“Here,” she said, showing me her screen. “Read that.”
I scrolled through her most recent text conversation. The number was unfamiliar, but the messages claimed to be from me. It was uncanny how similar the texting style was to my own. It was like someone had actively studied me and the way I wrote messages to my friends in order to convincingly impersonate me.
“This isn’t my number,” I said, glancing up at Cerina. “I didn’t send those messages, either.”
“Right. So what did you get?” she asked, snatching her phone back.
I showed her. As she scrolled through the texts, she slowly shook her head. “That’s not my number either,” she said. “I never sent any of this stuff to you. I swear.”
My heart started to thump painfully fast, and I was struck by the odd sensation that time was slipping through my fingers even faster than usual. I rubbed the side of my head and grimaced. “I don’t get it,” I said. “Who would do this?”
“Someone who wants to get us both out here at the same time, obviously,” Cerina said sharply. She took a short step back and gave me a hard look. “What’s wrong with you? You look weird.”
“I feel weird too,” I muttered. “My head hurts, and I feel kind of dizzy.”
“Did you take something at the dance? Like a pill?” Cerina asked, brows rising. “I saw Carter handing out those little green things earlier.”
“I didn’t take anything. I just had some champagne earlier.” I rubbed the side of my head again. “Maybe it’s just the cold.”
“Whatever it is, you need to snap out of it,” she replied, folding her arms. “We need to figure out who the hell sent these fake texts.”
“I guess we could try calling the number.” My voice suddenly sounded strange to me, like I was hearing myself speak through a thick pane of glass.
“Good idea. Show me those messages again so I can get it.”
I passed my phone to Cerina with a shaky hand. My legs were trembling too, and I felt like I might pass out at any moment.
Cerina’s brows knitted in a frown. “Kinsey, you really don’t look good. Are you sure you didn’t take anything?”
I stared at her. The world around us was spinning wildly. “What’s going on?” I croaked, sinking to my knees.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she muttered, crouching down. She lay a hand on my right shoulder to keep me steady as I wobbled on the cold gazebo floor. “You’re definitely high on something.”
“I’m not,” I said, slowly blinking at her.
Cerina’s eyes suddenly snapped upward. She went dead still. “Oh, shit,” she said in a low voice.
“What’s wrong? What… what’s over there?” I asked. My words were so slurred that I was surprised Cerina could understand even one syllable.
She shook my shoulder. “Kinsey, we need to get out of here. Now.”
“What?” I murmured. My eyelids were fluttering in a desperate attempt to stay open. I was so tired. So confused.
Cerina’s gaze was still focused somewhere behind me. “I think something bad is going to happen,” she whispered urgently, shaking my shoulder harder. “Come on. Snap out of it!”
“Cerina?” I said, staring up at her through the foggy haze that was descending over my vision. “Is that you?”
“Kinsey, snap the fuck out of it!” she hissed. Her face looked deathly pale. “We have to leave!”
“I… I can’t…”
Nausea crashed through me, and I sluggishly rolled to the right on the gazebo floor, certain I was going to vomit. That was when I saw it. A dark figure starting the descent down the path toward us.
“Who is that?” I muttered.
I blinked, and my vision blurred, making it look like there were two figures heading toward the gazebo.
“Kinsey!” Cerina shook me again. “Get up! We have to go.Now!”