Finn walked over to one picture taken of him kneeling on the beach, likely looking at sand dollars or ocean detritus.

  “Brandon was down here… after he faked his death. How else would he have pictures of me down here?”

  “So… he was using this while he was stalking you?” Theo asked.

  Finn turned to Theo. “I don’t think he ever really left, Theo. This is probably where he hid out when he returned to Cape May and threatened you. This is how he was able to stay hidden. To know what was going on with your family. He was underneath the floorboards, listening.”

  Finn exhaled a shaky breath and went back to the computer desk, noticing a journal placed next to the keyboard and mouse of the computer. He picked it up and opened it.

  April 30th, 2021 - Created fake “eyewitness testimony,” saying Theo let me drown and sent it to Grace Rothman to spread to everyone else with the help of ____

  The name he put was scratched out, as if Brandon was trying to protect their identity.

  October 31st, 2021 - Sent first threat to Theo. He was watching Jaws with Finn. *Make sure to use Shark Finn as a new nickname for Finn.

  December 2nd, 2021 - Had sex with Ellie as “Theo”

  December 3rd, 2021 - Ellie blowing up my burner phone trying to get me to go out with her.

  December 21st, 2021 - Listened in on Jada and Theo catching up at Moore Christmas Party.

  December 22nd, 2021 - Sent Theo another threat.

  Finn’s pulse quickened, realizing that this was a diary of all the things that Brandon was doing. He was taking note of everything. He had been hooking up with Ellie for months as “Theo” and had his own phone to pretend like he was Theo.

  “Theo. Come look at this.” Finn kept reading more of Brandon’s entries.

  April 4th, 2022 - Met Finn for the first time at the lighthouse. Made sure family had already left town for Easter before visiting. *Make sure he won’t bring it up again with Theo*.

  “He was spying on us the whole time. He was always watching,” Finn whispered to Theo.

  “Wait—he was here, in the basement, during my family’s Christmas party? He heard mine and Jada’s conversation?” Theo said, looking over to the same room where he and Jada went off to catch up. That party felt like a lifetime ago to Finn.

  “He was watching everything, Theo. Everyone,” Finn said, gesturing to the pictures of Cape May’s inhabitants.

  “So someone was definitely helping him. He had some kind of partner. He said he had help in some of the diary entries. Who would help him, though? Why would someone help him ruin your life?”

  “Take your pick. Everyone was against me after he faked his death. It wasn’t hard for people to hate me even more.”

  “But this proves that Grace isn’t the one who’s after us. She was the one who shared the news, but she didn’t start the rumors herself. That was Brandon and whoever was helping him.”

  Finn sighed and looked around the room, trying to take it all in. It reminded him of James. James was one to document everything, just like Brandon did. It was almost like he loved the control he had but no one was privy to.

  All of this was because of Brandon. Theo didn’t save Brandon in the way he wanted to, and an entire vendetta formed, causing a ripple effect and letting the rest of the deadly plan be set in motion.

  This is where Brandon obsessed over Finn, where he taunted him and Jada by text.

  Where he planned on killing his mom.

  Where he planned on whisking Finn away with him.

  There had to be a way in and out of the space.

  Finn felt against the walls for some kind of faulty door. There was a section of the wall where the photos lined up perfectly; none of them overlapped. Finn walked over and pressed on the space. He felt it budge slightly, and he pushed harder, and an opening formed, cool air rushing into the room after it.

  Finn pushed harder, and the door fully swung open. He ended up crawling out of the Moore’s garden that was against their house, hidden behind a wall lined with ivy and behind a cedar bush.

  A door well hidden and impossible to see if they hadn’t looked. How the Moore’s or the realtors that sold the house to them hadn’t found this section of the house was beyond him.

  Evidently, Brandon came in and out of the house by using this door, coming and going as he pleased, without anyone ever knowing where he truly was.

  Finn walked back into the room and closed the door tightly behind him, allowing the pictures to slot themselves back in place.

