PHOENIX GASPS, the lock falling out of her hand. Shock—pure shock flashed across her features at everything she had just saw in those minutes that almost felt like a whole lifetime.
Stumbling back a step, her wide eyes looked at the lock once again.
NATSUKO
Hands frantic as ever, she grabbed the lock and turned it around in desperation, trying to find something, anything, but there was only one thing written in the back:
The girl in the stars
She did not know who this girl was, or where she came from, but Phoenix hovered over the body, ministering to every want as her heart filled with the tenderest sympathy for Natsuko.
Phoenix knew that she was being stupid, that she was mourning over a random woman in the 16th century, but she did not care— and although she wasn't crying, it felt like her soul wept and no matter what she did, there was no way to comfort it.
She stood, panting over the disturbed grave as she tried to take every single thing in. As a child, she hated stories, she fucking loathed them, but this one took her heard and smashed it into a million pieces.
"Phoenix!" Deena, who had brought her back to the reality of dark skies and police sirens, pulled her arm away. "Phoenix, we have to go. Now."
She nodded, fixing the grave as fast as she could— Deena was in a rush, so she might have had to come back later to deal with it— and stood up, dusting the red moss off her.
"Sarah Fier wasn't evil," Phoenix gasped out, looking at the bones that were wrapped around the jacket that belonged to the boy from Sunnyvale. "I don't know who it was... but it wasn't her. I—"
"Solomon." Deena gasped out, finally realizing that Phoenix saw some kind of vision. Not the exact same as hers, but it was still something. "Solomon... Goode. It's him."
"You two okay?" The loud, booming voice of Nick Goode echoes throughout the small area, causing them to glance at each other. "Need help?"
"Simon... fuck." Phoenix whispered, fear immediately clouding her mind in an instant. Nick Goode was evil, and who knew what he would do to him?
Suddenly, the two girls bolted away, minds coming to an instant agreement of what to do. Even if the forest was dark and full of leaves and branches, she did not let it stop her. Nick Goode was still talking, and Simon and Josh were making some excuses as to why they were there.
Phoenix had a much more silent approach, grab Simon and run for her fucking life, but Deena screamed Josh's name and grabbed him, which made the girl do a double take on the silent plan, and instead, did the same thing,
Nixie ran after Deena, Simon's hand still tight on her own grasp. He was confused, asking a bunch of questions, but the girl did not answer, and instead ran towards the large tree where Deena hid with her brother.
"Jesus christ, what the fuck is going on?" Simon whispered, his grip tightening as he glanced behind him to see if Nick was still following.
"What the hell?" Josh whispered, just as confused. Both Deena and Phoenix looked pale, as if they had just died, and it was confusing the hell out of him.
"Goode is evil." Phoenix whispered in fear, her hand tight against Simon's.
"Do it, boy. Hang her!"
"He's evil. He's evil." She repeated, her hand unknowingly growing tighter around his. She knew that him and the boy she saw were two different people, but there was no way in hell she was letting him near Nick Goode again. "He's fucking evil!"
"It's him!" Deena whisper-shouted, just as frantic.
"Josh!" The familiar voice called, but it was still very far away. "Your sister is very confused."
"His dad and his grandpa and his great grandpa!" Deena whispered frantically for the two of them to hear.
"What the fuck?" Simon asked in a rush, mostly from shock but some from pain, as Nixie's grip on him was too tight to bear.
"She's clearly suffering from some kind of a...a breakdown!"
"Jesus fucking christ," Nixie mumbled, still in shock from everything that happened the past few minutes. It was like she was still in the eyes of that girl— Natsuko, and she felt lightheaded and dizzy. It was almost as if she was the one who was hanged.
"She needs help." Goode continued screaming. "Josh?"
"He's coming near," Nixie whispered, turning around just to get an idea of how close Nick was. "We need to go. Right now."
"The car," Deena realized, eyes set on the police car that was conveniently, really close to them at the moment.
Suddenly, just about as Simon was about to move, he stepped on something and made a twig snap. It was loud, which made the run as fast as they could to the car, not looking back in fear of Nick Goode catching up to them.
When they were finally inside, Phoenix shut her eyes in frustration— she always hated Nick Goode, there was just something about him that made her want to rip his head off. Now that she knew that he was the reason for all the shit she went through... her aunt, Kate... it boiled her blood, and she wanted him dead.
"Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" Simon whispered from the back, right beside Josh who wore the exact same expression.
"I was back in time. I was Sarah Fier, and Sarah Fier was innocent." Deena explained, keeping her eyes on the road. "She isn't turning people in Shadyside into killers. She wasn't a witch!"
Suddenly, radio chatter interrupted her. "We have a 5150 in possession of car 961. Suspects on their way."
"You two, listen to her!" Phoenix whisper-shouted, pointing to Deena who wasn't finished. She also wanted to know what Deena saw— Phoenix only managed to get a glimpse of one side of the story.
"Nick Goode's Pilgrim ancestor made a deal with the Devil, then framed Sarah to cover his own Puritan ass." Deena explained, whilst trying to remove the blood that was dripping out of her own nose.
"Deena!" Josh yelled, pointing to the street light that was now red.
"Just floor it. We're in a police car." Simon said from the back, listening intensely to the conversation. "Holy shit. So it wasn't Sarah Fier this whole time?"
