Kyle considered following Billy for a moment. After all, he didn’t trust the guy anymore. But Ethan sighed and sat down, and Charlotte said quietly, “Let him go. He’ll just drive us all crazy if he doesn’t get his nicotine fix.” She paused and looked around the room with an expression full of regret. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I never meant to put us in a bad position.”

“We know,” Paige said, and Kyle stared at her, surprised. There was no love lost between the two women. Neither of them had much respect for the other, and considering he’d heard Paige talk about how this was a lifelong dream of hers, Kyle couldn’t believe she was being so forgiving of Charlotte’s behavior. She continued, “You can’t really help it. You’ve always gotten whatever you wanted and never had any consequence for your actions. You’ve never had to think about anyone but yourself. So, I can’t really have expectations of you understanding how crucial it is to behave in a certain manner in a place like this.”

Kyle cringed internally. It wasn’t exactly a kind dismissal, and Charlotte immediately took offense.

“You don’t have to make it sound like I’m completely ignorant and selfish, especially when I’m trying to apologize for what damage my actions might have caused in your worlds. And no, I haven’t really had to work for my place here, but I’ve always believed in working smart and not hard. If you can find the easy way, why would you take the hard road?”

Paige scoffed. “When you have enough money to buy your way out of trouble, or to sway others, I can see how it would be difficult to learn the integrity involved in taking the more difficult path.”

“Your poverty doesn’t make you any better than me,” Charlotte argued, and Kyle shifted uncomfortably. This was escalating quickly.

Finally looking up from her phone, Paige sent a scathing sneer Charlotte’s direction. “Maybe not, but the choice to make my own way rather than spreading my legs for anyone who would plow the road for me does make me a better person.”

Charlotte looked like someone had just slapped her across the face, and he couldn’t blame her. While Paige was essentially correct, she’d basically just called Charlotte out as a slut. Those were fighting words in high school, and when tensions were high, he didn’t see it going any differently now.

A blood curdling scream filled the air, crushing the altercation before it began, and dread spread through Kyle’s chest and fed his veins, chilling him to the core. He looked toward the door, but he couldn’t move right away. “That sounds like Billy,” Charlotte whispered, curling in on herself once again.

Another cry in the night had Kyle jumping to his feet, Ethan at his side. “You two stay here,” Ethan told the girls as Paige started to rise. “We’ll check it out.”

Kyle wanted to argue. There was strength in numbers, and he didn’t like the idea of splitting up. Besides, they couldn’t keep their eyes on the girls and protect them if they separated. But he didn’t want to sound like a fool either. As much as he wanted to stay right here, hidden away where it felt safe, he took a deep breath and nodded to Ethan, a show of solidarity as Ethan pushed the door open.

The lights flickered, and Kyle froze again. Please don’t let the power go out, he thought, his heart pounding. He told himself this was all a bunch of bullshit, that Billy had set a trap for them to make them all feel like idiots. And when they found Billy, they’d beat the hell out of him for pulling a prank that terrified the girls and could potentially put them all at risk.

To his relief, the dim overhead lights remained on, and he and Ethan started down the hall. Earlier in the day, even after the party going in search of a sacrifice had left, the temple had teemed with monks, going about their business. Now, it felt deserted. If they had all taken to rest in their chambers or gone to offer up prayers or something, that made sense.

But he was under the impression the temple was guarded by at least a few men at all times. Tonight, it wasn’t just that he didn’t see any of the religious men wandering around. The place literally felt deserted, empty. He shivered and hedged quietly, “Something feels off. Wrong.”