The Haunted High Series Boxed Set

by Cheree Alsop

  “Wait!” I called.

  She disappeared around the corner. I reached the end in time to see her pull down the ladder of a fire escape and climb upwards with a speed unhindered by whatever injuries she concealed.

  I grabbed the first rung of the ladder and pulled myself up. The pain to my burned palm made me grit my teeth, but I didn’t let it slow me down. According to Dr. Six, the burns from the demon fight might never heal. She lectured me when I didn’t keep it wrapped, but phasing made bandages inconvenient. I knew the thin gauze across my palm wouldn’t last long.

  I reached the top of the apartment building and paused at the sight of the girl we followed balanced on the edge of the roof across from me.

  “Wait!” I called. “We can help you.”

  She glanced back. Her eyes caught in the light of the buildings around us and glowed like a wild animal’s. I knew mine looked the same way.

  My heart gave a funny little flip when our eyes met. A tingle ran down my arms and along my spine as though I had turned on a light switch and gotten shocked by the static. It was the strangest thing I had ever experienced in my life, and considering all that had happened thus far, that was saying a lot.

  “Don’t jump,” I told her when I found my voice.

  A midnight breeze caught the end of the long white shift she wore. I thought at first that it was a nightgown, but ties down the back said that it was medical. Perhaps that could explain why she was bleeding. Though I couldn’t see the source, the copper scent in the air was unmistakable and there were darker streaks on her gown that were visible in the moonlight.

  “We’re not high enough,” she said in a voice that was low and rough as if she had not spoken for a long while.

  My throat tightened at her words. She turned her head and I followed her gaze to a bridge in the distance.

  “We have to be sure,” she said.

  “No, wait,” I pleaded.

  She disappeared before I could reach the edge of the roof.

  “One more step,” I heard Vicken say behind me.

  I turned to see Alden struggling over the top of the ladder. I grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

  “Where’d she go?” the Grim asked, panting for breath.

  I pointed. “She heading to the bridge.” I slid my backpack off and handed it to him. “I’m going to try to head her off. Catch up when you can.”

  Vicken grabbed my shoulder before I could run after the girl.

  “Something’s wrong with her. Maybe you should let her go,” he said.

  I shook my head. As sensible as his suggestion might have been, the draw I had felt when our eyes met refused to release me.

  “She needs our help,” I told them. “I can’t just let her go.”

  I shrugged out of Vicken’s grasp and ran for the edge of the roof. I jumped to the next landing, used my hands to slide down the fire escape, an action my palm angrily protested, and took off through the alley.

  Cutting across the city in the direction of the bridge wasn’t easy considering that the buildings hid the bridge from sight and I had no idea where I was going. Fortunately, the inborn sense of direction that came from my werewolf side held true and I reached the road in time to see the girl climb onto the edge of the bridge near the pinnacle. Vehicles rushed past, their occupants unaware of the girl’s danger until it was too late to react. Only the sound of horns honking in protest answered.

  The girl’s hospital gown flapped from the rush of the cars. She held onto one of the support beams with her gaze on the dark water below. I ran through the traffic, dodging taxis, trucks, and cars while attempting to keep her in sight.

  She wavered on the edge.

  “Wait!” I shouted.

  A car slammed into my right side. I rolled up the hood and smashed into the windshield. Pain exploded in my head and along my side, but I pushed myself up. I met the wide-eyed gaze of the man behind the steering wheel.

  “Are you alright?” he mouthed.

  I shoved up to a seated position and glanced toward the girl.

  She met my gaze, then stepped off the bridge.

  “No!” I shouted.

  I leaped from the car that had hit me and onto the hood of the next one that had stopped for the accident. I crossed the pedestrian path and reached the edge of the bridge in a heartbeat. Before I could second-guess my decision, I put my hands on the barrier and vaulted over the side. My last glimpse was of water so dark it looked bottomless and the detached part of my mind noted that I was going to lose another pair of shoes.