  “Did you try getting into there?” Finn asked Theo, pointing to the computer.

  “Not yet,” Theo said. Theo walked over and clicked on the mouse. Surprisingly, the computer turned on, the fan whirring to life like it had been dead for a decade.

  The screen turned on, asking for a password.

  “Any ideas?” Finn asked. Theo stepped over and started typing in words. The screen kept shaking, saying, “Incorrect password.” Theo sighed, pulling away and rubbing his hands on his cheeks.

  His eyes turned vacant as he looked off into the distance. Then he glanced between Finn and the screen.

  “If this works…” Theo said, typing on the computer. He typed in what looked like numbers. He hit enter, and it opened. Theo sighed, bowing his head, his shoulder hunched as his hands pressed into the desk.

  “Theo, what was it?”

  “The date Brandon ‘died,’” Theo said, shaking his head as he drew his head back up and stepped away from the computer. Finn’s mouth formed a thin line. Brandon was obsessed with that day. He couldn’t let anything go.

  “Okay, what do we look for?” Finn asked.

  “Click on that,” Theo said, pointing to a folder that said “Tracking.” Finn sat down in the rickety chair and hovered his mouse over to the folder.

  He clicked on it, and an interface with a map of the US popped up, with glowing red dots all over the map, but most centered around the Jersey shore.

  Finn clicked closer to New Jersey, and multiple red dots appeared, scattered all around Cape May. Four of them were together, around the Moore’s house.

  Finn clicked on one of them, and Theo’s name popped up.

  “Theo… I think you’re being tracked,” Finn said, looking back at him. Theo’s eyes widened.

  “What are the other ones?” Theo asked. Finn clicked on them, and Jada’s name came up on one on the other side of town, and then Theo’s parents’ names came up.

  “Oh my God. He was tracking all of you,” Finn said.

  “Why don’t you have one?” Theo asked.

  “I broke my phone after I threw it at the wall last year, remember? I got a new phone after Brandon died. He must have been tracking our phones somehow,” Finn said.

  “He was tracking where everyone was so he could replace me. To make sure he would never come across me or anyone else if he tried to replace me. That’s how he got away with so much,” Theo said.

  “He must have learned all of this from Sean and Don Sutherland,” Finn said.

  “Okay, what are the other ones? Who else was he tracking?” Theo asked.

  Finn clicked on some of the other glowing red dots around the town. One was Camila, another couple with Ryan’s and Imani’s names. Some dots were gray. Finn clicked on them and saw James, Ellie, and Michelle’s names.

  Their phones were likely deactivated after they died, so Brandon was tracking them, too. Finn clicked around, seeing some of his other classmates coming up as red dots.

  “I don’t think whoever’s doing this to us would be tracked by Brandon, right?” Finn asked.

  “Don’t underestimate him. I don’t think Brandon ever fully trusted anyone. I’m sure he was tracking whoever this was, too. To make sure that they weren’t going to betray him,” Theo said.

  “Okay, so, who do we know isn’t being tracked?” Finn asked.

  “Alison. She’s not on there,” Theo said.

  “Neither is Erica nor Sean,” Finn said.

  “Or Don Sutherland, or Rebecca, for that matter.”

  “Do we think it could be any of them?” Theo asked. They exchanged weary glances.

  “I say we can’t say for sure. Everyone’s a suspect, right?”

  Finn wished he’d thought the same way in New York amid the massacre. He’d trusted too much and brought too many people in on what was going on, and Ellie ambushed them alongside James, almost framing Erica and Alison for the murders in the process.

  “Erica and Alison were both knocked out at the abandoned bookstore, though. How would it be either of them?” Finn asked.

  “Doesn’t mean either of them weren’t involved with Brandon. Ellie and James had their own revenge plot, separate from Brandon’s.”

  Jada should be here to help them. Having a new set of eyes on the lair would provide more insight.

