Good vs. Evil High

by April Marcom

  Good Vs. Evil High

  by April Marcom

  Published by

  Fire and Ice

  A Young Adult Imprint of Melange Books, LLC

  White Bear Lake, MN 55110

  www.fireandiceya.com

  Good Vs. Evil High, Copyright 2014 April Marcom

  ISBN: 978-1-61235-923-6

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover Design by Caroline Andrus

  For my mom, who helped make my dreams come true.

  GOOD VS. EVIL HIGH

  by April Marcom

  Deadly disaster strikes when Good falls in love with Evil.

  Kristine’s just been adopted into North Haven High, an ice castle hidden in the farthest reaches of the north for orphaned teenagers who possess an unfailing disposition for good. And she’s just in time for their Winter Competitions, a rivalry held each year between NHHS and Southland Cinder High, a school made up of the exact opposite sort of teens. Here she finds Knight, a Cinder she grew up with but lost contact with years ago. And even though it’s forbidden, she begins to fall for him. Of course, her North Haven boyfriend’s got a thing or two to say about that. But Kristine doesn’t care. She’s happier than she’s been in years as she gets closer and closer to the man she’s falling completely in love with and having crazy fun with her new roommates.

  Unfortunately it’s short lived, because everything begins going wrong.

  Table of Contents

  "Good Vs. Evil High"

  Chapter One: Fire

  Chapter Two: Recruit

  Chapter Three: Cinders

  Chapter Four: Two Brothers

  Chapter Five: North Haven

  Chapter Six: Headmaster

  Chapter Seven: Track Star

  Chapter Eight: Café Cafeteria

  Chapter Nine: First Kiss

  Chapter Ten: No Escape

  Chapter Eleven: The Baring Springs

  Chapter Twelve: A Touch Possessive

  Chapter Thirteen: Soulbound

  Chapter Fourteen: Southland Cinder High

  Chapter Fifteen: Knight

  Chapter Sixteen: Cinder Territory

  Chapter Seventeen: Mysterious Attack

  Chapter Eighteen: Late Night Incident

  Chapter Nineteen: Suspicious Character

  Chapter Twenty: Rose Awakens

  Chapter Twenty-One: North Haven Victor

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Riding a Cyclone

  Chapter Twenty-Three: One-Sided?

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Lucky Break

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Eternal Bond

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Mass Decision

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Sacred Child

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Go or Say

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Chilling Christmas Gift

  Chapter Thirty: All I Want

  Chapter Thirty-One: Silver Mask

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Whatever It Takes

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Wedge

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Guilty

  Chapter Thirty-Five: They Know

  Chapter Thirty-Six: Dying Heart

  Chapter Thirty-Seven: Escape Plan

  Chapter Thirty-Eight: Go Day

  Chapter Thirty-Nine: Indebted

  Chapter Forty: Manhunt

  Chapter Forty-One: Nine Lives

  Chapter Forty-Two: The Six

  Chapter Forty-Three: Ambassador

  Chapter Forty-Four: Fateful

  About the Author

  Previews

  Chapter One

  ~ Fire ~

  I woke up to an earsplitting beep, beep, beep. I sat up in bed, recognizing the pungent smell of smoke. Girls all over Room Fifteen—numbered for our age—in The Broken Ridge Home for Girls sat up in the long row of beds on either side of me.

  “What’s going on?” Samantha asked sleepily from my left.

  “Fire!” I jumped out of bed and ran to the first of two girls I knew could sleep through almost anything. “Get everyone out!” I started shaking Rachel, our newest girl and heaviest sleeper. She was rubbing her eyes groggily.

  Someone screamed. I looked in the direction it had come from and saw Samantha standing in front of the door, holding her hand. She looked at me and said, “The door’s blazing hot,” before she pulled her sock off and put it on her hand.

  “Wait,” I said. “The fire could be right outside our room. Tie sheets together and hang them out the window.” We were on the top floor, but luckily, we were in a two-story building.

  “Come on, Rachel. Get up.”

  Rachel finally opened her eyes a crack. “What’re you doing?” She was getting there, but still not awake enough to understand the seriousness of what was happening.

  Even though I was afraid she’d punch me for it, I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into sitting position. “The house is on fire! Get up!” She stared at me as if she might seriously hit me, but I didn’t give her time. I let her go and looked four beds over at Tawny, world’s heaviest sleeper number two. She was stumbling away from her mattress with her eyes nearly closed.

  The window scraped open noisily and I was immediately hit by the cold October air. “Kristine, the screen!” Samantha said.

  “Rip it out,” I answered. I went to help her tie the sheets to the cold bars at the end of the bed that had been dragged to the window. I waited patiently for every girl in the room to get out before I did, the room filling with smoke the entire time.

  I felt a great deal of relief knowing every girl in that room was safe. But as I climbed out of the window and looked in both directions, I realized everyone else was still in danger. So many precious lives filled that orphanage and no one else was climbing out of the windows. Hopefully they’d all gotten out of their rooms okay and were running down the stairs to safety.