  Chapter Two

  Hitting the water felt like a million needles being shoved into my skin from all sides. It knocked the breath from my lungs even as my momentum plunged me deep into the river. I tried to swim, but no light penetrated the murky depths to tell me which way was up. I thrashed, hoping my feet would reach the bottom and I could push myself to the top, but the river felt infinite. The current shoved me along with merciless force and I rolled with it, powerless against such strength.

  Flashbacks to the accident that had allowed my werewolf form to rear its head battled against the present. The car falling in the water, Sebastian’s still form, and the sound of my brother panicking in the back seat warred against the dark river. I knew it wasn’t real. That had been an icy bridge in another city, far smaller and sleepier than the one through which this river ran. The car was gone, Sebastian had been buried, and my brother was safe.

  I had promised him that I would think of my family the next time I placed myself in danger, yet I had jumped off the bridge without a thought except to save the girl. I had failed him.

  I cursed inwardly and forced myself to focus. I may have gone back on my promise to think of them, but I wasn’t about to die and let him live with the consequences of my actions. There was way too much to live for to give up now.

  The precious air that remained in my throat escaped. I jerked my head back and my werewolf vision made out the resolute path of the bubbles. I shoved my arms down and kicked, following the same direction.

  My head broke the surface and I gulped in a mouthful of air and water. I coughed and floundered, looking for anything that would give me bearings. My heart caught at the sight of a white cloth floating a few strokes away. I swam forward through the dark water. When I reached the girl’s form, I turned her over. The moment her face met the air, she pulled in a ragged breath and began to cough.

  I tried to hold her up the best that I could. “Just breathe,” I said in her ear as I pulled her toward the shore. “You’re safe now.”

  Swimming with my arm across her chest and under her arm brought back memories of saving my brother. I wondered if I was meant to be a lifeguard instead of a werewolf. Maybe I was following the wrong calling.

  I shoved the ironic though aside and focused on reaching the moonlit shore. Unfortunately, it appeared to be getting farther away. I swam, but couldn’t seem to close the distance. The more I struggled, the more I was aware of my quickly lagging strength. I wouldn’t have exerted so much of my energy chasing the girl if I knew I was going to be jumping into a river after her.

  My arms and legs felt like weights instead of help. The chill of the river crept through my veins with a deadening numbness. I wondered if being hit by the car had anything to do with my foggy thoughts. I fought to breathe, to keep my head above water, and to do the same for the girl, which was difficult when every stroke felt as though it pulled us down instead of forward.

  “We talked about running toward danger,” a familiar voice said.

  Stark relief filled me when Vicken’s strong hands took the girl from my grasp.

  “I’m so glad—”

  Whatever else I wanted to say came out as gurgles when my arms and legs, too tired and chilled to keep me up any longer, failed me entirely and I sunk beneath the water.

  Vicken’s steel grip locked onto my shoulder and he pulled me back up. He glared at me, but concern showed bright in his yellow eyes as I drew in a ragged br
eath.

  “Don’t you dare give up on me, Weremutt,” he growled.

  Without waiting for me to reply, the vampire began to swim. With supernatural strength, he pulled us toward the shore where Alden had waded out as far as he could keep standing.

  “Take the girl,” Vicken said, shoving her into the Grim’s arms.

  The two of them hauled us to shore. The second we reached solid ground, we all collapsed in an exhausted heap.

  I rolled onto my back and willed my coughing to slow. The light of the moon filtered weakly through the hazy night sky. I breathed in a sigh at the healing effects as it covered my soaking wet body like a blanket. I glanced over to see the girl on her side facing away from Alden. Her shoulders shook and I could hear the staggered breaths she drew in.

  “Seriously, Finn, what’s wrong with you?” Vicken demanded.

  I turned my head to look at him.

  His eyes narrowed. “You’re bleeding.”

