The Haunted High Series Boxed Set

by Cheree Alsop

  Vicken glanced at him. “I’m with the Grim on this. What if she’s leading us into a trap?”

  “Why would she do that? She jumped off a bridge to kill herself. She wouldn’t do that if she was setting a trap,” I pointed out.

  “Unless she’s very clever,” Vicken said. “Though I find that hard to believe.”

  “There’s one way to find out.”

  Both of us looked over to see Alden sitting on the edge of the tube. He lifted a shoulder at our surprised expressions. “What if she’s right? What if there’s a great and wondrous place at the end. I’d be sorry I didn’t see it.”

  He pushed off before we could stop him. A high-pitched laugh floated back up to us before the sound of him sliding ended.

  “This night just keeps getting stranger,” Vicken said.

  I put a hand on the tube. “You have the choice to stay up here and hang out until everyone wakes up.”

  Vicken looked around at the forms in the corners. Unease showed on his face. “I’ll take my chances with the rabbit hole.” He stepped around me and slid down the tube.

  I followed close behind.

  The reason for Alden’s laughter became quickly apparent as little rainbow-colored spots danced in the air around me. They sped up like shooting stars until I reached the bottom. When my wet sneakers met the ground, the spots shot out around me and vanished. I rose with a smile that disappeared at the look of distrust on Vicken’s face.

  “Are you a witch?” he demanded.

  I followed his gaze to the girl who stood in the middle of the room. The same dancing spots drifted around her like fireflies, only bigger. At his words, the rainbow lights faded to leave her standing in the half-light cast by the multi-colored bulbs that hung from the ceiling.

  “How could she be a witch and a werewolf?” Alden asked.

  “Ask her,” Vicken said, his tone accusing.

  The girl’s eyes narrowed when she met his gaze. “I’ll answer no questions.”

  “Then why did you bring us here?” Vicken demanded.

  “I’ll answer no questions,” she repeated in the same tone.

  Vicken threw his hands up. “This is ridiculous. We shouldn’t even be here. We’re wasting time.”

  “So why are you here?” the girl asked.

  Vicken glared at her and then turned his glare on me. “I can’t do this anymore. She’s crazy.”

  “That’s rude,” Alden pointed out.

  “Seriously, Vicken,” I said. “Be nice. She’s been through a lot.”

  “So have you,” the vampire shot back. “You’re still bleeding. We’re all wet, and we’re no closer to finding Professor Briggs. With the sun coming up tourists will be out sightseeing so we can’t go traipsing across Central Park looking for the entrance to the labs.” He blew out an annoyed breath. “And we wasted the last of our night chasing a crazy person.”

  “You did?” the girl said. “Who?”

  I stepped in front of Vicken before he could get truly mad.

  “We’ve had a crazy night,” I told her. “Can we stay here until we figure out what to do?”

  She was quiet for a moment, her gaze on something I couldn’t see. When she finally nodded, relief filled me. “You can stay, and I’ll tell you about Briggsy.”

  “You don’t know Briggs,” Vicken said.

  “Sulky warlock? Scarred? Has kind-of a hate-the-world attitude?” she shot back.

  “She knows the professor,” Alden said.

  “What can you tell us about him?” I pressed.

  She lifted a thin shoulder in a shrug. “He was very angry and then very sad.”

  My heart slowed. “Why?”

  “They took his box and his hand.”

  “His hand?” I repeated. “What do you mean, they took his hand?”

  “It’s something they do. They said he was holding something of value and so they took it. He wasn’t happy about that. I told him he could have mine, but he said I would need it.”

  I looked at Vicken in shock. The vampire held my gaze. His eyebrows were pulled together in worry even as he lifted a shoulder to say that she was crazy.

  “But why take his hand?” Alden asked. “If he was holding something of value, they could just take it out of his hand. Are you sure you got that right?”

  “They couldn’t take it out of his hand,” the girl replied elusively.

  I pulled the tee-shirt away and checked to see if my head was still bleeding. The trickle that made its way down my forehead answered my question. I held the shirt to it again.

