The Haunted High Series Boxed Set

by Cheree Alsop

  “Maybe he is an Alpha,” I heard one man say when Roundy lashed me for the last time.

  I saw a few drops of blood fall from the whip when the werewolf wound it up before handing it to Meg.

  “Carry him back to the cage,” Meg ordered, her voice level. She bent down and whispered for only me to hear, “You have one night to heal, then it’s onto the Gauntlet. You sealed your own fate this time, Finn.”

  She rose and lifted her voice to say, “The rules have spoken. We will see you all in the spectators’ room tomorrow.”

  The chains on the crossbeam were unwound. As I was dragged from the stocks, my last glimpse was of Kiyah’s wide eyes. She held up her hand to show me the colored handkerchief she had wrapped around her wrist. At least Vicken would be cared for.

  Chapter Four

  I made a show of not being stiff the next morning when I was escorted to a moving truck and loaded inside. Werewolves had turned out to see me go. I didn’t know whether to feel touched by their efforts or worried. Several of the teenagers wore handkerchiefs like Kiyah’s around their wrists. When I walked past, they lifted them to ensure that I noticed.

  “Represent,” one boy said quietly.

  “Alpha strong,” another called out.

  A skinny girl of no more than twelve held out her thin wrist and said, “I’ll be cheering for you.”

  The adults, their wolf brands visible on their forearms, didn’t look pleased at what their children were doing.

  “Good riddance,” an older woman with gray streaks in her hair said.

  A man with a bushy beard leaned against the truck as I was shoved inside and said, “I hope you rot out there, boy.”

  The door was pulled shut and I listened to a lock close. There weren’t any seats in the back of the moving truck. In order to keep from falling over with the swaying after each bump, I sat down near the back door and leaned against the wall. My breath caught and I tipped forward again.

  Despite the long night of moonlight that fell handily along one side of the cage, my back had only partially healed. I figured that the same bullet that had done me the favor of numbing my skin during the lashing had also impeded the healing process. Out of the clothing brought to me the next morning, I had chosen a black shirt to wear so that it could hide any blood from the whip marks. The last thing I wanted to do was show weakness around the other werewolves.

  The sound of the truck’s tires changed from pavement to dirt. It bumped and jolted along a dirt road for at least twenty minutes before it stopped. Relief that we were no longer moving was chased away by the sound of footsteps and the reminder of what was to come.

  “Up and out, boy,” Roundy said when he pushed up the sliding door.

  A glanced to my right showed Rhett, two other boys, and a girl with long red hair waiting in front of a posh SUV. I had apparently been deemed not fit to ride with these other potential candidates for the Pack. I tried to find an inkling of feeling at the slight, but there wasn’t any. I wanted to be far away from any member of the Den, be they a potential Pack member or not.

  “Now that we’re all present,” Roundy said with a glare at me as though I was to blame for the delay, “We can begin.” He waved a hand around in a bored gesture as though he had said the same words many times. “As you can see, the entire Gauntlet is monitored by cameras. Most of you have family who will be cheering you on from the spectators’ room. Even though you can’t hear them, know that they are pulling for you to succeed.”

  His gaze was on his son. Rhett appeared nervous and excited at the same time. He grinned at me, showing the gap in his teeth. “Unless you’re Finn. He’s all alone.”

  Roundy barely spared me a glance before he continued with, “You are the first group to attempt the new and improved Gauntlet. You have trained for this since you could walk; now is your chance to show us that you belong to the Pack.” His pride was evident in the way he looked the other teenagers over. “You can complete each of the three trials in wolf or human form. The choice is entirely yours. But you must complete each leg of the Gauntlet by yourself. No assistance is allowed.” He gave his son and the other three werewolves a big smile. “Good luck, do your best, and we’ll be cheering for you to reach the end and become an official member of the Pack.” He held out his arm to show the wolf head brand. “Make us proud, children. You can do this.”

  At his motion, we headed toward a ladder that peeked out from the top of what appeared to be a deep canyon. I glanced back to see Roundy grab Rhett in a tight hug. He then held his son out at arm’s length.

