“No, it’s not. Fuck off, Ayaz. I don’t have to do anything with you or for you.”
“Just open the door.”
The desperation in his voice chilled me. What could make Ayaz lose his cool like that? I had to know, but that didn’t mean I was going to trust him. I pulled the piece of glass out from beneath my mattress and held it in my hand as I shoved the wardrobe aside and opened the door a crack.
Ayaz stood in the hall, holding an old-fashioned lantern with a flickering flame inside. He smirked at the glass in my hand. “You going to give me a haircut with that puny thing? Come on.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You will if you want to live through the night.”
What?
I reeled at his words. “Is that a threat?”
“Nope. A promise.” He held up a lantern, the flames flickering over his muscled torso. “But not from me. We’ve got to be quick. They’re coming for you.”
“Ayaz, what’s this about? Who’s coming for me, Courtney? Is this the big prank you and the guys have been working on, because…”
My words died in my throat as Ayaz lifted the lantern, illuminating his features. Something burned in his eyes that I’d never seen before. Fear.
Ayaz, one of the rulers of the school, was truly afraid. Of what, I didn’t know. But it sure as fuck wasn’t me.
I stepped back and slid the glass into my skirt pocket. I yanked a hoodie off the end of my bed and pulled it over his shirt. “Fine. But one false move from you and I’ll cut your pretty face.”
“That seems fair.” He tapped his foot impatiently while I pulled on leggings and sneakers. I looped my arm in his and he led me down to the storage room, threw open the mirror door, and climbed inside the secret passage. “Come on.”
“Is it another party?”
“There is a party, but you’re not invited. Come on.” He gave my arm an impatient tug, the fear rising in his voice. He wrapped his long body around the wall and shoved me ahead of him, probably to stop me from running back to my room.
“I can’t see a thing,” I complained.
“Here.” Ayaz shoved the lantern into my hands. I held it up, watching the flames dance along the bare stone walls. My ears rang as I remembered flames leaping out of the windows of our apartment building as the heat exploded the glass, licking at the fire escape the way any touch from the Kings sent heat coursing through my veins. Fire destroyed my family. Fire turned this school into a funeral pyre. Fire made me want my bullies. Fire followed me everywhere, burning my life to ashes.
Is that… my gaze flicked to a thin vein running through the stone – an iridescent light my eyes couldn’t quite focus on, that was gone as quickly as it appeared. It looked just like the veins in the cavern I saw in my dream.
But that couldn’t be possible, because it was a dream. That cavern wasn’t a real place.
Ayaz nudged me in the back. “Faster. We’ve got to get out before they know you’re missing.”
“Who’s they? Trey and Quinn?” Was Ayaz trying to rescue me from what the others had planned? That might make sense. After all, he was in my position once, the victim of the games the Kings and Queens liked to play. Maybe he felt they had gone too far. He had given me that warning about Trey at the party, even though it was as good as useless in the end.
“I’ll explain it all, I promise. But not now. Go, go!”
I ducked low and scrambled out of the cave. Salty wind blew up from the ocean, biting my face as it roared along the cliffs. I hugged my arms, glad I’d thought to put on the hoodie.
Ayaz pointed down the path. “Go.”
I picked my way along the path I’d traveled with Quinn only a few weeks ago, hugging the side of the cliff. After a few minutes, we emerged into the flat terrace where the party had been held. Only this time there was no music or laughter or clinking of glasses, no students making out between the crumbling pillars or bobbing in the steamy grotto. I listened hard, but couldn’t even hear an owl or other night creature. Only the steady crash of the waves.
“Quickly. Down here. They’re waiting.” Ayaz gestured to the edge of the cliff. I was about to tell him to fuck off, I wasn’t getting that close to the edge with him, when I noticed the narrow set of steps carved into the rock.
“What’s down there?” I demanded.
“Your way out.”
My knees locked. This is it. I’d gone this far trusting Ayaz’s vague warnings. If he thinks I’ll walk down the precarious steps of doom without answers, he can eat a bag of dicks.
