by Sarra Cannon
“Will you be alright here for just a second while I try to figure out where I need to line up for the Senior court?” Drake asked.
“Sure,” I said.
Foster and Drake took off, leaving Brooke and I standing together near the entryway. We'd gotten to the gym early because both the guys and Brooke were all on what PHS called the “Senior Court.” It was a group of six girls and six guys from the senior class who had been voted as having the most contribution to the school. Basically, it ended up as a collection of the most popular people in the senior class.
Brooke was pulled away by a few girls I didn't really recognize, and I was left standing alone near the punch bowl. My confidence wavered slightly. I walked to the snack table and looked at the goodies, but after eating so much Italian food at dinner, none of it looked appetizing. Across the room, someone laughed loudly and I turned to see who it was. A group of younger boys, maybe freshman, were running up and down the bleachers, acting crazy. I shook my head.
I wished they'd start some music or something. The place was too quiet without it. The boys on the bleachers shouted again and on instinct I turned back to see what they were up to. That's when I saw the strange figure.
The person was standing in the shadows by the back door to the gym. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but I knew they were staring at me. Studying me. A wave of dizziness washed over me. What were the Others doing here at the dance?
“We found it,” Drake said. I jumped at the sound of his voice. “You okay?”
I looked back toward the door, but the figure was gone. “Yeah,” I said. “I'm fine.”
Drake grabbed my hand and led me to the side of the gym where the Senior Court had gathered behind a wall of blue gauzy fabric. “Wow, your hands are freezing,” he said.
And no matter how much I tried to warm them, they stayed cold for the rest of the night.
It didn't take long for the gym to fill up with students, parents and alumni. For the opening presentation, Clara Summers made a speech about the importance of coming home and celebrating your roots after you find success in the outside world. Governor Davis talked about how she married her high school sweetheart and that forty years ago, their first date was the Homecoming dance her sophomore year. Alice Kensington, a tall brunette who graduated six years ago and now lived in Iraq working for the US Embassy, gave a short presentation about a program she was running over there.
It amazed me just how much Peachville's influence spread across the world. Women in power all over the state and even the world? It sent a strange tingle across my skin. It would be one thing if these women had accomplished these things on their own merit, but I knew better. Their beauty and charisma came from a supernatural source. A demon, torn from its world against its will, was the only reason for their power. And now, they wanted to use me to make them even more powerful. I was certain these women would do whatever they had to in order to make me accept their Order.
There was a part of me that wanted to just accept my fate. At least I would be a leader as the Prima. Wouldn't that afford me some freedom? Plus, I would have all kinds of knowledge and power at my fingertips. I could make a difference in the world.
But there was a much stronger voice inside that knew I had to fight against what they were trying to do to me.
“It's our turn,” Drake whispered. His breath was warm against the side of my face, but I couldn't shake the chill of fear that had been following me all night.
Mayor Chen introduced the seniors on the court one at a time. When they called Drake's name, I looped my arm in his and we stepped into the spotlight. Mayor Chen listed Drake's accomplishments as we walked. I noticed his parents sitting on the front row of bleachers, their faces beaming with pride.
“As quarterback of the Demons football team, Drake has taken our home team to a record 10 consecutive wins. He is also an honor student. Drake often spends his weekends volunteering at the local nursing home. He plans to attend the University of Georgia in the fall on a full football scholarship. Let's hear a round of applause for our Demons quarterback, Drake Ashworth.”
The crowd cheered as we made our way to the end of the row of seniors. I studied their faces, looking for the hooded figure I had seen earlier. Instead, my gaze landed on Jackson Hunt. He was leaning against the doorway near the ticket table, and when our eyes met, he lowered his head in a slight nod.
My mind went back to the conversation I'd overheard between him and Morgyn Baker in the garden the night before. He had told her he didn't want her to come tonight, but why? Did he have the same sense of icy fear that I'd had all night?
After the court walked in and the speeches were finished, the lights dimmed and the DJ started with some hip hop and a light show. Most of the parents and alumni left, and the students slowly made their way onto the dance floor. My silver shoes lasted about two dances before I kicked them off near the bleachers and decided to go barefoot.
I tried to let loose and just have fun, but my eyes kept moving toward the back door. With the main lights turned off, there were so many dark corners it made me nervous. Every time I turned my back on the shadows, I felt eyes on me. About an hour and a half into the dance, a rush of nausea hit me like a punch in the stomach. I doubled over in pain and had to put my hand on Drake's arm to steady myself.
“Are you alright?”
“I don't know,” I said. I couldn't tell him the truth. He would think I was insane for worrying about dark figures and a group of witches who might be out to get me. “I think maybe I ate too much. I'm sure it's nothing. I'm just going to go to the restroom for a minute, but I'll be right back.”
The fluorescent lights in the bathroom buzzed and flickered. Even after all the dancing, my hair and makeup looked flawless and fresh, but inside I felt like a mess. Maybe I could tell Drake I had food poisoning and convince him to take me home early. I wasn't sure how much more of this night I could handle.