  “Make us proud, son,” he said, his eyes bright.

  “I will,” Rhett replied.

  He caught me watching and glared. I turned away and followed the others to the edge of the canyon. The ladder led straight down the side. A glance along it showed that the steps of the ladder ended about four rungs down and it was made up of merely two poles from there to the bottom. The side of the rock wall dipped inward so that the ladder was suspended in the air for the final thirty feet.

  “Down to go up,” the girl said.

  “Right,” the taller of the two other the boys confirmed. “Just like we trained. Remember, Lunera, keep a loose grip and let your body weight pull you down.”

  “I’ve got it, Ross,” Lunera replied in an annoyed tone. “Just don’t come clobbering down on top of me.”

  She stepped around the ladder and then looked at Rhett. For the first time, I saw a hint of uncertainty in her gaze.

  Rhett gave an encouraging nod. “You’ve got this.”

  Lunera let out a breath, then moved her legs to the outside of the ladder and slid down.

  I stared after her, watching in amazement until she hit the ground, then waved up at us.

  “Come on, boys! That’s how it’s done!” she shouted.

  “That’s right, cur,” Ross said with a laugh. “You’re going to have to keep up. Too bad your Alphaness won’t help you here.”

  “Good one,” the shorter boy replied. He shoved Ross’ shoulder and nearly sent him over the edge of the canyon.

  “Watch it, Durnin,” Ross snapped.

  “Sorry,” Durnin immediately apologized.

  Rhett ignored them and stepped around the ladder. He slid down even faster than Lunera had done.

  “I’m going before you push me over,” Ross growled with a glare at the other boy.

  “At least you’d get to the bottom quickly,” Durnin replied sullenly as his friend slid down. He followed without a glance in my direction.

  I sucked in a steeling breath and then swung around the side of the ladder. I didn’t have to wonder if my movements appeared fumbling compared to the others. The thought of merely holding on with the insides of my ankles and a grip on the poles made my heart pound in my chest. A quick look around showed that there was no other way down. It was either slide or become bear fodder.

  I gritted my teeth and slipped my ankles around the outside of the poles. Loosening my grip was harder than I thought. Apparently, the wolf side of me thought sliding down was hazardous to my health. I couldn’t have agreed more.

  My heart leaped into my throat when I opened my hands slightly and slid about ten feet. I accidentally grabbed the left pole harder than the right. I jerked to the left, my feet slipped clear of the poles, and I hung suspended with only the grip of my left hand keeping me from plummeting to the bottom of the canyon. It took a few heart-pounding seconds to swing back and get my feet and both of my hands situated again. The healing burn from the demon fire on my right palm made the skin a bit more slippery than the left. Keeping that in mind, I gripped hard and waited to catch my breath.

  “Look at the wimp,” Rhett called up. “You going to hang around up there all day?” He laughed, then said, “Come on, guys. He’s not going to make it.”

  Fueled by the boy’s words, I opened my hands again. The rock wall sped by so fast the details blurred. I hit the ground with a thump that made dust rise from beneath my shoes. I tu
rned to find the other werewolves watching me. By the looks on their faces, I had apparently done something right.

  I cleared my throat. “So, was that the first leg of the Gauntlet?”

  Lunera grinned and turned away. Rhett rolled his eyes. “I thought you were stupid before. Thanks for confirming it.”

  Durnin and Ross laughed and followed Rhett. I guessed doing one thing right didn’t account for much in the Gauntlet.

  Determined not to ask any more stupid questions, I trailed behind the others. It wasn’t many steps before I caught up to where they were staring up the wall on the other side of the canyon.

  “Up and over,” Lunera said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

  Rhett threw me a challenging look. “What’s wrong, cur? Afraid of a little climb?”

  I didn’t reply. Lunera started up. She made it look easy, placing each hand and foot methodically to climb up what looked like the nearly sheer face of the wall. Rhett moved further down, then started up his own path.