  Only a couple of girls were there when my feet hit the ground. The rest had probably gone around front.

  I could already see the flickering light of fire inside most of the lower level windows to my right. The smoke alarm on our corner of the building must have gone off later than the rest.

  “Knock on all the windows and throw whatever you can find at the ones upstairs. Try to get everyone out who’s still in there,” I said before I ran around front. When I got there, tall flames were pouring out of windows and washing over the red bricks, turning them black.

  For a minute I simply stared, remembering the cold winter nights, inadequate meals, and harsh treatment we’d all endured since the day I’d arrived in that worthless place three years before. The birthdays and holidays always forgotten. The nightmares it produced in many of us. It almost felt good to watch it all ablaze, except for the lives it was putting at risk.

  I forced myself to turn my attention to the crowd of girls gathered out front as I searched their faces for Ms. Wendy’s. The only adult I saw was her assistant standing in the middle of several desperate girls who were all asking questions and crying. So I ran toward her. “Ms. Wendy’s gone for help,” she was saying. “I don’t know what happened. And there’s nothing I can do. So calm down and shut up!” But the girls’ hysterical questions continued.

  Looking through the terrified faces, I realized the youngest ones were absent. We had girls as young as five living t
here. Ms. Mary. She’s the one in charge of five and six year olds. She was just as cold-hearted as the rest of the women who took care of us, but at least she would be able to tell me if they’d gotten out all right. Where’s Ms. Mary?” I screamed, running around in front of everyone. They acted as if I wasn’t even there. Ms. Mary was little enough it was hard to spot her. But I caught a glimpse of her behind a few of the Room Thirteen girls. “Where’re the little ones?” I asked, running toward her.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You left them in there?”

  “I had to get myself out.”

  Enraged, and not at all surprised by her neglect, I took off toward the right side of the building. Why did no one else care? Could one of the orphanage ladies actually be hateful enough to have started the fire? I wondered as I ran to Room Eight’s window first.

  We were taught never to climb out the window or we would suffer serious consequences. If they were unable to leave through their door, the girls inside might’ve been too scared to use the window.

  I started pounding my fist on the window before I got a good look inside. And just as I’d expected, they were all huddled in the corner beside the window, coughing, crying, and hugging each other. Flames were moving up the door on the other side of the room. They all turned to me. “Open the window!” I shouted. Lucy, the girl nearest me, reached up with shaking hands and unlocked the window. “You’ve got to get out of there. Come on.” I reached for her hand and helped Lucy climb out of the window. “I’ve got to go. Make sure everyone gets out. Don’t leave anyone behind.”

  “Don’t leave us alone,” Lucy called. Even though my heart hurt at the fear in her voice, I had to keep going.

  I went to the Room Seven window and did the same thing.

  And then Room Six. The flames hadn’t quite reached them, but dark smoke already filled the air. I instructed the children to open the window, but only one girl could reach it, and she couldn’t seem to get the lock undone.

  I ran around the side to see if anyone was out back. The yard was deserted.

  So I picked up one of the heavy rocks lining the outside of our building and raced back to the window. “Stand back.” I reached back and threw it against the window, shattering it completely. Then I climbed in and kicked as much glass out of the way as I could before I helped the girls climb through the window so they wouldn’t cut themselves.

  The smoke hit me the second I stepped in, but I pulled my shirt up over my nose and kept going.

  Room Five was in the center, I remembered, the worst room in the building because it was the smallest and the only one without windows. The thought made me sick. But it was right next to the one I was in. If I could get to them through the hallway they might be okay.

  By the time I got the last Room Six girl out, I was coughing and feeling a little dizzy. The air was so thick with smoke. Still, I ran to the door and reached out for it.

  It was hot, but I had to get to the smallest girls. Leaving them to burn wasn’t an option, no matter what it took to get them out. I yanked a blanket off a bed and wrapped it around the doorknob so I could turn it. Fire was burning the walls across the hall from me. It suddenly hit me that the house could cave in at any moment.

  Even though the heat stung and the smoke burned my eyes and throat, I raced to Room Five and wrapped my hand around the burning doorknob. Why hadn’t I brought the blanket with me? No time. My hand burned and blistered. Inside that room I found nine terrified little girls crouching against the wall beside the door.

  They all screamed when they saw me, and I opened my mouth to tell them to follow me, but I began to throw up instead. My throat felt as if it was on fire between the heavy black smoke and the acid my stomach was now producing.

  “Ok...” I couldn’t stop coughing. I couldn’t even think straight. “...I...I need you to come with me.” They didn’t move. As pain began spreading throughout my body, I moved to the girls and grabbed two of them by the arms. “Come on.” I began pulling them through the door, forcing them to step in my vomit along the way. The rest of them followed, and we were running to Room Six and then to the window.

