“Don’t sell yourselves so short. You remembered my birthday when I ran into you at the boardwalk last year. You saved my shitty day and turned it into one of my best. Church is good at mysteries, but that doesn’t make him better than you. You’re all stripes in my rainbow.”

“Stripes in your rainbow?” Micah echoes, and then he grabs me under the armpits and drags me onto the bed, pinning me to the mattress with an arm on either side of my face. “Now that’s a cute phrase. I could get used to that.”

“Say it again, Chuck,” Tobias agrees as he lays down beside me, trailing his fingers across my collarbone. “If you do, we might give you something you’ll really like, and that your dad will really hate.”

“Are you trying to bribe me with sex?” I whisper, pretending to be scandalized.

“Yeah, pretty much,” they agree in unison, and I squeal as Tobias grabs me and pulls me close, leaving Micah to jog over to the door and kick it closed.

The lock flicks into place, and we’re in business.

“With the list of missing yearbooks from the library,” Church begins, glancing down at the iPad in his hand. “Spencer and I were able to find out the names of either Adamson or Everly Academy students that went missing, committed suicide, or were murdered. There’s no obvious pattern, no correlation between each incident other than that they only happen every few years.”

“Okay, so nothing we didn’t already know?” I ask, lying on my stomach on the bed and watching him through the screen on my phone, wishing he were here to sing ironic Christmas carols about snow while the sun beats down on LA like a curse. Mom goes to spin class, and juices now, it’s weird as hell. The twins sit on either side of me, their backs to me, but each one with a knee pulled up onto the bed, arms wrapped around it.

“Except,” Church continues, and he smiles, this sharp, clever little smile that says he knows how damn smart he is, “for the ages of the children in the families with lineage that goes back to the original abbey. If there’s a student at either school that matches one of those family lines, then at some point during their enrollment, there’s always an incident.”

“What about Libby?” I ask, thinking of Selena’s older sister. Jack told us it was Rick who killed Jenica, but if our theory holds true, then Libby should’ve left a victim behind as well.

Micah snaps his fingers before Church can respond.

“The kid in the park, the one that used to work at the antiques shop.”

The smiles that curves Church’s lips says that he’s nailed it.

“I think we’ve solved our mystery,” he says, turning the iPad around and showing off the copious notes that he’s taken. “Selena, Gareth, Aster, and Mark are the hoodie-wearing dicks. Eugene and Jared were killed as part of their initiation rites into the Fellowship, and Charlotte is next on the list. The only things we don’t know are who the fourth victim is, or why Eric Warren’s daughter was chosen by the cult.” Church pauses briefly. “Or why Ranger wasn’t invited to join.”

“What about Mr. Dave and Nathan?” I ask, lowering the volume on the phone, just in case Ian’s listening in.

“They’ve got no records, nothing of interest in their background checks. But the information Ranger got from that private investigator is too clean. Nobody leaves such little evidence on paper. My guess would be that they’re cops, FBI, something like that.”

“What are they waiting for then?” I snap, getting irritated and digging my fingers into my hair. “Eugene and Jason are dead. Are they just waiting for me to be next?”

“I imagine they have to be careful about how they collect evidence or how they approach the Fellowship. Otherwise, their lives could be in danger. That, or the members might scatter or cover up their trail.”

I nod, but I’m starting to get frustrated anyway.

“We’ll see you in a few days then?” Tobias asks, and Church nods. My heart flutters a bit at the idea of seeing him again. Ranger and Spencer, too. Being apart from them sucks.

“You will,” Church says, and then he pauses, like he’s thinking about telling me something. “Sleep well and keep each other safe.”

He hangs up before I get a chance to say goodbye, and I exhale, blowing hair up and out of my face before I sit up. Spencer’s been with his dad all week, as per his bargain for the help in the elections, so he hasn’t been able to talk much. And I’ve gotten all of three texts from Ranger which is worrying me.

“Come on, Chuck, cheer up,” Micah says, turning and mimicking my pose so that he’s laying side by side with me. “I’m really enjoying this chance to see how the other half lives.”

“The other half, huh?” I say with a skeptical brow raised in his direction.

“It’s quaint, the life of a peasant,” he says, trying to keep a straight face, but his lips twitch and give him way. I shove Micah in the shoulder and stick my tongue out, sitting up next to Tobias.

“You’ll see how quaint a peasant can get if you keep pushing it.”

My phone buzzes in my hand, and I look down to see a surprise text from Church.

I forgot to say, I love you, I read, just before Tobias slips the phone from my hand.

“I love you?” he asks, quirking a brow. “You guys are saying I love you to each other now?”

My cheeks flame, but I shrug nonchalantly, pretending I’m too cool to care.

“Yeah, I mean, I love you guys, too. No big deal.”

“You love us?” they repeat, exchanging a long look before turning back to me.

“Get her?” Tobias asks, and Micah nods.

“Get her.”

They grab me before I can make a run for the bathroom, and they don’t let go until Spencer’s knocking on our bedroom door the next morning.

There are no gifts the boys could get me that could top their declaration about wanting to be together. I mean, they try like hell though, and I’m not one to turn down gifts, especially when they come in the form of designer shoes and handbags that Monica would almost literally kill for.

She’ll be here for dinner later, but for now, I’m just enjoying a brief reprieve from my parents and Mr. Dave, hiding out in the living room while the adults disappear into their respective bedrooms for a break from the festivities.

It’s pretty obvious we have things to talk about, too. I knew it the second I saw Spencer’s face this morning.

“We went into the tunnels,” he says, leaning forward on the couch next to Micah and balancing his elbows on his knees. He breaks the ice before I get a chance to even realize I’m about to be dropped into cold water.

“You did what?” I ask, wishing he wasn’t too cute to strangle. “You meaning who, exactly? When? And why the fuck wouldn’t you tell me about it?”

“Spencer and I went in,” Church says, looking sorry after the fact. “But Ranger was with us on video chat the whole time, in case something went wrong.”

“I don’t care, I’m still pissed,” I say, but then again, I’m also curious as hell. “Did you find anything down there?”

“Nothing but more tunnels,” Spencer says with a roll of his turquoise eyes. “Whatever Jack was talking about, hidden churches or what the fuck ever, we have no idea. We never even saw anyone else when we were down there.”