I backed away from the ledge. “Hell no.”
Ayaz must’ve sensed that I’d come as far as I could, because he grabbed my hand, twisting me so I had to look into his eyes. There was a wildness there, a panic that was so completely out of character it gave me pause. “Look, Hazel. Courtney and Tillie and the others… they’re going to do something to you tonight. It’s really awful, and we can’t stop them. So we’re getting you out of here.”
He blinked, his eyes darting away. He’s lying to me. Maybe not about the danger, but definitely about where it was coming from.
“Why should I trust you?” I demanded. “You’re lying to me right now.”
Ayaz rolled his eyes at the sky, as if begging for strength. When he spoke again, his voice was softer than I’d ever heard it. ‘You’re right. We’ve given you absolutely no reason to trust us. You’re right about a lot of things, Hazel. We should never have let you leave the way you did. You hit a nerve with those things you said.”
“I… did?”
He nodded. “I can’t speak for the other two, but you’re got me pegged. Judging by the way Trey went all quiet and Quinn was pissed as hell, I think you nailed them, too. So yeah, maybe some poor girl from the gutter knows us better than we know ourselves, and maybe that same girl is in some serious danger and we want to help her. Now, will you hurry up and move, because there’s a chance they might look for you out here.”
Far below, waves smashed against the cliffs. Salt spray misted the steps. I held the lantern out in front of me, using my other arm to steady myself on the cliff, and stepped down.
I moved slowly, because the steps were narrow and slippery from sea spray, and the lantern only illuminated a small circle in front of me. The trees overhead sheltered the staircase from the moon as it curved around the cliff. I peered up, but couldn’t see anything through the thick branches.
“Here she comes,” a voice called up from the gloom. Quinn. My stomach tightened again. I was down here alone with the three Kings. The only thing I had on me for protection was that piece of glass. If they did something to me, no one would find me.
I should have told Greg where I was going. Fuck.
I yelped as something grazed my arm. A warm hand curled around my arm. “Watch out,” Trey said. “That last step is a big one.”
My foot slipped on wet rock and I fell into Trey’s arms. He gathered me up and steadied me while I caught my breath. I held up the lantern and stared into the gloom. “Where are we?”
From what little I could see, we were in a tiny bay, sheltered from the worst of the wind by the protruding cliffs and from above by the thick, bent trees and a rock overhang. Waves crashed against the rocks, soaking my jeans and sneakers. A few feet from Trey stood Quinn, holding a rope that tethered a small rowboat to a thick tree.
Ayaz jumped down beside me. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I heard you cry out.”
“I slipped. Trey caught me.” I stated those facts like they were nothing, like my body wasn’t on fire from being in Trey’s arms.
“Okay, good. Get in the boat.”
“Huh?”
Ayaz reached behind a rock and pulled out a backpack. He unzipped it and showed me inside. Some sandwiches and chicken from lunch and dinner, a few brownies, all wrapped in pages torn from his exercise books. “There’s water in here, as well as a flashlight and a first aid kit. And some money in a waterproof pouch. About five hundre
d in cash. I just hope it’ll be enough until we can get you more.”
“Enough for what? What’s going on?”
“Put your arms up,” Trey commanded. When I didn’t comply, he grabbed my wrists and jerked my arms in the air, pulling a wet, cold life jacket over my shoulders and buckling it at the waist.
“Seriously, why am I wearing this?” I growled.
“Because you’re getting in that boat and you’re rowing as far from Derleth Academy as you can get,” Trey said, like I was the one being difficult. “Now, get in.”
“Hell no.”
“Hazy—”
“Don’t ‘Hazy’ me like I’m being unreasonable,” I stepped back. “This is crazy. It’s downright ludicrous.”
“What’s ludicrous is you not following simple instructions.”
