It’s too sunny to celebrate death. I shield my eyes from the piercing rays illuminating our kill.

“Ready?” Luba huffs, blowing her sweep of bangs from her eyes as she hoists the vovkulaka’s bloodied head from the back of the truck.

“Don’t drag it by the ears.” Yeva shoves her arm under the beast’s head, and it slides to her chest, knocking her back. “Some help here.” She shoots Luba a pointed stare. “We need balance, so the rocks don’t tumble out before we get it in the boat.”

I shift to her side, and brace my hand at the base of the skull, my fingers digging deep into the fur.

Luba rolls her eyes and distributes some weight from my arms to hers. We shuffle side by side, none of us daring to look the beast in the eyes even though the vidmy have already scooped them out and there’s nothing more than spell-sewn sockets filled with smooth black soul stones.

Looking made us what we are.

Every hunt, with my finger steady on the trigger of my crossbow, the image of my pregnant mother, the crimson blindfold torn from her eyes, drives my courage to kill. The ancient magic of my vidma ancestors burrows in the marrow of her bones. That’s why the vovkulaka captured my mother’s stare and lured her into eating its kill. And why I’m now damned to hunting and afternoons of burial drownings instead of careless summer days without blood on my hands.

As we wade into the water, my foot catches in the silt. My ankle rolls, but I bite back the pain. “The mind must be clear of emotion,” my captain’s warning whispers through my mind. Spirits are listening.

Ahead, the others in our hunting party rock the boat from side to side as we make our way out to them. I wanted to be in the boat this time instead of waist deep in stinking reeds.

Until Valentyn offered to row.

Like the vovkulaka, I don’t dare look at him either.

He’s my curse.

But I shove those thoughts away, too. I don’t need the spirits to hear about the boy who broke my heart.

“Lift, Olena.” Luba nudges me. “I can’t hold it much longer.”

“Sorry.” I prop the head up. Its wet fur tickles my arms, making me itch. I imagine my body sprouting with the same wiry fur. Seeds in my pores growing thorny and thick, breaking through my flesh. Not today, though. Today we bury another, a soul who couldn’t keep the vovk from rising within them. I’m thankful it’s not one of us. “Never,” I whisper, hoping the gods hear my prayer.

“She shouldn’t be here,” Yeva says between forced breaths.

“I’m right beside you,” I say, though she’s spoken little to me since the night of the fires. Not even when the others jumped and cheered when I aimed my crossbow and struck the iron rod through the vovkulaka’s heart with one hit. Yeva won’t let me forget the past.

“It’s Olena’s kill.” Luba hoists the head higher. “She must be the one to bring it to the lake. That is the way of the zhnetsy.”

Yeva huffs, her energy thick with anger as she wades farther into the water. She has nothing to worry about. I don’t want Valentyn back. He belongs with her now.

The head weighted with rocks tugs at my muscles. I wish now it hadn’t been my kill and that I’m not wading out to give it to my ex, who I vowed never to speak to again until hell froze over. Cliché, I know. But I meant it.

Valentyn, Haru and the new hunter Nyx reach for the head, taking it by the ears until Yeva shoots them an icy glare.

Valentyn slides his arms into the water, his face inches from mine as he scoops the head from my grip. His languid gaze meets mine. “Hey, O.”

My breath catches as the name only he calls me falls from his lips. I try to avert my gaze from his mouth, but I’m drawn to the secret inside.

Most look at Valentyn and count six scars crisscrossing his face.

There are seven.

The other raised mark hides along his tongue, a jagged line cut by claws. Valentyn wears our demons on his face. It’s hard for the vidmy to forget who we are, what we can become. It’s impossible for me to forget how he feels next to me.

My stupid heart beats faster, not from the weight straining my arms, but with the thought of Valentyn’s hidden scar I’ve kissed a thousand times.

I slip back against the water, floating away from the pull of the boy and the intoxicating spell he has over me. I hate this feeling of me without him. I hate myself for wanting him despite what he did. His gaze lingers seconds too long and Yeva shoves the head into him, splashing water in his face.

Haru too gives me a look. His dark eyes cut with concern. We have plans later. He’s my heartbreak distraction, a friend who knows how to help me forget. Did he see how Valentyn looked at me? Did he witness the way my gaze fell over Valentyn’s sun-kissed arms—how if there weren’t blood and bone between us, nothing could keep us apart?

The new hunter is oblivious to what Valentyn and I shared, how we burned what we had to ash. And I’m thankful for one person who doesn’t know every detail of my life—who hasn’t been on the isle long enough to be tainted by all the lies—who wasn’t there the night of the fires.

But Luba saw my awkward exchange with Valentyn. This I know by the death grip she has on my arm as she drags me to the shore.

I don’t dare glance back at Yeva. I’m sure her hex would sting.

“What the hell was that?” Luba hisses at my ear. She hasn’t forgiven him. Good friends hold grudges in your name.

“Nothing.” I turn away so she can’t read the lie on my face.

Valentyn’s laughter echoes across the lake as Haru breaks out in song.

Three hours before they return to shore. Three hours before the head of the vovkulaka settles in the sand. Three hours and the rusalky will sing their death song.

“Well, it sure as hell didn’t look like nothing.” Luba interrupts my thoughts of the ravenous maidens who guard the lake and the boy who’s rowing out to offer them the beast’s head.

“I can’t wait to see Haru tonight.” I lean into Luba like I’m being confidential but speak loud enough to catch Yeva’s attention. I don’t need new rumors circulating. I can barely get through the weeds of my family’s sins.

When Yeva slams the tailgate of her truck and hops inside, Luba says, “You still love him.”

