38 pages • 1 hour read
Theo thinks this will be his last diary entry. He writes that it has been a happy day. He has never felt as at ease with anyone as he does with these four strangers, although he knows they will soon face horrors greater than he can imagine.
Theo drives up to a fallen trunk in the road, realizing that it is a trap just as Omegas with painted faces surround the car. The Painted Faces are ritual murderers who almost always kill only one person and let the others leave. The Painted Faces dance and chant, lighting torches. Theo exits the car to create a diversion, mimicking the Painted Faces’ dance movements while Rolf and Julian run into the nearby woods. Luke asks the Painted Faces to take him instead of Julian or Rolf, so the Omegas beat Luke to death, set the car on fire, and leave.
Theo wants to bury Luke’s body, but Rolf suddenly asks who the father of Julian’s baby is, and Julian admits that it’s Luke. After Miriam tells Theo that Julian is falling in love with Theo, he and Julian talk. Theo is relieved that the child is not Rolf’s.
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