“Simple, is it? Just casually row my way to shore even though I’ve never even been on a boat? I come from Philly, not fucking Martha’s Vineyard. The water’s rough out there. I’ll be dashed against the cliffs in minutes. And you haven’t even told me what I’m escaping from.”
“From Courtney and the Queens—” Trey started.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. What could they possibly be planning that’s so bad I have to risk my life in order to avoid it? If it’s so awful, why don’t you just report it to a teacher? Why all this skullduggery cloak-and-dagger stuff—”
“Because the teachers are part of it,” Ayaz growled.
The air left my lungs with a whoosh. I staggered back against the steps.
“I don’t believe you,” I whispered.
The robes, the shadows, Headmistress West’s face as she checked the dormitories before their staff meeting. The glowing star in the gymnasium floor.
“Yes, you do.” Trey loomed over me. “Get in the boat, Hazel. It’s your only chance.”
“Trey will go with you,” Quinn added. “He’ll do most of the work. He’s captain of the rowing team.”
“Of course he is,” I muttered.
Trey bent down, rolling up the legs of his uniform trousers. He stepped into the water, wincing as the cold slammed into him. He steadied himself on the edge of the boat and swung his leg over. Water lapped against the sides as the boat rocked dangerously.
Turning to face me, Trey held out a hand to me. “I’ll help you,” he said.
Three faces looked at me in the gloom – desperate, frightened, expectant. And suddenly, the full force of what they were asking me to do slammed into me. Every rotten thing they had done to me slammed against my skull. All the times they’d tried to break me. My hand flew to my throat as I remembered the squeeze of Trey’s fingers as he held me out over the cliff.
They were asking me to trust them, but I couldn’t. They had already taken so much from me; I wasn’t about to let them take my one shot at a better life, too.
I lifted the lantern, spun around, and fled back up the stairs. Tears burned in the corners of my eyes, but I didn’t know why I was crying. I scrambled up, up, and away from them as fast as I could.
“No, Hazel. Come back!”
The climb up was faster – I used the steps above me as a hold while I scrambled as fast as I could. My throat burned. My eyes stung with bitter tears. But I didn’t turn around, didn’t look back. I reached the top of the staircase and stumbled onto solid ground. Wild with fear, I spun in all directions. Where to go, what to do? At any moment Ayaz would reach the top of the staircase and—
I took a step toward the tunnel, but changed my mind. They’d expect me to go that way. And it would just take me back to the school, where some other horror awaited me. No, I needed to hide out here. If I could wait it out until morning then I could walk down to the village, call the police, tell them that some boys at Derleth Academy tried to kill me. Let’s see their parents cover up the scandal I’m about to unleash.
I took off in the other direction, sliding over the damp rocks on the edge of the grotto until I dropped down on the narrow path that led down into the trees, down toward the cemetery.
My feet slid out from under me as I scrambled for cover. Please don’t let them see me. Please let them go to the cave so I can get away.
“Hazel, where are you?”
They were close, too close, walking around by the grotto. I poured on speed, my chest heaving as I entered the trees, my boots crunching in the dead leaves.
“I see her!”
Damn, I was hoping the trees would hide the lantern. I should have thrown it away but… but I couldn’t be out here, alone, in the dark. I needed the light. I needed the fire.
They all shouted my name as they scrambled over the grotto. I heard leaves skidding over the ground. Trey cursed. I gulped back my fear and sprinted ahead. In front of me loomed the metal gate of the cemetery. I grabbed the latch and yanked. It lifted surprisingly easily, and I staggered backwards.
“No, Hazel, don’t go in there.”
I don’t have to listen to you, Trey Bloomberg. You may be King of Derleth Academy, but I’m nobody’s servant.
I grabbed the gate and pulled, throwing myself through it into the cemetery beyond. Small, crumbling stones rose from piles of dead leaves. There was no path, just lines of graves all facing the ocean, bending around the slope as they followed the contours of the hill.