  I put a hand to my face, then took it away again to confirm that the drips I had thought were water were actually blood. I traced the edges of the wound gingerly up my forehead and found that the source was a gash just below my hairline.

  “I hit a car.” I paused, then corrected. “Or the car hit me. I’m not sure. It’s a little fuzzy.” I went for humor in an attempt to lessen the accusation in his glare. “The driver was surprised.”

  Vicken sat up. He grabbed one of the backpacks they had left on the shore and rummaged through it. Pulling out a tee-shirt, he threw it at me. “Put that against it.”

  Caught off-guard by his angry tone, I did as he commanded. I sat up slowly and sucked in a breath at the ache that surged through my bruised and maybe cracked ribs, but I kept the pain from showing on my face in case it angered the vampire further.

  “Are you alright?”

  I turned to see Alden place a pale hand on the girl’s shoulder.

  With a speed that made me wonder where she got the strength, the girl grabbed Alden’s wrist and spun on her knees, trapping him effectively in front of her with his hand behind his back and her free arm locked around his throat.

  Her gaze met mine accusingly. “You should have let me drown.” She tightened her hold around Alden’s neck when she rose and he stood ungracefully with her.

  I shook my head. “I couldn’t,” I said honestly.

  I glanced from Alden to Vicken, wondering if they knew just how true that statement was.

  Vicken had risen silently to a standing position. His hands opened and closed and I had the distinct impression that he wished they were around her throat. I looked back at her.

  “You don’t want to do that,” I told the girl.

  “Why not?” she replied. “You’ve ruined my death. Why not let him pay for it?”

  Her arm tightened and Alden squirmed.

  Faster than I could move, Vicken darted past me and grabbed the girl’s wrist. He ducked beneath his own arm and spun, removing her arm from around Alden’s throat and effectively trapping her in the same position. Alden staggered to the side, his face red and pale hair mussed.

  “You should play nice with my friends,” Vicken said quietly in her ear.

  “Vicken—” I began. I rose to my feet with the tee-shirt still pressed to my forehead. I didn’t dare take my eyes from the vampire in case he decided to push matters further.

  The girl glanced back at Vicken and her eyes widened. Fear showed on her face.

  “Don’t hurt me, vampire,” she pleaded. “Don’t bite me and drain my blood. Don’t pull me to pieces to get every last drop. Don’t be the monster I know you are.”

  “I’m not going to—” Vicken started to say, his shock at her words evident on his face.

  The girl’s legs gave way and she dropped as though faint before he finished talking. Vicken cursed as she slipped out of his grasp. But instead of falling in a heap on the gravely ground, the girl rolled and came up in a defensive position with her hands up.

  “Too slow, Fangs,” she said. “Next time, snap my neck before making small talk. I’ll listen better that way.”

  Alden stared from her to me in bewilderment.

  Vicken glared at the girl. “Finn risked his life to save you!”

  She turned her hate-filled gaze on me. “I didn’t ask him to.”

  I lifted my free hand. “I couldn’t let you kill yourself.”

  Her teeth gritted together and she spoke from between them, “It’s not your place to save me.”

  “He nearly got himself killed for you,” Alden pointed out. His quiet voice created a stark contrast to the girl’s angry tones.

  She turned on him. “And what are you, his guardian angel? You did a horrible job back there.”

  “I’m a Grim,” Alden replied.

  The girl’s hands lowered and she stood still. Any sign of fight faded from her stance. She looked at the ground for a moment, then glanced at the Grim. “So you knew I wouldn’t die.”

  Alden shot me a helpless look. He met her gaze again and gave a little shrug. “I’m still learning.”

  She nodded as if that explained everything. After a moment of silence, she turned her eyes back to Alden’s. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to upset you or your kin.”

  “Why not?” Vicken asked. His tone was half-amused, half annoyed.

  The girl looked at him as if he was stupid. She spoke with carefully spaced words, “He is a Grim. He will decide which path I walk in the afterlife. I want a better path than this one, so making him mad is a bad idea.” She paused and a hint of malice glittered in her hazel eyes. “You’re a vampire, so you’re already screwed. I don’t expect you to understand.”

