“It’s not mine. I—I stole it.” His slight hesitation told me he was lying. “Give me the ring back, Nora.”
“Not until you tell me everything.”
“We can do this the hard way, if you want.” He climbed the first step.
“Don’t move!” I ordered, scrambling to dial 911 on my cell. “If you come another step, I’ll call the police.”
“It will take the police twenty minutes to get out here.”
“That’s not true.” But we both knew it was.
He advanced to the second step.
“Stop” , I ordered. “I’ll place the call, I swear I will.”
“And tell them what? That you broke into my room? That you stole valuable jewelry?”
“Your mom let me inside,” I said nervously.
“She wouldn’t have, if she’d known you were going to steal from me.” He took another step, the stairs creaking under his weight.
I racked my brain for a way to divert him from climbing higher. At the same time, I wanted to goad him into telling me the truth, once and for all. “You lied to me about the Black Hand.
That night in your bedroom, wow, quite an act. The tears were almost convincing.”
I could see his mind spinning, trying to figure out how much I knew. “I did lie,” he said at last. “I was trying to keep you out of the middle of things. You don’t want to get mixed up with the Black Hand.”
“Too late. He killed my dad.”
“Your dad isn’t the only one the Black Hand wants dead. He wants me dead, Nora. I need the ring.” Suddenly he was on the fifth step.
Dead? The Black Hand couldn’t kill Scott. He was immortal.
Did Scott think I didn’t know? And why was he so intent on getting the ring back? I thought he despised his branding. A new piece of information rose to the surface of my mind. “The Black Hand didn’t force you to get the branding mark, did he?” I said. “You wanted it. You wanted to join the society. You wanted to swear all egiance. That’s why you kept the ring. It’s a sacred token, isn’t it? Did the Black Hand give it to you after he finished branding you?”
His hand flexed around the banister. “No. I was forced.”
“I don’t believe you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’d let some psychopath grind a burning hot ring into my chest? If I’m so proud of the branding, why am I always covering it up?”
“Because it’s a secret society. I’m sure you thought a branding was a small price to pay for the benefits that come with being part of a powerful society.”
“Benefits? You think the Black Hand has done a single thing for me?” His tone was cut with anger. “He’s the Grim Reaper. I can’t escape him, and trust me, I’ve tried. More times than I can count.”
I absorbed this, catching Scott in another lie. “He came back,” I said, speaking my thoughts aloud. “After he branded you. You lied when you said you never saw him again.”
“Of course he came back!” Scott snapped. “He’d call late at night, or sneak up on me on my way home from work, wearing a ski mask. He was always there.”
“What did he want?”
His eyes gauged me. “If I talk, will you give the ring back?”
“Depends if I think you’re telling the truth.” Scott scrubbed his knuckles furiously over his head. “The first time I saw him was on my fourteenth birthday. He said I wasn’t human. He said I was Nephilim, like him. He said I had to join this group he belonged to. He said all Nephilim had to band together. He said there was no other way we could free ourselves from the fall en angels.” Scott glared up the stairs at me, defiant, but his eyes held a shadow of wariness, as if he thought I might think he was crazy. “I thought he’d lost it. I thought he was hallucinating. I kept dodging him, but he kept coming back. He started threatening me. He said the fall en angels would get me once I turned sixteen. He’d follow me around, after school and work. He said he was watching my back, and I should be grateful. Then he found out about my gambling debts.
He paid them off, thinking I’d see it as a favor and want to join his group. He didn’t get it—I wanted him to go away. When I told him I was going to get my dad to slap a restraining order on him, he hauled me into the warehouse, tied me down, and branded me. He said it was the only way he could keep me safe. He said that someday I’d understand and I’d thank him.” The tone of Scott’s voice told me that day was never going to come.
“Sounds like he’s obsessed with you.”
Scott shook his head. “He thinks I betrayed him. My mom and I moved here to get away from him. She doesn’t know about the Nephilim stuff, or the branding, she just thinks he’s a stalker. We moved, but he doesn’t want me running off, and he especially doesn’t want to risk having me open my mouth and blow the cover on his secret cult.”
“Does he know you’re in Coldwater?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I need the ring. When he finished branding me, he gave me the ring. He said I had to keep it and find other members to recruit. He told me not to lose it. He said something bad would happen if I did.” Scott’s voice shook slightly. “He’s crazy, Nora. He could do all kinds of things to me.”
“You have to help me find him.”
He advanced two more steps. “Forget it. I’m not going looking for him.” He reached his hand out. “Now give me the ring. Stop stalling. I know it’s here.”
For no reason other than instinct, I turned and ran. I slammed the bathroom door shut behind me and punched the lock.
“This is getting old,” Scott said through the door. “Open up.” He waited. “You think this door is going to stop me?” I didn’t, but I didn’t know what else to do. I was pressed against the back wall of the bathroom, and that was when I saw the paring knife on the counter. I kept it in the bathroom to open cosmetic packages and to easily remove tags from my clothes.