Jeremy left camp, but didn't get more than a minute into the forest before he got interrupted yet again. If it were any other voice, any other person in the entire world, he probably would have ignored them and kept going — but this was the one he couldn't pass by.

  The one he'd hunted all year.

  "Ashe!"

  He slowed, coming to a halt at the next tree. Jackie clambered through the thick woods, brushing leaves and branches out of the way as she barreled toward him.

  "I changed my damn mind," she growled. "I'm not letting you go on a suicide mission, no matter how many lives it might save."

  "Jackie—"

  Jackie shook her head, nearly throwing her sheriff cap off as she did. The vague Rallsburg shield set into the center glinted in the moonlight, another reminder of what was at stake. "Listen to me, Ashe, your life is worth more than those shits. Don't go thinkin' we won't need you down the line. You're the best shot we've got at keepin' the peace between Cinza and the rest of the damn wor—"

  "I'm not doing it anymore, Jackie," said Jeremy, cutting her off mid-stream.

  "You wh—"

  Before Jackie could say another word, Jeremy had buried her in a hug, doing his best to emulate her own typical bear hugs. "Thanks," he muttered into shoulder.

  "...For what?" Jackie grumbled. "Apparently I didn't need to sprint across the damn forest to save your sorry ass."

  "For doing it anyway."

  "Jesus, Ashe, you're gettin' sappy." Jackie grinned as they broke apart. "So what the hell are you doin'?"

  "Going after Hendricks."

  Her smile disappeared as quickly as it had shown up. "But—"

  "Going after him smarter this time," said Jeremy. "We know where he's going now. No need for cloak and dagger shit. Just gotta find him, call it in, and stand back."

  "...How d'you know?"

  "Got picked up by the motherfucker already." Jeremy shrugged, trying to sound as casual as he could. He started walking toward the town, hoping Jackie would follow his lead — and to his relief, she did. They fell in step together as easily as they'd always done, matching pace as they clambered through the uneven forest, over rocks and logs, past scurrying animals. Jeremy explained what happened as they went, catching Jackie up as quickly as he could.

  "Well, shit," muttered Jackie. "He's going home?"

  "Yeah. So… thanks for comin' back too, 'cause I could use a guide."

  "Thought you and yours went over every spare inch of Rallsburg durin' your investigation."

  "Forensics did," said Jeremy. "I just read the summaries. Fuck if I was gonna spend that long out here. Didn't find a single useful thing, anyway, did we?"

  "Nothin' left to find," said Jackie grimly.

  They moved in silence for a while, digesting the thought. Rallsburg was a ruin, no mistaking it, and Jeremy had only ever seen it in ashes. Jackie had lived there ten years, gotten to know the people, settled down. It was her home. He was just a visitor, a guest in their abandoned home. He'd never said anything to her.

  "Sorry," he murmured.

  "Wasn't you. Wasn't Jackson either, though I'm glad that young man is gone and buried. Wasn't really Cinza, even if she mighta pulled the trigger." Jackie sighed. "All that shit because we couldn't ever sit down and figure it out. I've been talkin' to people. Rachel, Boris, Josh, Hector. People who were around all the way at the beginning. Those two, the ones who really caused it all, they just couldn't see eye to eye, and nobody tried to shut 'em down proper til it was too late."

  "You think—"

  "I don't know. Hector got 'em to stop fightin', but what was he supposed to do? Kill 'em?" Jackie paused while she climbed over a difficult tree root. "Not too far now. But yeah, things just snowballed. By the time I got looped into the picture, it was way too late. Rachel did her best, but…"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "But you had to kill him," Jeremy finished.

  "Is that where we're at now?" asked Jackie. "Killin' Brian Hendricks?"

  "Has to be done."

  "Way I understand it, those golems come out of a stick he keeps with 'im at all times. Can't we just take it?"

  Jeremy shook his head. "Nobody's ever gotten close enough to try. People are dyin', Jackie. We've gotta do something."

  "Goddammit…" Jackie sighed. "I've been in this conversation before."

  "So what convinced you last time?"

  "That's cheatin', Ashe."

  Jeremy rolled his eyes, but Jackie couldn't see it in the darkness. Barely, if he squinted, he could start to make out the turrets of the library in the distance. Rallsburg was getting closer.

  "Gordon Merrill said it," murmured Jackie, her voice dark and grim. "Rachel set a precedent. Awakened don't arrest and try people like them. It's just death."

  "Huh?"

  "I betrayed my code already," she sighed. "Rachel convinced me. People like this, the world's never dealt with anything like it. History doesn't give us any answers. Policework's based on history, ain't it? We go on patterns, we go on precedent, we track down clues in the past to find the guy in the present. Only, there's no precedent, no patterns. Nothin's ever been like this."

