Unhinged

by Chani Lynn Feener

  “What, the Sarah thing?” Becca asked with a shrug. “Sometime before four this morning. Why?”

  “Just wondering. Is she ok?”

  “Broken leg, a few busted ribs, and a broken arm,” this time Brodie answered. “But they say she’ll live.”

  She nodded her thanks then swiveled back around in her seat. She’d been back in her room by three-thirty this morning. That gave Hadrian plenty of time to make it into town and freak out one of their classmates enough that she’d willingly jump in front of a moving vehicle.

  Would he do that though? Did he? Planting a picture of the Devil on her was one thing, but someone had gotten physically hurt here. Sarah could have died. In fact, it was sort of a miracle that she hadn’t, all things considered.

  The more she thought about it the more it didn’t make sense. If Hadrian were trying to get back at her for her cruel comments last night, then why would he pick Sarah of all people? It wasn’t like the two of them were close, or even friends for that matter. She hadn’t even spoken to the girl since last semester before Micah’s death.

  Really, she hadn’t spoken to very many people, Quinn and Syd pretty much being it. He knew that, had no doubt figured it out for himself at lunch the other day. Wasn’t it safe to assume then that if he were trying to get back at her, he would have attacked one of her actual friends?

  Unless the goal hadn’t been to really hurt her, but just wound her. Maybe a warning that got taken a little too far? If he’d just meant to scare Sarah enough that she’d talk about in class the next day...that would be plausible.

  She needed to ask him, find out for sure. If he’d actually done it, why wouldn’t he tell her the truth? It’s not like he cared what her opinion of him was.

  She made up her mind that that’s what she’d do, just come right out and ask him point blank. But then the bell rang, and the rest of the class came pouring in without Hadrian among them.

  She kept checking the clock, expecting him to arrive at any moment, fashionably late. But fifteen minutes went by, and then thirty, and then sixty and the bell was ringing once more to signal the end to first period. Still no sign of him.

  The rest of her classes seemed to drag on, with her counting down the minutes until lunch where she hoped she would find him sitting at their usual table. She tried to convince herself it was dread she felt and not disappointment when she got there and found him absent again.

  “Where’s your friend?” Syd asked before she could fully slide onto the bench. Her blonde head bobbed as she tried to peer over her shoulder, searching the crowds for him.

  That’s what I’d like to know, she thought, but kept it to herself.

  Out loud she said, “Got me. He wasn’t in class earlier.”

  “Not in P.E either,” Quinn chimed in.

  That caught her off guard. “You have P.E with him?”

  “Yeah,” she lifted her slice of cheese pizza to her mouth. “Third period. I didn’t tell you?”

  No, she most certainly had not.

  “Do you have any classes with him?” she asked Syd.

  “Alas, no,” she heaved a dramatic sigh, lifting her forearm to her forehead in the process. “How did I end up being the less fortunate here? I want to be able to gaze longingly at the yumminess that is Hadrian Hale, instead of paying attention to my teachers drone on about things that don’t matter to me.”

  “You say that about every guy you think is even remotely cute,” Quinn pointed out.

  “True.” Syd shrugged and began eating. “What can I say? I’m easy.”

  “How easy we talking?”

  Spencer glanced up as Ferris approached the table. He dropped down next to her, stealing a pepperoni off her slice of pizza. She would have protested, if she hadn’t been so worried over why he was visiting.

  Syd batted her long lashes. “Hey! They let you back on school grounds again! How do you convince them to do that? Pretend to be a student or something?

  He flashed her a grin. “Or something.”

  “Well, what’s up, Charlie?” Quinn asked.

  “Actually,” he sobered some. “I’m here to deliver a message to Spencer.”

  This was it. He was either going to tell her that Hadrian had attacked Sarah, or that he no longer wanted anything to do with her and the deal was off. Either way her hopes and dreams were shattered.

  “Ooo,” Syd said, “from who?”

