Krista grabbed my arm. Sebastian stood there, his fists clenched at his sides. He was seething.