I skittered across the top, thinking that if I could somehow circle back without the guys noticing me, I would make my way down the road until I got to the town. That was miles and miles of walking in the dark, but I’d rather that then get in that deathboat or face whatever was waiting for me at the school.
“Hazel.”
The gates hinges creaked. Shit, they were faster than I thought. The lantern was giving my position away, but if I let go of it, I’d be running blind along these cliffs and that was bound to kill me faster than they would.
Move downhill, through the trees. Get below the cliff and they won’t see the lantern. Wait until they leave.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pumped my arms and skidded down the slope, passing through the rows of graves as I plunged toward the treeline. If I could reach it, I could clamber down the rocks and hide under one of the overhangs until the guys got tired of looking for me.
My chest burned as I poured on speed. Almost there. Almost—
My foot caught on a low headstone. I fell hard, my knee slamming into the stone. Pain arced up my leg. The lantern fell from my hand and bounced across the ground. The fire inside flickered but didn’t go out.
No, no, no…
“Shit. She’s down!”
“Hazel, are you okay?” Voices called from the top of the slope. Feet shuffled toward me through the leaves.
I moaned, rolling over and clutching my knee. Fuck, fuck. I could hear the guys calling my name. I tried to put weight on my leg, but my knee collapsed.
I crawled through the dead leaves and grabbed the lantern, holding it up so I could see them coming, three shadows looming down on me. “Get away from me!” I screamed, swinging the lantern back. I’ll throw it as soon as they got close.
Heat rushed down my arm toward the lantern, and the flames flared higher, wrapping around my arm without touching my skin, without burning me.
Whoa, what is that? How did I do that?
The flames seemed to tug at me, pulling my arm around, swinging the beam of the lantern across the graveyard. I squeezed my muscles to stop my arm moving, but it kept going. I wasn’t in control any more.
My arm jerked to a stop. The lantern light fell on the gravestone in front of me, dancing over the words carved there.
AYAZ DEMIR.
Huh?
“Hazel!” Quinn’s voice drew my attention from the stone.
Don’t get distracted by an old grave. It’s probably just one of Ayaz’s ancestors. Quinn said the graveyard was filled with alumni—
But it can’t be. Ayaz was a scholarship student, like me. None of his family attended the school. So how was there a grave here with his name on it?
I
swung my lantern around until the beam caught the stone next to it, illuminating a border of four-leaf clovers and a name:
QUINN DELACORTE, BELOVED SON.
My blood froze in my veins as I swung the lantern again. Next to Quinn’s stood another stone – this one tall and grand. Thick weeds obscured the writing. I dug the glass sherd from my pocket and hacked them away, revealing an elaborate carving of a winged skeleton over the name of the deceased.
VINCENT FRANCIS BLOOMBERG THE THIRD
(TREY)
A boot slammed down into the dirt, obscuring my view of the grave. Ayaz. The lantern picked up the fire in his eyes. Trey and Quinn pulled up behind him, their mouths open in horror as they saw where I was pointing the lantern.
“You saw,” Ayaz growled.
“Saw what?” I cried, cold creeping through my veins. “I don’t understand!”
“You saw the stones,” he said. “You know that Quinn, Trey and I are dead. We’re all dead.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Secrets. Lies. Sacrifice. Find out what happens next in book 2 of the Kings of Miskatonic Prep, Initiated.
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From the Author
She is nine years old. Two girls at her school pretend to be her friends, but mock her and humiliate her behind her back. She confronts them one day, tells them she’s sorry if she’d done something to upset them.
“I just want us all to be friends,” she says.
Their faces break into smiles. “That’s what we want, too!”
One of them says she has something awesome to show the others. “We just found it!” She drags the girl behind the school hall. “You’ll love it.” She tells the girl to bend down and look under the hall.
As the girl bends over, a hand grabs the back of her neck, forcing her head down. She twists away, but not before her face is pushed into a pile of dog shit.
Shunned: a reverse harem bully romance (Kings of Miskatonic Prep Book 1) Page 21