"The Goode's. They're trading us. People from Shadyside." Deena confirmed, eyes still on the road while Nixie tried to open the windows the the car. It felt like there wasn't enough air to breathe.
"The Devil takes over their bodies. Then, that person kills and murders. And the Devil feeds on the blood of dead Shadysiders." Deena told them, looking at the window. "And Goode gets whatever he wants. He becomes Sheriff. His brother becomes mayor. All of Sunnyvale gets better and better."
In a realization of what he was saying, Josh sighed and looked at the ground. "And Shadyside doesn't."
"And the Goode's do it over and over, again and again. One Goode from every generation passing down the evil. Solomon..."
"The punishment for adultery is death by hanging!"
Phoenix blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to get the sight out of her brain.
"Solomon's son. Firstborn to firstborn, it goes on. Right to today. Right to Sheriff Nick Goode."
"So you're saying..." Simon drawled out, his painted nails pointing back at the forest where they left the body. "Sarah Fier—"
"He framed her." Nixie realized, looking at Deena.
The curly-haired girl nodded. "She's the only one who's ever figured out the truth...until us."
"And the killers came after us to keep us from uncovering it." A frown made it's way on Josh's face.
"Yes, to protect Goode's deal with the Devil."
"This is bad," Simon panicked, placing his head between his arms. "This is really fucking bad. If the killers were after us before...now that we know the truth, now that we know about Goode's deal..."
"What happens now?" Josh interrupted, staring at his sister curiously.
Phoenix looked through the mirror, meeting his eyes. "Now, we kill that fucking asshole."
"Nixie, I think he was talking about the part where dead people try to kill us?"
"Oh, yeah." Phoenix looked at the side mirror, still trying to blink all those images in her head away. "I haven't really thought about that part."
....
Phoenix banged the door (not really intending to, but she was so tense that it came out of nowhere) and Ziggy turned around to see the whole group back, panting heavily.
Berman gasped at their sudden appearance and frowned. "Oh, Jesus Christ! Look at her! I told you it wouldn't work! There's no ending it."
Nixie was sort of pissed at how Ziggy was being, but the realization that they had to explain everything to her hit her, and a sympathetic frown made it's way onto her face.
"What is it?" Christine paused at the group's change in attitude.
"We need to talk."
Simon sighed, watching as Ziggy held the knife down. "You're going to receive some very, very bad news."
It was painful. Having to explain everything to Ziggy was so painful. Phoenix could only imagine what she was feeing— Nick Goode, the man she trusted, responsible for all the pain that caused her. He was the reason why Cindy was dead. He was the reason why Niki was dead.
When it was all finished, the only thing Ziggy could do was fall to her knees at everything she just heard.
"We have to kill him." Deena finished. "We have to kill Nick Goode."
"But I called him... I thought..." Ziggy was at a lost of words. "I thought he could help."
—
Phoenix sat in the backseat of the police car nervously, waiting for the rest to come up. It was awkward, to say the least, as none of them said a word as they waited from their friends to come.
"Nixie?"
The girl looked at Simon, and suddenly, her vision was blinded once again. All she could see was him, telling her those words—
"Could there be finer symptoms? Is not pounding headaches the very essence of love? Or have you loved me less?"
Phoenix gasped, touching the back of the window as she blinked to herself repeatedly, trying to get it out of her own head.
"Are you okay?" Simon asked in concern, and even in the night, she could see his raised eyebrows. "Did something happen?"
"No, no." she whispered, trying to calm her throbbing headache. She was dizzy. She was fuzzy. She felt like she was about to throw up.
Eventually, she tried talking again. "It's nothing like that... it's just that thing..." she sighed, placing a hand against her forehead. "I'll explain when we finish this. It's just.. a lot. But it's nothing bad."
Soon, Simon, Phoenix, and Ziggy were squishing together in the backseat while Deena drove over to an address Josh gave her. She had absolutely no idea who this was, but Josh was smart. He seemed to know what he was doing, so she just went with the flow.
"Should be just up here on the right." Josh informed, looking to his right in search of the address on the card.
"Are we sure about this?" Christine spoke up from the back, voice uncertain.
Josh said nothing, and they pulled over to a small house where a sat on the front porch while he lit a cigarette.
At the sound of the police siren, he suddenly perked up, "You gotta be kidding me. Yo, man, I wasn't doing nothing." He stood, putting his hands up behind his head. "Minding my business."
Josh, who's face was visible because of the rolled window, sighed.
"Hey!" He called to the man and he put his arms down. "Urkel?"
"Yeah! Uh...wanna help us kill Sheriff Goode?"
"Great job, Josh." Phoenix rolled her eyes, waiting for the man to answer. He did seem like he wanted to do it, though, as he got of his knees and went inside. "Let me get my coat!"
"Come on," Phoenix sighed, tapping the blonde boy beside her. "Scoot over. I'm sitting on your lap."
Simon, who was apparently very surprised at this, started stuttering. "What?"
"The boy Josh called over—"
"Martin." Josh interrupted.
"Yeah, Martin." Phoenix rolled her eyes, "He wouldn't fit with the four of us in the back of the car. So buckle up. I'm sitting on your lap."
Simon said nothing, looking at her with panicked eyes.
Nixie raised a brow, "Unless you want to sit on mine...?"
"Jesus, just sit on his lap." Ziggy mumbled from the seat beside them. Phoenix almost forgot that the woman was there.
Smiling sheepishly, the girl took a seat on his lap.