  “This is my least favorite part,” Ross grumbled. “Tall people weren’t made to climb.”

  “Stop complaining,” Durnin said. “You try scaling a wall with my arms and legs. At least you have a decent wingspan.”

  I moved away from the pair and began to climb a few feet from Rhett. I had never actually tried to scale the side of a cliff before. I figured if I got stuck, I could keep an eye on how Rhett was doing it and move over to follow him.

  It was slow going. The sun was beating on our backs by the time we neared the top. Sweat trickled down my shoulder blades and stung the lash marks across my back. My throat was dry and my forearms ached from carrying my weight by my fingertips. I took my time, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth to make sure I didn’t get winded. Luckily, the others didn’t seem in a hurry, either. Each of us concentrated on clearing the top and gaining a much-needed rest. We were almost there. I just needed to take my time.

  A shout made my fingers slip from their handhold. Fortunately, my other hand and my feet were secure. I looked up to see Lunera slide past Rhett and then tumble from the wall. Everyone watched, shocked, as she hit the wall once about halfway down before she landed with a thump at the bottom. Any hope I had that she might survive the fall vanished at the sight of her broken body and her head twisted at an unnatural angle. Red spilled out to cover the dirt around her.

  Rhett swore above me. I thought about the way Lunera had fallen, sliding past him before she plummeted to the ground below. He could have caught her. It may have pulled him from the wall or threatened his progress, but for a moment, he’d had the chance to save her life.

  I saw the same realization on Rhett’s face. Horror warred with guilt in his eyes as he stared down at her body. His gaze shifted from the girl to me. The emotions were replaced by a wall of anger.

  “Too bad that’s not you down there, cur,” Rhett growled.

  “Yeah, cur,” Durnin said in a shaky voice. “You should join Lunera.”

  The sound of her name had a sobering effect on the group. Rhett grunted, then continued his climb upward. Ross and Durnin followed. I couldn’t help picturing Lunera’s family in the spectator room at the Den as they watched their daughter plummet to the ground. Perhaps the Pack considered her too weak to join them, maybe she didn’t have what it took to survive at the Den, but she didn’t have to die. She would have been welcome at the Academy. Of that, I was certain. I gritted my teeth and climbed upward with the vow that I would help any other child of the Den find safety before falling to such a meaningless death.

  I pulled myself over the lip of the cliff in time to see the others enter a large tunnel. We were about two-thirds of the way up the canyon. The lip I rolled onto had been dug about twenty feet into the wall of the canyon. The tunnel the others walked into snaked into the wall at an angle. The ceiling, sides, and ground were cement. I could only imagine how long it had taken to build.

  “Divide and conquer,” Ross said from inside.

  My ears were met by a high-pitched humming sound when I ducked into the darkness. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the grays of the wolf. When they did, I wanted to leave the tunnel again.

  The tunnel split into five branches that ran side-by-side. Within each branch, I could see the source of the sound. Saws of every shape and size littered the small tunnels. Some were as tall as me while others were no bigger than my hand. These popped up at random places from the floor and swung from the ceiling. It looked as though we had stepped into a house of horrors where the horror was getting chopped into little pieces.

  “Is this some kind of sick joke?” I asked.

  All three boys looked back at me.

  “Does it look like a joke?” Rhett shot back levelly.

  I nodded. “Actually, it does.” I gestured toward the saws and then at the cameras suspended every few feet down the tunnel. “It looks as though this pack you’re so eager to join is just as eagerly awaiting the chance to see you get shredded to pieces. Is this really how they expect their sons and daughters to prove their worth?” I shook my head. “If that’s what it means to be in a pack, I’m glad I don’t have one. You guys need to seriously rethink your allegiance here.”

  Durnin looked at the saws and then back at me. “But we don’t have a choice.” The whining in his voice carried a heavy dose of fear.

  “Yeah,” Ross agreed. He glanced at one of the cameras as if worried about being overheard. “If we don’t go, we’ll get fed to the bears.”

  “Can I just point out that even the cruelest creatures in this world don’t feed their young to others?” I replied.