  Finn took out his phone and went to Jada’s contact. His thumb hovered over her contact, not knowing if she would respond to him or if he needed her.

  They’d found out something huge without her but still needed her.

  They needed Jada’s mind to make all the connections.

  Finn pressed the “call” button and let it ring. He surmised that she probably wouldn’t pick up, even if she wanted to. It was well past midnight at this point, and she was likely asleep.

  “Hello?” Jada’s voice rang through the phone, slightly muffled on Finn’s speaker.

  “Jada. We—we found… what we think was Brandon’s lair.”

  “What? What do you mean?” Jada’s voice hardened, seeming alert.

  “In the Moore’s basement, we found a hidden room behind a wall. It was his lair,” Finn said.

  “What’s inside of it? What does it look like?”

  “It’s better if we show you, Jada. Please come. We need you. We’re so close to figuring out who’s targeting us now,” Theo said.

  Silence fell over the phone. Finn thought she might hang up.

  “I don’t know if I can… I’m a little tied up right now…”

  “What? What do you mean?” Theo asked.

  “Maybe I can show you.” Jada’s voice came out garbled.

  Finn’s phone vibrated, and he went to their text thread. Jada has sent a photo. He tapped on it and gasped.

  It was a picture of Jada in a dark, dimly lit room, tied up in a chair and with a rag in her mouth. Her sopping wet hair clung to her face, her eyes bulging in horror as she stared into the camera, a bright flash illuminating her.

  “Jada… what’s going on?”

  “Jada’s a little tied up right now.” Finn’s voice now sounded through the phone. This person had all of their voices and was taunting them with it.

  “No!” Finn yelled.

  “She’s been my companion for the past couple of days. Try as I might, she’s not giving me the answers I want. So, here’s what’s going to happen. Either you both come here to meet me, or else this is the last picture you’re ever going to see of Jada alive.”

  “Please. Don’t. Just tell us what you want,” Theo pleaded.

  “I already told you. Come visit me wherever Jada’s phone is being tracked, and we’ll have a nice little chat about what happened on that lighthouse.” Brandon’s voice now rang through the room, like he was haunting his own room again.

  “Fine. Just please don’t hurt her. We’ll tell you everything.”

  “I’ll be waiting. You have half an hour. Better start driving.” The line cut, a beeping sound coming from Finn’s phone.

  “Let’s go,” Theo said immediately, his eyes wide and his chest heaving as he and Finn went through the hidden door and onto the lawn.

  Theo pulled his car keys out of his pocket, and he and Finn clamored into Theo’s car. Theo floored it and raced their way out of town.

  No one was on the road. Theo blew through all the stop signs, with no hint of slowing down.

  “According to the location from the computer, she’s just over the bridge out of town. It looks like they’re at an abandoned house.”

  Theo floored it, and the car sprung forward. Finn held onto the grab handle above the door as they sped out of town, starting to climb up the bridge over the tributary to the ocean.

  “Do we call the police?” Finn asked wildly, looking at Theo.

  “I—I don’t know. They’re going to kill Jada if we don’t get there in time. I—I think we have to.”

  Finn’s thumb hovered over the number keypad. What if Finn called them and their blackmailer gave them everything?

  What if the blackmailer was going to kill all of them?

  What if this was all just a trap?

  Finn looked up from his phone. Theo’s knuckles whitened on the steering wheel as he sped. His eyes were vacant, like the possible outcomes were whirring through his head as Finn’s were. He only focused on the speed, not where they were going.

  All he seemed to know was to go straight.

  Finn noticed another car in front of them, sitting in the middle of the road, turned horizontally.

  Finn’s stomach dropped, and the world stopped spinning as the realization hit him.

  “THEO! THE CAR!” Finn screamed.

  They were headed straight for a collision.

  Theo gasped and slammed on the brakes, but they didn’t slow down.

  The brakes weren’t working.

