to prepare for the annual holiday concert. After two hours of
being packed on the risers like lunch meat in a warm deli case,
the girl next to Verity had gone gray in the face and passed
out cold, taking Verity down with her. Verity had split her lip
open and couldn’t sing with her stitches, so she had missed the
concert and had spent three months in tri-weekly choral prac-
tice for nothing. Even after all this time, the memory rankled.
On the bright side, at least now she recognized the telltale
signs. So when Addison’s knees buckled underneath her, Ver-
ity tore her gaze away from the beautiful girl’s face in time,
and caught Addison under the arms.
“Help me,” she said, struggling under Addison’s dead
weight.
Tad ran down the cabin steps and helped Verity lay Addi-
son down. He peeled off his camp sweatshirt, folded it neatly,
and tucked it underneath Addison’s head.
“She’s burning up,” he said, smoothing back the damp
strands of hair that stuck to Addison’s forehead. Had she been
conscious, Addison would have perished from delight.
“We should get her back to the cabin,” Verity said.
“No, we need to take her inside now,” Tad said. “Erin,
she’s been marked. I have no idea how she walked all the way
here like this.”
Erin. Her name was Erin.
The girl knelt by Addison’s side and gasped when she
touched Addison’s face. Verity did, too. The fever had spiked,
and now Addison seemed to be approaching temperatures that
only existed on thermometers for meat, not humans.
“Can you help her?” Verity asked.
“We can,” Erin said, “but—”
206