  “He doesn’t want to see you,” Ferris told her, completely ignoring Sydney, “for a few nights.”

  “What about the—” she struggled to steady her voice. “What about our agreement?”

  “He didn’t say anything about that,” he gave her a sheepish look. “Just that you shouldn’t plan for any trips for a while.”

  “But I need to talk to him, it’s important.” At least he wasn’t completely telling her to go screw herself, which was something. Still, she really needed to know if he had anything to do with Sarah’s…accident.

  “Sorry, no can do. I’ve been given strict orders not to ferry you across, even if you argued.”

  “He said I’d argue?”

  “He warned me you would.”

  “How long is a few nights?”

  Ferris held out his hands. He didn’t know.

  “Wait,” Quinn cut in. “Who doesn’t want to see her?”

  “Forget that,” Syd added. “Who are you seeing in the first place, Spencer? And why didn’t you tell us about him?”

  Recognizing the hurt in her friends’ tone, she quickly reached across the table and griped Sydney’s hand. “It’s not like that. I’m not seeing anyone. Hadrian and I—”

  “You and Hadrian?!”

  “No! I mean, well, yes, but no!”

  “You’re not really making any sense, Spence,” Quinn told her.

  “He and I are just partners for class. We’re working on this project for Mr. Kemmer, that’s all.”

  “I didn’t know he’d assigned a project.” Syd frowned, but underneath that it was clear she wasn’t buying into her story.

  “It’s extra credit,” Spencer rushed on. “On Greek myth. Apparently Hadrian knows a lot about the subject, and we wanted to get a jump start building up our grade for the semester.”

  The Ferryman grunted, obviously finding her lie amusing, but he didn’t interject.

  She wanted to ask him more questions. Wanted to demand that he take her to see Hadrian right away. Then again, another part of her, probably the more sane rational part, didn’t want to risk pissing off a god any more than she no doubt already had.

  He wanted to take a few days off? Fine. The space would do her good. Especially because she wouldn’t have to worry about him taking over her school anymore. And she could spend her nights with the person that actually mattered to her.

  Micah.

  So why had that inkling of disappointment from this morning grown since Ferris’s message?

  Chapter 13:

  Two days.

  He’d missed two days of school and she was down two trips for their deal. Not that attending school was probably high on a gods list of things to do.

  It shouldn’t have mattered to her anyway; it meant that she actually got some time to process the events of the week so far. She’d met a Reaper, gone to the Underworld, and hung out with Hades. All of that should terrify her, or in the least, freak her out a little. But it actually did the opposite.

  Before the accident, the last overly adventurous thing she’d done was sneak out of the house for one of Syd’s parties.

  And she’d seriously just compared going to the Underworld to sneaking out for a party. Hadrian might have something to do with Sarah’s accident, though even the police had written the whole thing off to a drug-induced delusion. It had been all over school yesterday that Sarah had in fact been tripping during the event.

  “It’s Saturday and you’re ditching me,” Micah complained from where he sat at her desk chair on the other side of the room.

  Spen
cer tugged a yellow dress from her closet, noting that it stopped a few inches too high above her knees, and tossed it onto the growing pile in the center of her bed.

  “Are you forgetting that you’re the one who told me I should go?” she asked with a playful roll of her green eyes. “What happened to, ‘Syd’s our friend and you need to start treating her like it again’, hmmm?”

  “Ugh,” he groaned and tipped the seat so that his head was all the way back, giving him a great view of the ceiling. “Alright, fine. You got me.”

  “Baby, we are long since passed that.” She winked, pulling out a red dress this time.

  “I think I’m just a little jealous, you know? You get to go out and party and I…” he made an explosion motion with his hands.

  Her good mood vanished.

  “I’ll stay.” When she turned to put the dress back into the closet he flashed next to her, reaching out to stop her.