  Her gaze flickered to me. “You’re bleeding all over the place. Not smart with a vampire around. Come on.”

  She left us standing there with bewildered expressions on our faces.

  “Where is she going?” Alden whispered.

  “No idea,” Vicken said. He glanced at me. “But Finn’s a mess. Let’s see where she leads us.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine. I’ll heal, remember?”

  “Not fast enough,” Alden said. “The sun’s rising and you look scary.”

  He hurried after the girl.

  I sighed and followed him.

  “What did she mean, I’m a vampire so I’m already screwed?” Vicken asked from beside me.

  “I have no idea,” I replied. “I’m still not sure how I made it to dry ground.”

  Images of the car accident along with trying to find which direction was up beneath the black river pushed against my mind. I took a shuddering breath, afraid that the memories would bombard me again.

  “I dragged your sorry carcass to shore,” Vicken reminded me. “That’s the second time.”

  “Keeping count?” I asked.

  I glanced at him in time to see him shrug. “I think you’re bad for my health.”

  I grinned at his sarcastic tone. “If I remember right, you would have died if I didn’t give you blood after the first time in the river. Technically, if it wasn’t for me that day, you wouldn’t have your health and you’d be led by a Grim to whatever screwed afterlife you’re in for.”

  “Semantics,” Vicken shot back. “If I wasn’t chasing after you, I wouldn’t have ended up using so much blood.”

  I used the edge of the tee-shirt to try to dab up the blood that trickled down the side of my face. Unfortunately, head wounds tended to bleed a lot and this one was proving stubborn despite the moonlight from above. I wondered if the lights of the city combined with the gray of dawn I saw between the buildings made the moon’s power lessen. Alden seemed to think so. I pushed the tee-shirt back against the wound and followed the Grim and the strange girl through the streets.

  We reached a part of the city that was devoid of the cleanliness and order near Central Park. Apartment buildings were run down or completely dilapidated. People without homes slept in droves, packing stairways and alleys in tight huddles in an attempt to stave
off the chilly night air. I shivered in spite of myself and felt responsible for the damp clothes my friends traveled in.

  But I refused to feel any guilt for jumping after the girl. It may have been foolhardy and against both my survival instincts and the promise I had made to Drake, but the sight of the girl alive and leading us without showing any sign of discomfort from her bare feet or the way her wet medical gown clung to her skin filled me with relief. No one should die like that.

  Whatever she had gone through had pushed her to such an extreme that she had jumped to die. I couldn’t shove away the feeling that us finding her wasn’t a coincidence. Discovering a werewolf where none was supposed to exist couldn’t just happen, could it?

  The taste of blood lingered in my mouth along with the thick coating of whatever tainted the river. I grimaced as I followed the girl and Alden into a leaning building. Dark forms slept in the shadows, their quiet breathing broken by faintly mumbling voices. The scent of unwashed bodies, alcohol, urine, and rats combined to assail my nose. I fought back the urge to sneeze.

  Vicken looked around with distrust in his gaze.

  “This looks promising,” he muttered.

  “Be nice,” I told him.

  I don’t know what I expected, but the shabby blanket strung up in a corner of the building wasn’t it. The girl ducked inside and when we stopped, she poked her head out and motioned for us to follow.

  There was a hole in the wall with a tube fastened to it like those used to clear away construction debris. I glanced at Vicken in confusion. We were on the ground floor, so I didn’t know what use the tube had.

  “Come on,” the girl said when she saw our hesitation. “You want to catch a rabbit; you have to go down the hole. Rabbit holes have been known to lead to great and wondrous places.”

  “I thought you were a werewolf,” Vicken said.

  The girl winked at me. “That’s left to be determined.” She slid down the tube and left us staring after her.

  “She’s unstable,” Alden announced.