  “You should sit down,” Vicken suggested. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  “So did she,” I said.

  I glanced at her when I remembered the streaks on her medical gown. They had mostly washed off from jumping into the river, but the smell of blood still touched my nose. A guarded expression had crossed her face when I mentioned it and she took a few steps backwards to distance herself from us. I went for a gentle approach.

  “Are you alright? I know you were hurt,” I began.

  She shook her head quickly. “I’m fine. I’m always fine. Nothing bothers me.” She pulled her medical gown closer. “You can’t say I’m not fine. Because I’m always fine.”

  I lifted my free hand. “Alright. It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure.”

  I threw Alden and Vicken a what-on-earth look which they both returned.

  “I’m going to change,” she said suddenly. “I’ll bring back dry blankets.”

  She crossed to the far corner of the room. I took Vicken’s advice and sat down against a wall. There was a divider at the end of the room where the girl had gone. From the edge of it, I could see a mattress and blankets, but they were the only furniture.

  Vicken sat down beside me. “I don’t like this at all,” he said in an undertone.

  “If she’s right about Briggs, we need to get him out of there as soon as we can. I don’t think—”

  “Guys, look,” Alden cut me off in an urgent whisper.

  We followed the Grim’s gaze to the corner where the girl had gone. She stood near the partition changing as if she didn’t think we could see her. My first instinct was to look away again at the sight of her bare back, but then I saw what had captured Alden’s attention.

  Marks covered the girl from head to toe. They were straight and scarred, thick lines made with a precise hand. There were lines just below her shoulders and across her thighs as though someone had removed her limbs. There were several thick lines straight down her back and another at the base of her neck, as well as lines at her wrists and ankles.

  “It’s like she was a surgical practice dummy,” Vicken whispered in horror.

  The girl turned and met his gaze as though she had heard what he said and I heard Vicken shift uncomfortably. I glanced away at the sight of her front butchered the same way her back had been. The raw-looking scar down her chest lingered in my mind even with my eyes closed.

  “You think it’s funny to make fun of someone you don’t understand?” she asked. “You wonder what makes a monster? Maybe it’s not the shape a person comes in; rather, it’s the condition of their heart, if they have one at all. And you, Fangs, have no heart.”

  I opened my eyes at the sound of her footsteps drawing closer. She had put on a purple robe with a stain over her heart. Her bare feet slapped the floor as she strode to stand in front of the vampire.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  It was the most contrite I had ever heard Vicken be. His gaze was on the ground at her feet and true regret showed on his pale face. “I shouldn’t have said that. I-I wasn’t trying to make fun of you, honest.”

  She stared down at him for several seconds with her arms crossed in front of her chest as though she debated whether to believe him. Finally, she nodded and spun on her heels. “Come eat. I can hear the werewolf’s stomach from a mile away.”

  My friends looked at me. I hadn’t felt my stomach growling, but I was grateful
for the change of subject anyway.

  Chapter Three

  We followed the girl to the boxes stacked in the corner. She opened one and revealed cans of dog food.

  “For you, Wolfie,” she said, tossing one to me.

  I caught it and eyed it uncertainly. “I don’t know if I can eat this.”

  The girl grinned. “Just kidding. Give me that. I’m not going to waste perfectly good dog food on a werewolf.”

  Vicken burst out laughing while my cheeks flushed red.

  “I like her,” he confirmed with a nod.

  The girl winked at him. She took the can away from me and replaced it with one of Boston baked beans. “Give that a whirl.”

  She handed a similar can to Alden.

  “I’d open a vein for you, Fangs, but who knows what you could catch from me,” she said with such nonchalance I couldn’t help staring.

  The humor left the vampire’s face. “I’m fine,” Vicken replied. He opened his backpack and pulled out one of the bags of blood we had pilfered from Haunted High’s cafeteria.

  “The vamp comes prepared,” the girl noted. “That’s impressive.”

  Vicken shot her a look. “I’m not ‘Vamp’ or ‘Fangs’. My name is Vicken.” He pointed at us. “And this is Finn and Alden.”