  “Don’t. I’m sorry I said anything. It wasn’t cool,” he told her. “I want you to go. Have some fun, daisy. It’s been a while. Besides, now that you don’t have to go you know where, you should enjoy yourself. Just not too much. The world might think your boyfriend’s gone, but you and I both know better.”

  “It’s not forever,” she reminded him. “I will eventually have to go back to the Underworld.”

  Micah kept his mouth closed and held up both arms in a show of surrender. They’d been fighting over this for days now, and it seemed like finally he was ready to concede and accept that she was doing this no matter what his opinion of it was.

  They both knew that secretly he wanted it too. He wanted to be alive again. She saw his longing on his face every time he brought up his mother.

  “I still have to pick something and change,” she said then. “Why don’t you go visit home while I’m still here and you can?”

  It must be hard for him, having to divide his time between seeing her and checking in on his mom. He worried about her all alone in that big house now, with no one to care for.

  “Are you sure?” He frowned.

  “Yeah,” she waved her hand, “go.”

  He hesitated for a second, but then smiled and vanished.

  With a heavy sigh, she turned back to her closet. She’d all but emptied it by this point, and there were only two options left. One was black—and what she’d worn to Micah’s funeral. That left one.

  Of course, the downside to the remaining dress was the color. It was a deep cobalt blue with a straight skirt that stopped just above her knees, and long sleeves made of lace. Yes, it was gorgeous and Micah had loved it, but it also reminded her of eyes that could switch from light to dark in a matter of seconds. And the boy they belonged to.

  She took a deep determined breath. Who cared that the color was the same as Hadrian’s eyes? It wasn’t like she was going to see him tonight anyway. She doubted he was going to be there, seeing as how he’d been avoiding her since their fight.

  Before she could change her mind, she quickly got ready for the party, pairing the blue dress with white lace up booties and a short white leather jacket. She slipped on light blue earrings to finish the outfit off and headed downstairs.

  Swiping her car keys off the coffee table, she shouted a goodbye to her parents and then exited into the chilling night air. It didn’t take her long to get to Syd’s house; only about fifteen minutes, and then she was pulling in and finding a parking spot among dozens of cars already there.

  Her house was big enough to fit three of Spencer’s in it, with a pool and a separate pool house in the way back. There were three floors, plus a basement; over five bedrooms, a study, a parlor, a game room…the list went on and on. They’d used to joke that the only thing the place was lacking was a ballroom.

  Inside the party was already in full swing, with some techno beat playing through the loud speakers her dad had bought in order to make communicating in the mansion simpler for its three inhabitants before the divorce. The place usually smelled like lemon wood cleaning solution, but now the scent of sweat and alcohol over crowded it.

  It was packed and she had to squeeze her way by groups of people who were clustered around the archways leading into different rooms. It wasn’t until she reached the center of the living room that she found her two best friends, smiling when they waved her over enthusiastically.

  “You’re here!” Syd practically leapt into her arms. “I’m so glad you’re actually here!”

  “She’s a little drunk,” Quinn filled her in, lifting her own red solo cup in the air to emphasize.

  “Already?” Spencer pretended to be disappointed, wrapping her arm around Sydney to help keep her up.

  “Pre-party jitters. Insisted the only way to get rid of them was to start drinking early.”

  “You still use that?” she shook her head.

  “Hey,” Syd said, “it works.”

  “At least you’re not slurring words yet.” She took a better look around, scanning the room and taking note of all the familiar faces. Last semester this had been her scene, packed in a crowded room with more people than she could count or speak to in one night.

  She loved the feeling, the intensity, of being surrounded by so much…well, life. Their energy was infectious, and she found that even now the more she watched the laughter and the dancing, the more she got into it.

  This hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

  “Great party, Benson.” Brodie approached. “Sarah’s gonna be so pissed she missed it.” He tilted his chin towards Spencer. “Perry, nice to see you out and about. Was beginning to think you spent all of your time locked in your room worshiping the Devil or something.”