Yeva revs the engine of the truck and takes off, leaving us in a cloud of dirt and sand.

“Do not,” I say as casually as possible, but the lie cuts deep into my soul.

She shoots me a sly grin. “Hate to love him.”

“What were those super-intense vibes you were sending Nyx’s way?” I divert the conversation to her.

“No vibes. And besides, I didn’t think you could see anything while under Valentyn’s trance.” She wriggles her fingers like she’s casting a spell.

“So, you were checking out the new hunter!” I nudge her.

“Busted.” She grins. “She’s hot—right? I mean, did you see the way the sun turned her eyes an amber gold color? And those abs… Who has abs like that?”

“I’m pretty cut.” I pull up my shirt.

Luba slaps my stomach. “You don’t count.”

“Gee, thanks. I guess all those crunches were for nothing.” I pull down my shirt, laughing. Luba was my first kiss. We’ve loved each other forever—before we kissed on her thirteenth birthday—and long after. But we discovered two things that day—one, Luba only wanted to kiss girls, and two, I still wanted to kiss Valentyn Alexandrov.

Luba shrugs off her wet shorts and T-shirt and tosses them into the back of her four-by-four. She towels off and throws it at me. “You’re not riding wet in my new truck.”

I dig in the back and pull out my jeans and sweatshirt, aptly printed with a growling wolf. I dress and hop in the passenger seat. Before I even fasten my belt, she takes off into the forest like we’re being chased by Veles’ minions. If they caught us, I’d be dragged to the underworld for sure. No trial is needed. I’m guilty of everything they say.

A series of quick chimes fill the truck. Luba doesn’t even slow as she twists her bracelet to the left, pops out a tiny tablet and places it under her tongue.

I do the same before the last chime sounds. The tablet fizzes with a bitter taste.

Luba’s face puckers. “Gross.” She digs through the backseat, pulls out a canteen and takes a swig. She blows out, fanning her tongue.

The staunch scent of alcohol fills the air.

“What the hell? You’re drinking?” I grip the roll bar as she barrels over a log, tossing us from side to side.

Luba takes another sip. “I need to wash the tablets down with something. The shine doesn’t taste right since your mom—”

No one ever finishes that sentence. Maybe they’re afraid there’s a curse attached to vidmy whose cars fly off bridges.

“Hey, look, I’m sorry I brought her up,” Luba says.

“No. Fair. This shine is bitter. I don’t know what they’re doing up in the labs, but it’s not from my mom’s grimoire. Give me some of that.”

She hands me the canteen and I take a sip.

“Oh, that’s nasty. You’re cut off from day drinking, my friend.” I joke, but I’m concerned. Luba isn’t a drinker. Then again, her sister Tetyana was alive the last time we drowned a head in the lake.

“My mom uses it for healing,” Luba says. “Kills the demons in your nightmares.”

Tetyana, growling with fanged teeth, haunts my nightmares, too… My captain who taught me how to aim, how to prop the crossbow on my shoulder and steady my feet on the ground before releasing the trigger—how to kill with one shot the monsters we’ll become. I tuck the canteen into Luba’s backpack. “Keep us on the road.”

“Hey, we just drowned a vovkulaka. One less demon. Let’s go to my house and celebrate. My parents are on some grieving retreat up the mountain. We have the place to ourselves. We can skinny-dip and binge eighties movies.”

“Can’t tonight.” Can’t and won’t ever step foot in her house again. I swallow hard. I couldn’t walk into their home, knowing I’m the reason her parents grieve. The others believe our captain took her own life when she turned. But I see Tetyana so clearly with my bolt in her chest, blood seeping through her shirt and the waves crashing below… Then nothing. Only stars over an endless ocean.

My phone vibrates. My stomach knots at the thought of it being from the infirmary. Inhaling a deep breath, I prepare for the worst. I never know if it will be the call—the one that says they turned off the haunting machine that mimics my mom’s breath. The healers need my permission, but I know they want her out. Same as they pushed me to the fringe, far from town and my old life. It’s funny how one can wake up and have everything and go to bed the same day with nothing at all.

I take a deep breath before swiping the message. The alcohol in my stomach churns when I read who it’s from.

“What’s wrong?” Luba asks.

“Professor Svitlana’s summoned me to the academy.”

“I’ll go in with you.”

“No need for us both to get punished.” I scan the trees, searching for spying drones.

Luba leans forward, peering toward the sky. “They didn’t see us drinking.”

“They’re looking for any reason to cite my ass. And I just gave them a reason.”

“Maybe they have an update on your mom?” She gives me a hopeful smile.

“I love your optimism, my friend, but we both know what it means when they call me in.” I should have known better than to drink. I shouldn’t have come at all. I could have faked a stomach bug. No one would blame me. I’m the girl whose mom stole shine, torched the labs then struck a match to our family home, all while she was busy driving an iron rod through her best friend’s sister. Oh, and maybe happened to catch her boyfriend cheating. Since that cursed night, I have had a permanent stomachache—a deep and gnarled knot in the pit of my gut that will never unwind.

My phone vibrates again.

“What now?” I huff under my breath.

Stay away from Valentyn, the message reads.

Seriously? I roll my eyes at Yeva’s drama. I’m about to reply with some choice emojis when I notice the number is unknown. Yeva would want me to know it’s her.

Who is this? I type.

Another message illuminates the screen.

The book didn’t burn.

My breath hitches. The book. A flash of flames flickers in my memories—lips sealed—secrets curling with smoke. My hand trembles over the screen. I’m not sure how to reply when the next message pops up.

I’ve read your secrets.