  Alden smiled at her. “Pleased to meet you.”

  She gave him a nod that came across as more of a bow. “And you, Mr. Grim. Thank you for gracing my humble abode with your presence.”

  Alden looked embarrassed by her words. “Th-thank you. And what’s your name?”

  “Should I give it to you just to see it appear on your arm?” she replied, her tone teasing but with a hint of longing. “Can you promise a beyond better than the now? Or will we travel there just to realize the beyond is exactly the sum total of what we experienced here and so it becomes the same twisted tapestry of monster existence while titling itself with the captivating name of beyond, which signifies past something, which hopefully means above it in a way that is better instead of just past it in terms of a timeline?” She rummaged through the box and withdrew three plastic spoons. “Perhaps not. I shall choose to stay where at least the present is certain.” She handed us both a spoon. “You can call me Render. Most call me Ren. It’s ironic.”

  “Uh, okay, thank you, Ren,” he replied. The Grim shot me a nervous smile before he dug into the can of beans with the plastic spoon she had given him.

  She turned her attention to me. I fought back the urge to squirm beneath her hazel gaze. “And you, Finn, I heard werewolves were dead.”

  “So did I,” I replied. I decided to be bold. “But you’re one.”

  She shrugged. She looked very comfortable perched on the edge of one of the boxes with a can of beans balanced on her knee. “I suppose you could say that, but only if you want quarter-truths. From my experience, people don’t appreciate quarter-truths. They want the whole truth. But whole isn’t exactly the easiest descriptor in my case. It was once, but never again.” Her voice trailed away wistfully.

  “What do you mean?” I asked when her gaze lingered on a place above my shoulder where no one stood.

  Her eyes flickered back to mine. When she looked at me, I noticed that a strange blue ring outlined her hazel irises.

  “Your friend said I looked like a surgical practice dummy. He also perceptively asked if I was a witch,” Ren said.

  Vicken opened his mouth. I guessed he was about to apologize, but Ren continued talking and he closed it again. “I am a witch with two affinities,” she confirmed. She took a spoonful of beans as if done with the conversation.

  “How is that possible?” Alden asked, his tone gentle. “I’ve never heard of a witch with two affinities.”

  Ren regarded her beans in silence for a moment. When she spoke, it was to the can. The echo of her voice inside it met my ears with a hollowness that stole any inflection.

  “Two affinities means two witches. That much is true. But what do you do if the witch you are meets the witch you knew?”

  Alden glanced at me. “Is that a riddle?”

  Vicken was watching her with close attention. His yellow eyes moved to us and he shook his head. “It’s the truth.” There was an undertone of revulsion in his voice that made my blood run cold.

  “You mean you are two witches?” I replied, trying to follow the vampire’s meaning.

  Ren lifted one shoulder without looking at me. “Which one is the monster? The one who dies or the one who survives?” Her hazel eyes met mine. “I was born with an affinity for healing. It should have been a blessing, but it’s a curse. A curse of the worst variety you can ever imagine. The curse can never be lifted for the affinity is my own. Along with my mother’s, the light.” She lifted a hand and little lights danced around her fingertips. Ren blinked and a tear trailed slowly down the side of her nose.

  Vicken’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle when he asked, “How did you get your mother’s affinity?”

  Ren turned her tear-filled gaze on him. There was such pleading on her face that it broke my heart. It was as if us understanding was the most important thing in the world to her. The next words she said made me realize why.

  “They gave me her heart.”

  Her hand with the spoon in it rose to her chest. She pressed it there as though the heart she spoke of hurt with the words. Beans fell from the plastic spoon and dropped unnoticed to her lap.

  The three of us looked at each other. I didn’t know what to say, and by the expressions on Vicken and Alden’s faces, they felt the same way. It was as though time, for that moment, hung suspended by the girl’s words.

