Kill Switch (Devil's Night, #3)

by Penelope Douglas

Seeing something out of the corner of my eye, I look over my shoulder, seeing Banks standing there with my headphones in her hand. She looks from my mother on the floor—bloody and weak—to me, her eyes scared. I rush over, grab her hand, and run from the room. She doesn’t ask questions as I pull her down the stairs, through the house, and out the back doors, into the backyard. The moon casts a glow over the hedge maze, and we dive in, knowing our way well and finding the fountain immediately. We climb in and settle behind the water, just like I had done a thousand times before, only once with a girl other than my sister. Banks doesn’t ask me what happened or what I’m going to do. She knows not to talk in here. Reaching under the groove of the bowl above us, I dig out the silver barrette with pink crystals I hide there, and wrap my fist around it, remembering Winter Ashby’s words from so long ago in that fountain. Your body can only feel one pain at a time. She was right. I’ve found that to be true. But instead of hurting myself to mask pain with more pain, tonight I learned something else. Hurting others is just as effective.