  The two boys looked from me to Rhett.

  “What do we do?” Ross asked, his voice quiet.

  Rhett glared at me. “We make it through the tunnel and face the last leg of the Gauntlet. It’s what you’ve trained for.” He crossed his arms as he glared at his friends. “Ross, do you really want to disappoint your grandma? And Durnin, you take first every year in the obstacle courses.”

  “Yeah, but they weren’t trying to kill me,” Durnin replied with his gaze on the cement floor at his feet.

  Rhett sighed and spoke so that his voice was just audible above the hum of the saws. “I know it looks scary, but you’ve trained for this. You can do it, both of you. We’re going to come out of the Gauntlet and get our brands together. Who’s with me?” He held out his hand.

  Ross immediately put his on top. Durnin hesitated, glanced at me, and then put his hand on the others.

  “I can’t let my family down,” the werewolf said by way of apology.

  “They let you down by expecting you to do this,” I replied, eyeing the saws. “Death by bears sounds pretty inviting right now.”

  “Wolf up, freak,” Rhett growled. He looked at his friends. “I’m doing this in wolf form. There’s not much clearance in there. You’ll be more agile.”

  He pulled his shirt off, followed by his shoes and shorts. The others turned away and did the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rhett fold his shorts into a tight bundle and then wrap the drawstring around it. He tied a loop in the end before he phased.

  Grateful for the shorts Kiyah had given me, I quickly did the same. I phased and was in wolf form in time to see all three boys duck their heads and ease the cord of their shorts over their snouts and one paw. Using a series of practiced motions, their bundled shorts soon rested across their shoulder blades.

  It took me far longer to figure out how to make it happen, but after several ungraceful, ridiculous movements that no doubt caused plenty of hilarity to the spectators at the Den, my shorts rested between my shoulders where they wouldn’t impede my movements.

  I looked up to see that the others had already started their journey inside the tunnels. Each had chosen a different one. I figured that was part of the rules. Grumbling inwardly to myself about the idiocy of blind followers, I picked one of the two remaining tunnels. The thought that Lunera wo
uld have taken the last one if she had survived reminded me how serious my situation was.

  The saws were no joke. I ducked one that swung above my head, sidestepped another that would have sliced through my paws, and narrowly missed the next one that shot from one side of the tunnel to the other suspended on some sort of metal line. My heart raced and I could barely catch my breath. I felt as if I was on the edge of dying. The realization of my impending doom ran through my head.

  I was about to jump over another saw when a thought struck me. I had done this before.

  It wasn’t real, of course. I would definitely have remembered my life hanging by a thread as I maneuvered around a metal-toothed obstacle course. I may not have lived it, but I had played a game similar to it.

  Drake and I used to play video games together after school if we weren’t hanging out with friends. One of his favorites involved getting a character from the beginning of a deadly maze to the exit. One of the segments looked pretty much like the challenge I faced. Drake used to run his character through in a mad dash, dodging, jumping, and rolling whenever he could to avoid the saws, bombs, and lasers, but his method inevitably resulted in the character’s demise. I, on the other hand, had found it best to take it slow and figure out the patterns of the objects trying to kill me. Once I knew where they were predetermined to hit, I could easily make my way to the other side. It drove Drake crazy and made me the winner enough times that we eventually quit the game.

  A scream sounded. My heart clenched at the thought of what one of the other boys was experiencing. I gritted my teeth and willed my mind to accept my route instead of Drake’s. The wolf side of me that demanded I escape such a dangerous place acceded to the reasoning of my human side. I pulled my tail between my legs so it wouldn’t get cut off and counted the seconds between the next saw’s movements.

  Two seconds, a slash, then the saw after it shot up from the ground to about stomach height before it disappeared back into the cement. After it, a swinging saw sliced through the air low enough to sever my spinal cord. I counted to three, watched two saws jut in from either side of the tunnel, then a third one bigger than me rose from the ground and cut through the tunnel completely. It spun for four seconds before it lowered slowly back down.