  I wanted to believe that she meant she had her mother’s heart figuratively. I tried to believe that with all of my being, but I knew I was lying to myself. I had seen the scars on her body, the way they had cut her open and taken her apart, piecing her back together again however they liked. I felt like crying with her. I wanted to yell, to throw things, to go after the people who had done such cruel things to her, but I could only sit there numbly with the can of beans forgotten in my hand and the cement floor growing cold beneath me.

  Alden broke the silence by saying, “No wonder you wanted to jump.”

  Ren lowered her gaze. “I am the abomination they created.”

  Vicken set a hand on her shoulder. I couldn’t say when the vampire had risen or moved to stand behind her, but there was strength in his voice when he said, “You are you, Ren. They can’t change that. You have goodness in you.”

  “But is it enough to fight the evil?” she asked.

  “You’re not evil,” I told her.

  The look she turned on me was filled with gratitude. “If you try to see the best in others, it also brings out the best in yourself. I can tell you believe your words, and I can hope that they’re enough for the both of us, Finn,” she said. “But there is a problem with your logic. Usually, we speak to a person as a whole, but I am merely pieces of me and pieces of others. So I can’t account for all of me.”

  Alden cleared his throat. “So when you said you were a quarter werewolf….”

  She nodded. “They gave me the arms of a werewolf girl when they were finished experimenting on her. I can phase in the moonlight, which is a remarkable thing, until I remember that I am able to do so because she is no longer alive.” She lowered her gaze. “It is a horrible thing to realize that you are a byproduct of the deaths of others.”

  Alden nodded. “I understand.”

  I knew he really did. Alden’s relatives who had passed on had spoken to me when I found them protecting Alden in the demon realm. They said that it was a hard job for Grims to take care of those who pass away and lead them to the beyond. Their lives were made necessary due to the deaths of others. Grims were feared because of their role. I knew it weighed Alden down at times, but there were also ways in which he was stronger than any of us.

  Ren gave him a small smile that made her tears fall into the can of beans. “You do, don’t you.�
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  He nodded. “But that doesn’t make your existence any less. No matter what, you are you. They can’t take that away.”

  Her eyes closed as though she couldn’t bear to look at us any longer. She took a shuddering breath and let it out with the quiet words, “They try.”

  I looked at Alden and then Vicken. In the silent exchange between us, a pact to help her was solidified.

  “We need to shut down the Labs,” I said.

  Ren’s eyes flew open. “You can’t do that!” She stood up so quickly her can of beans went flying, but she didn’t appear to notice. “You can’t shut them down. People will die!”

  “People are dying,” I replied, confused. “Isn’t that what you just said? They experiment on them until they die?”

  She nodded, then shook her head as though two voices warred within her. “Yes, no, I mean, if you take away the Labs, the demons will have the city.”

  “Demons,” Vicken repeated. “What demons?”

  Ren backed away toward the room divider. “The demons are there. The Labs appease their needs. Without the Labs, the demons will destroy everything. Evil feeds evil. A city of demons would swallow the world. You can’t stop it. You can’t try. It’s too dangerous. Briggsy would want you to leave. Don’t save him.” She disappeared behind the divider, but her voice rose over it. “Don’t save me. Some of us are way past the naïve grand gestures of monsters who wish not to be.”

  “More demons,” Alden said quietly when she stopped talking.

  Vicken kept his eyes on the divider. “She said a city of demons, didn’t she?”

  I nodded. “That’s more than we saw at the Academy.”

  “We know the Wiccan Enforcer followed Briggs here,” Alden said, his voice musing. “If he brought Chutka’s heart to the Labs and the Wiccan Enforcer has it, Chutka will be even stronger. If the experiments that the Labs do keep the demons satisfied, disrupting them will send the demons out searching for sustenance.” He shook his head. “We’re walking a very fine line, here.”

  “The demons can’t be allowed to exist this way,” I said.

  Vicken and Alden looked at me as if I was crazy.

  I pressed on. “Evil feeds evil. That’s what she said. What they’re doing is evil, so maybe it attracts the demons, or helps make more of them, I don’t know. But if we stop it, then the demons won’t thrive anymore.”