The Executioners Three

Chapter Eight: Memories and Bribes

But she hadn't cashed in on her dice excuse. Which meant Freddie hadn't gotten to explore the stolen Archives books until well after midnight. By two AM, after finding seven more incidences (all of them translated in the margins like the first document) that matched up with her dad's articles, Freddie's eyes simply would not stay open any longer.

She passed out in an instant, but her sleep wasn't restful. Instead, her dreams were filled with massacred animals and foggy shapes in the woods. Of bells pealing and screaming teenagers and blood on the leaves.

The final dream she had was of the Hangsman.

Made entirely of shadows, he stalked her through a starlit forest. She ran and ran, but never gained ground. And she never lost sight of him or his rope.

It did not have claws, but it did have flames, as if the Hangsman and his tool had been summoned straight from the pits of hell.

On Freddie clambered, the world a blur of black and white, until at last she reached the lakeshore and could go no further.

Then she had no choice. She had to stop. She had turn and face the Hangsman. Her dream-heart thundered; her mind was white with panic. Each step he stalked closer—a pulsing mass of darkness—the brighter his fiery rope burned.

Then he reached her. His hand outstretched.

And the shadows around him sucked inward. Like watching a tornado form, but in reverse. Until suddenly, it was not an ancient executioner standing before Freddie.

It was Theo Porter, frowning, restless, and offering her something clasped in his hand.

Freddie looked down.

He held a heart made of stone.

"Take it," he said. "Only you know what to do with it."

He was wrong, though. Freddie had no idea what to do with it. But she took it all the same, cold and beating and glinting in the darkness.

Then she awoke, sweaty. Panting. Confused by the sunlight flickering through her blinds. Perhaps most startling of all though, was that she had "I Want It That Way" stuck on repeat inside her brain.

"My profoundest apologies," she croaked to the N'SYNC shrine in the corner of her room. Then she dragged herself from bed, turned on her CD player, and skipped ahead to track eight. It wasn't until Justin Timberlake's beautifully nasal crooning filled her bedroom that she finally felt safe again.

Now she just needed some coffee to wake her up. She had research to do on the Executioners Three today, and she needed her senses keen for that.

She wandered into her kitchen to turn on the Mr. Coffee, only to find Mom and Steve already sitting at the table. They were both fully dressed, and Mom had even brushed her hair.

"Uh..." Freddie said, rubbing her eyes. "Is this a mirage? Am I still asleep? It's not even ten AM yet. Why are you two awake?" Mom and Steve were not early risers on the weekends.

"We thought we'd go to the Quick-Bis for breakfast." Mom smiled with a degree of perkiness that suggested she'd already been up for at least an hour.

And then Steve matched that smile, and all Freddie could think was, The mind, it reels.

"Shall we go?" Mom asked.

"Uh," Freddie repeated eloquently. She did want a biscuit, and it might even be worth the price of a Mom-fuss. But she also really wanted to scour her stolen documents—and maybe make a trip to the library too.

But once again, her guilt twinged a bit brighter than her hunger for answers. So with a sigh, she answered, "Alright. To the Quick-Bis we go."

This earned a giddy clap from Mom and a soft, "Mmmm, biscuits," from Steve.

"Just let me put on real clothes," Freddie called, already rushing back to her room. One pair of tan corduroys, her favorite white peasant top, and an olive green cardigan later, she headed into the bathroom to put in contacts and brush out her hair (just in case she ran into Kyle).

Five minutes after that, Freddie found herself climbing into Steve's trunk, and another fifteen later, they were all sinking into the same booth Freddie had shared with the prank squad only two days before.

It was weird.

It was extra weird watching her mom eat a biscuit. Steve did so with gusto—actually, he ate three biscuits with gusto—but Mom kept wincing and muttering about her arteries and how this was what had killed her grandfather.

Of course, after two bites, she shut up and just wolfed the whole thing down. And when Steve suggested ordering another, she nodded sheepishly. "Please?"

As soon as Steve was out of sight, Mom rested her hands on the table. "I have a proposal," she said, expression Very Serious.

"Okaaaay," Freddie drawled warily.

"I would like you to be in the Lumberjack Pageant—"

"Mom, no!" Freddie groaned and dropped her forehead to the table. "You promised me I wouldn't have to do it my senior year," she said into the linoleum.

"I'm aware. But," Mom said, slipping into her terrible Godfather voice, "I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse."

Something tapped Freddie's head. Something with sharp edges.

She lifted her head ever so slightly...and found the words, Nokia 3210 staring at her. Freddie jolted upright, joy swelling in her chest. "A phone? I get a phone?" She grabbed for the box.

And her mom yanked it back.

"First you have to promise to do the Pageant."

Freddie hesitated, arms outstretched. "Why do you need me so badly?" Her eyes thinned. "I've been begging you for a phone for a year."

Now it was her mom's turn to hesitate. Then she sighed, shoulders deflating. "I'm worried we won't have any volunteers, Fred. Normally we get at least a few phone calls asking about it, but I haven't heard a peep this whole fall. And when I went around this week to make sure the fliers were still up where I'd put them"—she motioned toward a tiny board of local bulletins and business cards near the soda machines—"I found them all missing. So then I put up more, but look! They're gone again."

Freddie's brows pinched tight. That was weird. "But that doesn't mean no one will volunteer."

"Freddie." Mom placed the Nokia box back onto the table. "Do you want the phone or not? This is a one time offer—"

"Yes." Freddie snatched it away. "I do, I do, I do!" Then before her mom could change her mind, Freddie tore it open. By the time Steve made it back to the table, she had it unwrapped and turned on.

"What are you going to name it?" He set down a fresh tray of biscuits and orange juice and then slid into the booth beside Mom. "Willow? Angel?"

"Sabrina."

"But that's a different show," Mom said, grabbing at her biscuit with velociraptor speed. "Shouldn't you keep to a theme?"

"I am." Freddie grinned. "Kickass ladies who don't need stupid men."

"Thanks," Steve said through a mouthful of crumbs.

"You're welcome," Freddie replied. Then she turned to the phone, opened up Snake, and embraced the future of video games.

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And, if want more epic friendship, then consider checking out Truthwitch, the first book in the Witchlands series (on which Freddie's and Divya's RPG is based!).

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