Chapter TWENTY-SIX-AVERY

Something was wrong.

I could feel it hanging in the air like a bad smell, thick and unsettling. And no, it wasn’t the barn animal poop making me scrunch my nose.

This was something else. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

But it made my skin prickle and my stomach twist into tight, uneasy knots.

After Dante had come into the animal enclosure they’d set up inside the barn for Rosie’s party, leading her present, a beautiful brown pony named Trixie, with pink ribbons braided into her silky mane, he’d kissed me on the cheek and said he needed to check on something.

“I’ll be back before the party starts,” he promised, flashing me that reassuring smile of his.

That had been ten minutes ago.

Now, Rosie was busy fussing over Trixie, her little hands stroking the pony’s neck and adjusting the ribbons like she was preparing her for a beauty pageant.

Jed, bless his heart, was right there with her.