Behind him, Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb stand still as statues.
“Leaving? For how long? Where are you going?” I can feel the hysteria burning the inside of my throat as each new question bubbles out of me.
“For good,” he says as he turns around. “And you have no need to know where we’re going, because you aren’t coming with us.”
It all happens so quickly, for a moment, I think it’s another one of my nightmares.
My head swims. My heart races. Vomit and bile rise in the back of my throat.
> It’s as if I stand frozen in slow motion as all the world turns normally around me.
I panic and try to pull the boys aside to talk to them, but they’re already grabbing their things to leave. Lydia looks over her shoulder at me as she picks up her bag and shoots me a look of sheer pity, but even she doesn’t stop to talk to me.
“Kaleb, please!” I say as I pull on his arm enough to get him to finally stop and look at me.
“Remember what you said to me inside the tree, Sabrina? About feeling left behind?” he says.
I brace for what he is about to say, but even I couldn’t have predicted how deep his words would cut me.
“Well, now it’s more than just a feeling. Now it’s actually the case.”
“No, no, please!” I cry as I try to block them from leaving the house. “Please just wait for a minute and let me talk to you about it. Please!”
I’m used to Rory’s temper. Even Marlowe’s semi-detachment. But Kaleb …
Kaleb …
I’ve never seen him so angry.
He doesn’t touch me, but it feels like his next words sucker punch me in the gut.
“This is your fault, Sabrina,” he hisses. “Because of you, we’ve just lost everything.”
He grabs his bag and slings it over one shoulder. Even though it looks light, the way he’s carrying it makes it look as if it contains the weight of the entire world.
“Kaleb …” I try again, but I don’t know what to say. What can I say?
What can I do to make them stay?
Romulus blocks me from trying to hold on to the boys as they leave, and Lydia follows close behind them. Then he turns to look at me one last time. This time there is also anger in his eyes. As soon as they are outside the door, I run after them.
But they’re already gone.
They’ve disappeared like shadows into the night.
16
Sabrina
Gone like shadows.
Gone like the ghosts I used to worry might haunt these woods.
This can’t be happening, I say over and over again in my head as I stumble back down to the cabin. I couldn’t stay one second alone in that house, not without them there. Not after what they said.
I need to figure out where they have gone and what to do.
I need to find a way to make them come back.