  “What?” For a moment she was confused and then it hit her. “Actually that photo wasn’t mine. I don’t know how it got there.”

  “Sure, whatever.” He didn’t even try to sound believable.

  Spencer let it go. “I just got here. What have I missed so far?”

  “Tons of crazy,” he told her grinning. “You would have loved seeing this one,” he wrapped an arm around Quinn’s shoulders, “basically murder Pat and Tucker at beer pong.”

  The group grew silent, and he cleared his throat the second he realized his slip-up. Before he could apologize for it however, she took over the conversation once more.

  “That’s awesome. You and Tuck actually still owe me a rematch, remember?”

  “Um, yeah,” he cleared this throat. “But, um, who’s gonna be your partner?”

  “It would be a pleasure.”

  Spencer started at the sound of Hadrian’s voice. Her heart seemed to speed up when she found him stepping out of the crowd, seemingly appearing out of thin air as he did so.

  Had he been here the whole time?

  “I’ve never played before,” he went on, stopping right before her, “so I make no promises about my skill level.”

  “Sold,” Brodie jumped at that, motioning for the two of them to follow him before turning and heading for the open archway that led down the hall. He didn’t even bother waiting to see if they’d follow or not.

  Of course, everyone did, including Quinn and Syd who threw expectant looks over their shoulders as they went.

  She remained where she was, shuffling her feet uncomfortably as she watched them walk away. This wasn’t happening. She’d come here to have fun, not deal with whatever he was here for.

  “Shall we, Spencer?” he asked, his voice dropping an octave or two so that it suddenly sounded like he was suggesting more than just beer pong.

  “I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

  “Don’t be such a Debbie Downer,” he pressed. “I thought you were supposed to be fun.”

  Her head whipped towards him. “Who said I was fun?”

  Clearly knowing that he’d gotten her attention, he shrugged, the left corner of his mouth turning up slightly. “I may have asked around a bit. The people here seem to think they know you quite well. Honestly, I’m not really sure I should believe all that I’
ve heard. I’m thinking most of it is probably more hearsay than actual fact.”

  “Really?” She cocked her head. “And why is that exactly?”

  He huddled conspiratorially, even glancing around them as if to make sure no one was listening in. “Well for starters, many of them refer to you as the life of the party. I’m pretty sure the term ‘It girl’ was actually used. Someone even went so far as to say that you were more fun than Syd at these sorts of things. There was mention of a time you climbed a thirty foot gate after breaking into one of her neighbor’s yards…?”

  Hadrian was staring at her, waiting for her response and she licked her lips. She’d never been embarrassed of her past before, but now it all seemed sort of childish. He was a god, and she was a high school girl who used to party too much. Not that she’d get trashed or anything, she was too obsessed with self control for that, but she’d been drunk on more than one occasion.

  “To set the record straight,” she finally said, “the only reason I was even in Mr. Harvey’s yard was because Syd had pissed off some girl who’d then tossed her favorite pink clutch over the gate. She was too gone to get it herself, and I lost nose-goes so… Like usual, though, everyone had failed to mention the very large, very loud pitbull. I had to scramble back up the gate because I was too panicked to work my way through the bars like I’d originally done to get in.”

  “Was the dog trying to bite you?” he asked.

  “Not really.”

  “Then why did you run? He probably just wanted to play.”

  She doubted it. “Not worth the risk.”

  “Risk?” he was obviously laughing at her inside. Then his eyes narrowed before breaking out into a full grin. “You’re afraid of dogs, aren’t you, Spencer?”

  “So what if I am?” She stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. Which was clearly a mistake, because it drew his attention to the low neckline of her dress. He must have also noticed the color of it because his eyes took on a slight glimmer.

  It was crazy, but for a second she thought he might want to kiss her. He was leaning in closer, and his gaze had moved to her mouth with such intensity it was hard not to wonder what exactly was running through his mind.