Out in the gym there was a break in the music. The silence was brief, but pronounced. Then, someone screamed. A terrifying, hit-you-in-your-gut kind of scream that echoed through the entire gym. My stomach tightened and my breath caught in my throat.
I ran out into the gym, knowing this was the moment I'd been dreading all evening. What I saw would haunt me for the rest of my life. Jackson Hunt knelt on the cold gym floor. His hands and face were covered in blood and he clutched a girl's limp body in his arms. I gasped and stepped forward. Students ran in all directions, fleeing from the red pool that snaked and slithered across the slick surface of the floor.
The black lace of Morgyn Baker's dress was drenched in crimson. As I rushed toward them, I saw she had been pierced through the heart with a silver dagger. Her eyes were closed, and her body was lifeless and still. Jackson slowly rocked her back and forth as if he were trying to rock her to sleep.
Movement in the shadows caught my eye and as I looked toward the dark back corner of the gym, the hooded figure stared coldly back at me, then turned and fled into the night.
I Just Know
The paramedics had to practically pry Jackson's arms from Morgyn's cold, dead body. They placed her into a black plastic body bag and zipped it up, then the police came in for Jackson. I watched in horror as they stood him up and put him in handcuffs.
Drake pushed through the sea of students to stand by my side. “What the hell happened?”
I could only shake my head. The police were arresting Jackson like they thought he was a murderer. Didn't they see the way he was cradling her body? A killer wouldn't do that. They should be searching for whoever did this horrible thing. What if they hurt someone else?
“I knew that guy was a freak,” he mumbled. He tried to take my hand in his, but I yanked it away, then crossed my arms in front of my chest, suddenly feeling cold and empty. “Hey, what's your problem?”
I stopped listening to him. It felt as though I were under water. Everything moved so slow. The sounds around me were distorted.
Before Jackson was pulled away, he turned and looked straight into my eyes. His sorrow and fear pierced through me like the silver knife that had been stuck through Morgyn's body. His eyes pleaded with me, as if I were the only one who would understand.
But I didn't understand any of it. How had he known something bad was going to happen tonight? I wanted to ask him about the dark figure who had killed Morgyn, but there was no way I could talk to him here. Not with all those people watching. Sheriff Hollingsworth, the petite black woman who had questioned me about Tori's murder over a month before, stormed through the gym's front door. She took one look at the massive pool of blood on the floor and wobbled slightly on her feet. A strange look passed over her features, but then she seemed to pull herself together.
“Why are all these students still standing around?” she shouted to her officers. “Someone get a perimeter set up here or we're going to lose valuable evidence.”
She turned and looked at Jackson, anger flashing in her eyes. When she saw he was staring at me, she looked from him to me, then back again, her anger turning to concern. I stepped back and tried to blend into the crowd. She yanked Jackson's arms and pulled him from the building.
“Get this kid out of here. Take him down to the holding cell and lock him up tight. No one gets in for questioning. And someone call Ella Mae Hunt,” she said. She motioned to a woman standing near the doorway, then whispered something in her ear. The woman looked toward me and nodded.
The crowd in the entryway seemed to breathe all at once as the officers set into motion.
“You heard the Sheriff,” Officer Grey said. “I want all students to go back into the gymnasium and have a seat on the bleachers. Officer Ellis, you go lock up the back doors and make sure no one gets in or out back there. Lancaster, you and Forbes keep an eye on the students and get them organized so we can start questioning them just as soon as possible. I'll start gathering evidence up here.”
There was a flurry of movement as students were herded back into the gym. The mood of the evening had changed from fun to fearful. A third death in just two short months of school? Even for a large school in a big city, that would be nearly unheard of and disturbing. But here in such a small community? It was pure devastation. Kids killing kids. Technically, Agnes' death was ruled an accident, but most of the students knew what really happened. The cops had stopped looking for Tori's murderer after that.
Thankfully, no one had ever really questioned my involvement in the fire. I felt I had Mrs. King to thank for that. But who would Jackson turn to? He had his mother, but she didn't seem to have much power in this town. She wasn't rich and in charge like the sheriff or the mayor. And from the look in the sheriff's eyes tonight, she thought he was guilty.
He'd been kneeling in her blood. His prints might even be all over that silver dagger. Jackson was going to need a super lawyer to get out of this one, and something told me Ella Mae wasn't going to be able to afford a lawyer at all.
Drake put his arm around me and guided me up the bleachers to the very top where Brooke and the others were already gathered. They all looked shaken and scared.
“What happened out there? Harper are you alright?” Brooke said.
I nodded and swallowed, my mouth was hot and dry.
“Who was it?” Allison asked. “Someone said it was that weird girl, Morgyn.”
“She's dead,” I said. My voice came out like croak. I cleared my throat and stared down at my hands, not even really seeing them at all. “And she wasn't weird, she was...”
My voice trailed off. She was like me, I thought.
