Jude was standing to one side of the shed, actually a derelict caretaker’s cottage. The teen scrubbed at his sticky, semi-floppy mop of hair.
“Jude!” Plum called when they dashed up.
“Hey.” Jude frowned at them. “Aren’t you supposed to be on watch?”
“Where’s Dude?” Marlowe asked, lowering her voice.
“And Warix?” Sofia added. She swiftly bent down, placing Henrietta at their feet. The chicken pecked at the ground, moving slowly away from the cottage and their group.
The girls formed a protective semicircle around Jude.
“They’re inside.” Jude tilted his head toward the cottage. “Searching. Well, Dude’s searching. Warix wanted to get away from the bugs.”
“You’re supposed to stick together!” Marlowe fussed.
“I know, but it’s gross in there, and I like the stars,” Jude began, then his voice trailed off as he finally seemed to register their urgent faces. “Brittlyn’s the killer, so it’s safe, right?”
“Dude’s the killer,” Plum told him.
Jude frowned and gave her an indulgent little smile. “No way,” he said. “Dude’s all right. He’s cool.”
“No! He’s just pretending,” Sofia urged. “Didn’t your parents or your grandmother ever warn you about certain people?”
“Dude’s the killer. He lied about the window.” Plum explained about the shelf and the pots on it, about the height of the window. How Dude had lied about all of it.
“He didn’t even go to the window, because it was already open!” Marlowe said.
“He stayed behind to open the fridge and stab Jalen!” Plum said.
“No way,” Jude breathed. Then his eyes went wide with horror. “Warix is in there with him!”
“Get out!” The sudden, muffled shout came from inside the cottage.
Dude fell across the doorway. His eyes landed on the girls and Jude.
Plum grasped Sofia’s and Marlowe’s arms, pulling them away from Dude.
“Get back!” Dude waved one arm in a wide sweep. “This whole place is rigged with explosives!”
“Warix is in there!” Jude shrieked. He lunged toward the open door of the cottage.
“Oh, shi—” Dude cursed. “I’ll get him, damn it. You stay back!” He took a breath so deep it squared his shoulders, then lunged into the darkness of the cottage.
“That’s brave!” Jude waved a hand at the cottage. “He’s going to save Warix!”
Plum shook her head. “Don’t trust him,” she urged. “It’s a trap.”
Jude whirled on her, screaming, “HE TOLD US TO STAY BACK, HOW IS THAT A TRA—”
A hot wind and a percussive bang blasted outward from the cottage. An invisible and simultaneous sweep of force knocked the foursome back, throwing them onto the dried and prickly grass of the villa lawn.