Part of me aches for Zander. He must have given Ivy everything she needed to twist him into a hunger-crazed maniac. I can’t even begin to fathom how excruciating it must have been to feel so helpless. I’ve never had my hunger gain so much control over me that my own mind shut down. I hope I never do. My anger lessens in the face of his words, but Ketchup’s erupts furiously.
“You want me to feel sorry for you because Ivy tricked you? You want pity because she stirred up your hunger and you lost control? Screw you, Zander!” Ketchup shouts. “Van told you over and over again, and you didn’t listen. You had to have Ivy. That was all that mattered to you. Well, this isn’t just about you! If you would have killed Ivy…” He’s so furious he can’t even talk. He takes a threatening step toward my brother, and I know I should stop him, but I don’t dare interrupt this.
Ketchup shoves his finger against Zander’s chest and my heart stops. I expect to feel Zander’s hunger spring to life. I’m amazed when it doesn’t. Zander doesn’t even say a word to Ketchup’s berating. Ketchup meets my brother’s eyes, and I’m mildly amused to realize he does so on even ground. When did Ketchup get so tall? I’m the only one who seems to notice.
Ketchup jabs Zander again. “I know, now, why you made Van break up with me.” Ketchup waits a moment to savor Zander’s surprise at that admission, but he has more to say. “Van chose you over me, because you’re her brother. But what thanks does she get from you? You cast her aside for the sake of some pink-haired kamikaze cultist! You chose Ivy over your own sister, and you damn near put all of your lives at risk! I won’t let your idiotic mistakes hurt Van anymore. If you would have murdered Ivy and gotten Van killed, it would have been a race between Ivy’s psychotic friends and me to see who could get to you first.”
What is more shocking than my normally easy going best friend threatening to kill my brother is that I totally believe he could do it. And so does Zander, apparently. He doesn’t even argue. He nods, accepting the threat almost as if it’s a promise he is grateful to have. That totally freaks me out. I’m about to pull these two apart when Zander’s head snaps back up. To Ketchup’s immense credit, he doesn’t even flinch.
“Wait,” Zander says, confusion wrinkling his face, “what did you mean about Ivy’s friends. And why would killing Ivy get Van killed? I’d be punished, not Van.”
Now I do step up and gently push Ketchup out of the way. Zander’s hunger has been subdued by tonight’s events, but it will come racing back soon enough.
“Zander, obviously I was right about Ivy, but you have no idea how right.”
I hand him my phone, and wait quietly while he flips through the pictures I snapped of her garage before Ketchup and I bugged out of there. The weapons, the altar, the book, the word Sicarius printed in her freaky book. When he reaches the end, he starts flipping through them again, but I start talking as he does.
“I don’t understand half of what we saw in there,” I admit, “but it was pretty clear that Ivy belongs to some kind of ancient group intent on killing us… all of us.”
Zander’s head snaps up. “All of us?”
“Ivy came here as a sacrifice. She had to get one of us to kill her in order to mark our whole family for destruction. But that’s not what I meant by all of us.”
Zander’s head shakes back and forth slowly. I nod in return.
“Zander, we’re not the only ones like this. There are more of us somewhere… and I think Grandma, and Mom and Dad, have known the whole time.”
I take my phone back and flip to the picture I took of our code word. Handing it back to Zander, I say, “Sicarius. It means assassin. That’s what they call us. If Grandma taught us that word, she knew about whoever it is Ivy’s helping. Oscar found out that Mom and Dad had been lying to us this whole time. That’s why he killed them.”
It’s too much for him. Zander falls against the side of the truck and presses his hands to his face. “This can’t be possible,” he says.
I know he’s reeling from everything I just dumped on him. In a few hours, I’m probably going to be curled up in a ball, banging my head against a wall when everything finally sinks in, but for now we still have work to do. I turn away from my brother to enlist Ketchup’s help. We both turn to stare at Ivy.
“What do we do with her?” I ask.
Ketchup shrugs. “She’s alive. You’re safe… for now. That’s all I care about. Let’s prop her up against the theater and get out of here.”
“What if we can use her somehow?”
“What, you mean like hold her for ransom so these nut jobs will leave you alone?” he asks.
I shrug. “Maybe it would work.”
Ketchup pulls me against his chest. “As much as I want to keep you safe, I doubt that would work. I get the impression these aren’t the type of people you negotiate with.”
“You’re probably right,” I say with a sigh.
“So…” Ketchup starts.
His words get swallowed as Ivy moves again. My hunger rouses suddenly. Only Ketchup holding onto me keeps me from lunging forward. The rustle of her clothes snaps Zander back to reality. He’s hovering beside us an instant later, staring at his once-girlfriend turned suicide artist. I don’t know what to do. So I stand there staring as she pushes herself up to sitting. We all watch as her eyes blink several times, her hand reaches up to her bruised throat, and finally her eyes look up. Shock and dread spread through her features like ink in water.
The sudden whiteness in her face makes the bruises stand out even more. Her lips are still slightly blue when they fall open. “No,” she wails. “No, I shouldn’t still be alive.”
Actual tears start falling down her cheeks. None of us are prepared for her sudden burst out of the truck. She stumbles when she lands, and I don’t realize she has a phone in her hand until she rights herself and I see it shoved against her ear. I don’t know who she’s calling, but I lunge after her.
“Fallimento!” Ivy screams before I rip the phone out of her hand and crush it between my fingers.
Now that she’s awake, I want answers. I grab at her again, but she’s faster than I expected. I can hear sounds of help coming from behind, but I have no intention of missing her again. I dig deep for speed and burst toward her. I would have gotten her, no problem, if not for the panel van that careens around the corner and smashes into my arm. Pain explodes through my body as I crumple to the ground. I watch helplessly as the van door slides open and Ivy is swept from her feet.