  Theo swerved to avoid the car, the tires squealing as it twisted sharply to the right.

  He couldn’t control it.

  It was bound to happen.

  This was where they were meant to be.

  The car bounced off the sidewalk, and they flew into the air.

  The car tumbled and nosedived under the ruthless force of gravity into the murky water below.

  34

  FINN

  Coughing.

  Wheezing.

  Gurgling, rushing water.

  Blackness surrounded his vision like a vignette.

  Teetering on the edge of consciousness.

  Water rushed into the car, water-logging it up to his neck.

  Where was he? What was happening? How did he get here?

  “Finn? Wake up! FINN!”

  Theo’s voice sounded far away, like he was calling him from outside of the car.

  He coughed again, pain searing in his throat like he’d swallowed a sea urchin; his body frigid and languid from the crisp sea water.

  Everything moved in slow motion, like he was watching everything from outside his body. He tried reaching his hand behind him, but his body wouldn’t move.

  He needed to get the headrest.

  Or else he wasn’t going to make it out.

  Theo’s words rang through his mind. Words that never left him.

  A perpetual reminder.

  If you’re ever in a sinking car. Take the headrest out and use it to break the windows. Do it before the car fills up. It gives you enough time to get out before you have to hold your breath if you can’t open the windows yourself.

  Frantic hands jostled him around, shaking him and grabbing his face, but delirium still held him captive like the seatbelt digging into his chest.

  The tightness released him from its death grip as Theo unbuckled him.

  Panic-stricken blue eyes met his.

  “Finn. Please don’t leave me. You can’t leave me. Please.”

  Darkness blanketed his vision completely, and like falling asleep in his bed, he faded into unconsciousness.

  35

  THEO

  “Mom! Dad! Use the headrest!”

  “Brandon. Please wake up. Wake up!”

  “I’m going back for Brandon!’

  “His seatbelt’s stuck!”

  “I can’t—I couldn’t get to him⁠—”

  “Theo! The car’s going down the river! Get back!”

  Finn’s body is heavy and limp as he kicks and swims through the water with all his might.

  Oxygen blesses his lungs as he breaches the surface. Finn hangs limp in his arms, his eyes delicately closed.

  The sea could try, but it would not take his life again.

  And it wasn’t going to take Finn’s.

  He kicks his feet, springing forward to the shoreline as Finn clings to his frame.

  He slams Finn’s body down on the grass, his arms splayed open, and water droplets cling to his long eyelashes, looking too peaceful for Theo’s comfort.

  Theo starts doing compressions on Finn’s chest.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  Four.

  Five.

  Just like I learned in lifeguard training.

  Six.

  Seven.

  Eight.

  Nine.

  Ten.

  I’ve saved lives before. I can do this. I’m going to be a firefighter.

  Eleven.

  Twelve.

  Thirteen.

  Fourteen.

  Fifteen.

  Finn will wake up. He has to.

  Sixteen.

  Seventeen.

  Eighteen.

  Nineteen.

  Twenty.

  I’m not going to lose him. I can’t.

  Twenty-one.

  Twenty-two.

  Twenty-three.

  Twenty-four.

  Twenty-five.

  He saved my life. I have to save his.

  Twenty-six.

  Twenty-seven.

  Twenty-eight.

  Twenty-nine.

  Thirty.

  He tilts Finn’s chin upward and opens his mouth, filling Finn’s lungs with as much air as he can breath from his own.

  “Come on, Finn. Breathe.”

  Finn’s chest expands as Theo fills him with air.

  Finn’s lips are cold and loose on his.

  He wonders if this is the last time he’ll have his lips on Finn’s.

  After the second breath, Finn coughs.

  Finn’s eyes flutter open, wide with shock, and Theo almost passes out from relief.

  Finn wheezes as he coughs water out of his lungs, water spilling onto the rocks.

  His black hair is plastered to his forehead.

  “Theo?” Finn whispers out, his voice raspy.

 

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