Fear Games

3. Little By Little

EMERALD

I don't generally like to be a nosy person. When my mother does things in her room, it's not like I typically have my ear to the door listening in; however, things in our lives had changed recently, and I was getting an aching suspicion that she was hiding something from me—something major. I was just couldn't pinpoint exactly what. Part of me wondered if it had something to do with Eden's murder. Did my mother know who the killers were? Was she keeping it a secret to protect us?

As I walked past her room that afternoon, though, I heard a small snippet of a conversation she was having with someone on the phone.

Through the phone, my mother said, "I will be over there as soon as I can. Just don't do anything stupid." There was a pause, so the person must have been responding. "Well, trust me, it's not like anyone's going to come looking. Just stay put and I'll be there soon."

I tried to run away from the door before my mother could catch me, but before I got the chance to make it to my room, she opened her door and stepped out into the hallway. The look of horror spread across her face, like she realized that I might have been listening. Instead of asking me about it, she said, "Hey, Emerald. What are your plans for the evening?"

I opened my mouth to stay something, but shrugged instead. She didn't seem to catch on to anything that way.

"Well, can you do me a favor?" she asked. "I have to go help your father with something personal. It's like he doesn't understand that we're divorced." She even added a grunt for emphasis. "Either way, I need you to watch Eden's kids and just be in charge of the house in general."

"What about Calix?" I asked. He was a few years older than me and was probably better at being in charge than I was.

"He's not here right now," Mom said quickly as she closed the door behind her. "Just remember the rules. Do not, under any circumstances, let anyone in the house. If an unknown number calls or texts, do not answer. Just stay safe, okay? The killers are still out there and the last thing I need is to come home to a blood bath."

Yeah, the last thing I wanted was for anyone else to get hurt either. But I couldn't help but wonder who Mom was talking to on the phone. It certainly couldn't have been Dad—that was a bullshit excuse. They weren't close like that. Dad pretty much hated her. Still, I couldn't be too sure of anything, so I just had to go along with it.

"We'll be safe," I said, adding a smile so she didn't realize I was suspicious of her. "Just stay in touch."

"Will do," Mom said. She walked up to me and pulled me into a close, tight hug. "I love you, Em. We'll get through this. I promise you that."

"I love you, too," I said back, secretly wishing that I could believe her promises. But she swore my whole life that this would never happen to us in the first place. Promises were empty at this point. She had no idea who the killers were or how to stop them. Sure, they had the Daisy theory, but that would only get us so far. We needed a real plan.

The worst part was that I didn't think any of us had any clue how to stop this from continuing—and how to stop it from ever happening again.

CINDER

After Emerald's mother left, Emerald, Kael, Echo, and I were left alone, and if I was being completely honest with myself, I was terrified of it. We were completely defenseless against killers if they came to the house, but for some reason, Rachel was positive that we would be safe while she was gone. I wasn't sure how she could be so secure in thinking that, but I didn't bother to ask.

The four of us sat in the living room, with Emerald, Kael, and I sitting on the couch, and Echo sitting on the floor. She was watching Spongebob, which she still loved even though she was a teenager in middle school.