“Jackson Hunt killed her,” Drake said. “Stabbed her in the heart with some crazy silver knife. It had these blue stones in the handle, like it was some kind of ritual dagger from a movie or something.”
Brooke shifted in her seat. She seemed uncomfortable.
“Jesus,” Foster said. “That guy is seriously disturbed.”
“Why would he do something like that tonight?” Lark asked. She had taken her date's black coat and put it around her shoulders. She was shivering even though it had to be about eighty degrees in the gym from all the dancing. “In front of everyone?”
“Maybe he was trying to make some kind of statement about the school,” Allison said.
“Or maybe he's just a psycho lunatic,” Drake said.
I was in a daze. Hypnotized by the searing image of such red flowing blood. But Drake's words brought me out of it. “Jackson didn't do this,” I said.
Brooke's eyes widened. “How do you know? Did you see something?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “I was in the bathroom when it happened. I didn't see who did it, but I ran out as soon as I heard the scream.”
“Then how do you know Jackson didn't do it?”
I shook my head. “I just know.”
“Harper Madison?”
I looked down at the woman who had called my name. It was the same lady Sheriff Hollingsworth had spoken to before she took Jackson away. “Yes?”
“You and your friends need to come with me.”
I Might Have Seen Something Important
The woman introduced herself as Madelyn Carr. Brooke and the others seemed to already know her. She said she was a friend of the sheriff's, and I took that to mean she was a member of the Order.
“The police told us to stay here for questioning,” I said.
“Not you guys,” she said. “I've been instructed to take you to Mr. Ashworth's house right away. Your limousine is waiting for us out front.”
I looked at all the students who had to stay behind. They might be there all night, waiting to have questions barked at them. Most of them looked scared. Many of them were crying. It didn't seem fair they all had to wait while we got whisked away in a limo. Besides, I had seen the murderer. I felt certain of it.
“I think I should talk to the police,” I said. “I might have seen something important.”
“This isn't up for debate, Miss Madison,” Madelyn said. “We leave now. There's no time to waste.”
I sat back down on the bleachers. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Drake gripped my arm. “Harper, now is not the time to be fooling around.”
“Ow,” I said. I yanked my arm away from him. “Don't ever touch me like that again.”
“Whoa, why are you so angry? She's giving us a free ride here, and you're treating everyone like garbage.”
Madelyn Carr signaled to a couple of officers, and I watched with dread as the two men walked toward us. “Officers, I need you to escort these teenagers to the limousine outside. If you have to, you are authorized to use force in order to get Miss Madison to the car.”
I opened my mouth in protest, but my voice caught in my throat as the two policemen climbed up the three rows of bleachers toward me.
I stood and held my hand out in front of me. “I'll go,” I said. My voice was barely a whisper.
Once inside the car, I sat alone. Drake and Foster took seats at the very front. Lark, Allison and Brooke were huddled together on one side of the limo. Brooke's eyes stayed trained on me the entire time, but I avoided her gaze. She was one of them now. She couldn't be trusted.
The two guys who had come to the dance with Lark and Allison looked terrified. It was obvious they had no idea what was going on or why we had been chosen to leave when everyone else had to stay. They were smart enough to keep their mouths closed, though.
“Boys, please give the driver your addresses,” Madelyn told them. “We're going to drop you off at your houses first.”
The guys recited their addresses and the driver took them home immediately. Then, he turned onto the street where Drake lived. Even though we'd been going out for a while, I'd never actually been inside his house. Drake had driven me by here once just to show me where he lived, but he never invited me inside or anything.
The Ashworths lived in luxury, just like everyone else in this limousine. Excluding me, of course. Their home was a blue, three-story hou
se built before the Civil War. Pretty white shutters adorned all of the many windows in the front of the house. The limousine pulled into the white, dome-shaped carport attached to the left side of the house and everyone got out. Several women, including Mrs. Ashworth, were waiting to usher us into the house.
Mrs. Ashworth looked around, squinting into the darkness. Was she looking for the hooded figure? It definitely seemed like the Order was trying to protect us from something, but if they thought Jackson was the murderer, why would they bother? They already had him in custody.
The fear on Mrs. Ashworth's face told me that the Order knew Jackson Hunt wasn't responsible for Morgyn's death. Now, they were surrounding me with witches who could keep me safe if the assassin came for me.
Madelyn led us down to the basement and told us to stay put. There was a pool table, a large flat-screen TV, and several leather couches down there, but there was no door to the outside. I felt like a prisoner.
“At least there's a bar down here,” Drake said. He walked over to the mahogany bar in the far corner and set up several crystal glasses with ice. “Who wants one?”
I eyed him angrily. Great, just what I needed. Drunk Drake was much worse than sober Drake, and I already felt like I'd had more of him than I could take in a lifetime. Screw his mother's wishes, there was no way I was going out with him again.
“Load me up,” Foster said. “Brooke?”
“I better not,” she said. She had finally stopped staring at me. I think she was annoyed that she was down here with us instead of upstairs with the other members of the Order.