  "Sure it has," said Jeremy, feeling frustrated. "Guy stands up in front of a crowd and tells 'em the other group deserves to die for who they are. Sound fuckin' familiar?"

  "It ain't like that and you know it." Jackie stopped, turning around to face him. Her expression was confused — half angry, half scared. "Awakened ain't just another group of people. They picked that life, and they got power way beyond us. Sometimes beyond them." She pointed back toward the camp, far out of sight now. "Jenny Wilson died back there because of a spell gettin' out of control. I don't disagree with Jackson on that."

  "Not our job to worry about that," said Jeremy, though he felt uneasy doing it. "We're enforcement, remember?"

  "It's all I worry about, dammit," said Jackie. Her voice was thick with emotion. "I was supposed to keep my town safe. You saw what happened to it. Twenty two people, Ashe. That's it. That's all I could protect, out of the whole goddamn town."

  "So you're—"

  "I'm sayin' I was responsible for Brian Hendricks, and I failed. I didn't notice he went missin', I didn't watch out for his kid, and I sure as hell didn't stop him when I had the chance." Jackie turned back and started walking forward. "So do it. Kill the bastard. I'll help you find him, but don't ever expect me to be okay with it. God knows if I'm ever gonna be able to look Natalie in the eye again."

  Jeremy followed. The town of Rallsburg emerged around them, like a ghost fading into existence. They stuck to the trees and the shadows, not wanting to be seen, but the town still loomed like a graveyard. The buildings were scrupulously untouched, exactly as Jeremy remembered them from the forensics pictures he'd gone over a thousand times. To his surprise, the FBI cordon seemed to be completely gone — every vestige vanished as if they'd never been there.

  Must've bailed. Probably pulled out to give the place to Cinza, and then the whole mess with Nate Price and tonight went up.

  "That's my old house," Jackie murmured, pointing. Jeremy couldn't see anything distinguishing about it — charred wood and stone framing was all that remained, the bits and pieces of what had once been a cabin. "Spent half my time in the sheriff's station, but still, it was a good home."

  She pointed out more places as they continued — Dan Rhodes' little diner, the Hendricks Apartments row for the college kids, the Kettle and Bones bar. Jackie didn't offer any anecdotes, just a quiet identification. To Jeremy, it was as if their stories were lost along with the people who used to live inside. Even those who might have made it out, Jackie didn't seem to want to elaborate.

  "Kathy Nichols, she used to teach out of that one…"

  On they walked, Jackie remembering each piece of the town while Jeremy kept his eyes peeled and his ears open. The place was uncomfortably quiet, only the crickets and frogs, plus the howl of a wolf in the distance — Natalie, no doubt — breaking the night air.

  "Ashe," said Jackie abruptly, pointing.

  Jeremy had been looking backward. He'd heard some movement nearby, and his hand was already on his holster, but there didn't seem to be anyone near. Slowly, Jeremy turned away and checked where Jackie was pointing — the only intact structure in the town, one every forensic tech swore was haunted, one Lani had refused to set foot in.

  "The library?"

  Jackie nodded. "He's in there."

  "How do you know?"

  "Last place we'd ever look. Only place still intact. Plenty of places to hide, and the thing's invincible." Jackie shuddered. "Never liked that damn building myself."

  "Know anythin' about it? We couldn't turn anything up in our background checks."

  She shook her head. "Even Robert and the Prices were stumped. Boris didn't find anythin' either. It's just always been there. Town mighta been built around it, far as we know. Nobody recorded nothin' weird about it, just mentioned it in passin'."

  "And you're sure Hendricks would be hiding in there."

  Jackie nodded. "I know what I sound like. Goin' on a hunch like this. That's not how this should work. But this time, I'm sure. Bet my life on it."

  Jeremy found a spot where he could watch the whole structure, a clean rock with plenty of tree cover in all directions. "Well, place clearly ain't gonna care if we hit it again. If you say he's there, he's there. Moment we get anything, we call it in." He settled in, preparing for a long stakeout. Jackie took a seat next to him, watching the opposite direction, and pulled out a snack.

  "Ashe, Stebbins."

  Jeremy practically jumped off his seat. "...This is Ashe. Go ahead."

  "I'm at the other end of the street, holed up nice and tight. You two are looking for Hendricks, right? Over."

  He glanced at Jackie, who looked just as surprised and confused as he was. "...Affirmative."

  "I figured I wasn't doing anything useful back at camp, so I headed out. Tracked him here, sir, over."

  "So where is the bastard? We were thinkin' the big stone library. Over."

  "Bang on target, sir. He's inside. Do what you gotta do. Out."