  I helped each of the girls out before I realized one wasn’t there. “Who’s missing?” I asked the last one as she climbed out.

  “Annicka’s under the bed,” the little girl said.

  No! I leaned out the window to take in a deep breath of clean air and ran back into the hallway, feeling extremely lightheaded now.

  “Annicka,” I called out in Room Five. No response. “Annicka!” Nothing. I lay down and moved around against the floor, looking under every bed.

  My eyes were getting heavy. By the time I got to the fifth bed, I could barely keep them open. As everything began getting hazy, I saw a hand under one of the beds up ahead. It seemed so far away. And I needed to sleep, but I had to help that little girl. Sirens echoed inside my head. I couldn’t stay awake much longer.

  Using the last bit of strength I possessed and my final driving thought, ...must...help...her....I dragged myself to the seventh bed and reached out to hold that tiny hand. It was the only way they would find her. They would see me and follow my arm to hers. She would be saved...if anyone found us...she would be saved...

  Chapter Two

  ~ Recruit ~

  I let out a groan. My head pounded as I tried to remember. There was something...something I knew I needed to remember. I reached up to touch my forehead and felt needles stab every part of my hand. I gasped and opened my eyes.

  The pain in my heavily bandaged hand was quickly wiped from my mind as I realized five teenagers about my age were standing at the edge of my bed watching me. I’d never seen any of them before. And they were all wearing full white suits so that only their heads and hands were exposed.

  “Good morning,” the boy nearest me said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

  “Terrible.” I looked around the room and realized I was in a small hospital room. “The fire!” I sat up straight. “Did everyone make it out alive?”

  “Mm-hm. The firefighters got everyone out safely.”

  “Thank goodness.” I sat back in my bed and smiled. That little girl was okay.

  But I had to wonder who the people surrounding me were. “Do you mind if I ask who you guys are?” I said.

  “We’re here because we want to take you somewhere with us,” the shortest girl said, the only one who had her black hair in a bun instead of a ponytail.

  “Where?”

  “Up north, farther than most people have ever traveled, to a school for exceptional kids, the kind who would risk their lives without thinking twice to save someone else’s.”

  The girl beside her spoke next. “Our headmaster heard about what you did, so he sent us down here to find out about you. We talked to a lot of the girls from the home and your school, your caretakers and teachers. You’re not someone who easily takes charge or does things for glory. You move quietly among others, almost unnoticed. But when it comes down to it, you will always do what’s right. Fear and outside influence won’t affect your decision. You proved that in the fire.”

  I raised a skeptical eyebrow. What they were saying didn’t make any sense. “So you came all the way down here from the North Pole to take me to a school for quiet heroes?”

  “Not exactly,” the boy who’d spoken before said. “It’s kind of like a boarding school for high school students who possess an unusual amount of good, enough that there’s no room for bad inside them, kids who can do a lot of good in the world in time. I’m Roman, by the way.”

  “I’m Hunter,” said the boy with glasses who was standing beside him.

  “Nadine,” the smallest girl said.

  “Sassy.”

  “And I’m Harmony.”

  “I guess it would be pointless to introduce myself,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Harmony said. “We already know you’re Kristine Ariel Fayre, born April twenty-fourth at six am. Your favorite food is pizza, favorite color
gold, favorite animal kittens...I could go on and on.”

  I couldn’t decide if I was creeped out or impressed. “Right. If you really want me to transfer schools and go live somewhere else, shouldn’t you be talking to the people who run the orphanage?”

  “That’ll be taken care of.”

  “No offense, but...”

  “We sound crazy?” Harmony asked. She definitely had the prettiest and most genuine smile of the three girls.

  “Yeah. I mean, do you have any identification or anything?”

  “We’ve got a book in the jet that’ll explain everything. But we really need to get going. We need to get you out of here unnoticed and there’s not a lot of time.”

  Jet? Seriously?

  “How did you know when I would wake up?”

  “We stopped the drip giving you sleeping medication and gave you something to help you wake up. The doctor wanted you to get twenty-four hours of good sleep. No one’ll be checking on you for awhile.”

  This still sounded crazy. “So there’s nothing you can offer me to show me you’re for real?”

  Harmony and Roman looked at each other for a second. Then she pulled something out of the only front pocket I could see. It was a small silver box, a little bigger than a cell phone. She touched the top and it slid back. Paper-thin blades popped out of the open space inside and began spinning like a helicopter, pulling the box up with it by a thin wire. What was left of the box began unfolding and snapping together until it formed a silver rectangle.

  “Hello, Harmony,” a voice said. “What can I do for you today?” I was surprised by how natural it sounded, not robotic at all.

  “Would you please show recruit Kristine Fayre a picture of North Haven High?”

  “Absolutely.” The flying thing turned around so that I saw a woman with golden blonde hair like mine on a screen. “Hello, Kristine,” she said to me before it began moving in my direction.