“Okay,” I said. “Well, then, when I’m ready to try to break in—”
“No, no,” he said. “Let’s do it now. No time like the present, right?”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“Which is why it’s the perfect time.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I scurried over to my dresser. “I’ll just get some clothes and throw them on in the bathroom.”
“Wear dark colors,” he said.
Oh, that was a good idea, too. I picked up a pair of black jeans and a black shirt, and I went into the bathroom. As I changed out of my pajamas, I contemplated Harper’s about face. I was glad he was helping me. If he hadn’t, I would have done it on my own. It would be nice to have some company.
But he was doing all this stuff for me because he liked me, and I still didn’t like him back in that way. I was still hung up on Carter, even if he’d told me to stay away from him, even if he’d gone away, disappeared from campus, abandoning me to Scales and Fangs. There was something powerful about our attraction to each other, and I couldn’t let go of it. When Harper figured out that I wasn’t going to get over Carter, would he still be so helpful?
Somehow, I kind of doubted it.
We left the dorm together. It was so late at night that the Resident Assistant on duty at the front desk had already gone to sleep. It was mostly quiet. The only person we saw was a guy in his pajamas stalking in front of the vending machines. He was muttering to himself, but it sounded like he was drilling geometry formulas or something. He didn’t pay any attention to us.
Once outside, Harper let me take the lead.
I took us into the woods, doing my best to remember how to get to the weird old tree out in the forest. Then I remembered that it was close to the amphitheater, and I asked Harper to help me get there.
“You mean that the inner sanctum of Scales and Fangs has been underneath that tree the whole time?” he asked me.
“I guess so,” I said.
“I’ve walked by that tree so many times.” He shook his head. “I never would have guessed.”
But when we approached the tree, we heard voices.
There were two figures there, both in robes.
Harper and I crouched down, out of sight.
“You don’t think he’ll be a problem, do you?” said one of the robed members.
“He’s the last person I would have expected to go soft,” said the other.
“He certainly seemed capable of pulling it off at the beginning.”
“Oh, he’ll pull it off. Now, how long he’ll last afterwards, when he’s destroyed that girl, that I can’t say. Armstrong made it twenty years. We can only hope for that long again.”
They swept past us, moving through the forest, and their voices faded away.
Who had they been talking about? Was I the girl who was going to be destroyed?
Shivers ran through me.
When we were sure that they had gone, we got up and crept forward to the tree.
I turned in a circle at the base of it. “There’s a hidden trap door here, somewhere.” I began to stomp my feet on the ground. There. A hollow noise beneath me. “It’s here.”
We knelt down and pushed aside the leaves and branched that had been thrown down as camouflage, exposing the wooden door in the ground.
Which was locked.
“Great,” I muttered. Why hadn’t I thought about this?
“It’s okay,” said Harper. “I think I can pick this lock. Go and see if you can find me a sturdy stick that will fit inside the lock.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You think that’s going to work?”
“Sure,” he said. “Trust me.”
Well, I didn’t know anything about picking locks, so maybe he was right. I started to look around on the ground for a sturdy, but small twig. Honestly, I was pretty sure that anything he put in there would just break. You couldn’t use wood against metal. It didn’t work. Did it?
“Teagan, I got it.”
I hurried back. Sure enough, the door was open.
He grinned. “I, um, found a paperclip in my pocket. It worked pretty well.”
It did? “Where’d you learn to pick locks, Harper?”
“Oh, you know, around,” he said. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
I hung back for a second. Had that been too easy?
He held out his hand for me. “Come on, Teagan.”
I reached out and let him take my hand. Together, we climbed inside, pulling the door closed after us. We descended the stone steps into the depths of the inner sanctum of Scales and Fangs.
It was dark, because the torches on the walls weren’t lit.
Harper took one off the wall. He lit it with a lighter from his pocket. And when he did, he pulled something else out too. Something that glittered and fell, hitting the stone steps with a small clang.
A key.
I picked it up.
Harper gulped, his face flickering in the torchlight. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“You didn’t pick the lock at all, did you?” I said. “How did you get a key to the inner sanctum of Scales and Fangs?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Professor Bancroft gave it to me.” Harper darted forward and captured both of my wrists. “Stay calm, Teagan.”
I tugged at my hands, trying to get away from him.
“Stop it.” He scrabbled on the wall for balance. We were still on the steps, and my movement threatened to send us both sprawling. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?”
“Listen to me, you’ve been down here before. You must know that if you take off running, you’ll just get lost. These tunnels go on for miles. Do you want to starve to death underground, Teagan?”
I remembered having a similar fear the last time I was down here. He was right. Unless I could get free and get back up the steps, I didn’t have much reason to run. Harper was blocking the steps, but maybe if I knocked us both over...
Abruptly, he let go of my hands.
I lost my balance and toppled down the rest of the stairs, my body glancing painfully against the stone. I cried out.
He hurried down after me, and knelt down. “Sorry about that. I saw what you were thinking. Trying to make a break up the steps, right? I couldn’t let you do that.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “Why, Harper? How did they get to you too?”
“Oh, I was tapped last year. I’m a full-fledged member of the society.” He moved the torch over my body. “You bleeding anywhere?”
“But you said you weren’t in Scales and Fangs.”
“So did you,” he said. With one hand, he began unlacing his shoe.
“And the first night, the night we went to the bar, you didn’t know about the meeting.”
“I knew about it,” he said. “I chose to be with you instead. I didn’t know you’d been tapped at the time. I didn’t know who you were. It was only recently that they told me everything.”
“Everything.”
“Well, I didn’t know you were fucking Carter.” He pulled his shoelace free, set the torch in a holder on the wall, and began tying my hands together. “That was kind of a nasty surprise. Of course, I knew you were going to be fucking him eventually. The ritual demands that. But I thought before then, you were open season. He’s really kind of hogging you, you know. Not fair.”
I felt sick.
He took me by the arm, and picked the torch back up. “Well, let’s walk.”
“W-where are we going?”
“Your new home for the next few weeks,” he said. “At least until the ritual.”
“The ritual?” I said. Then, as what he’d said sunk in, “I’m trapped down here?”
He led me through the darkened tunnels. “I know. It sucks. It’s not your fault. Honestly, I blame Dean Surber for the most part. Adelaide has really made a mess of things. You’re paying the price.”
He continued to talk as we turne
d the corner into an identical corridor. “Some people would say that most of the blame lies with Carter, because he’s the one who had to get in your pants before the appointed time and all of that. But I can’t say I blame him.” He caressed my cheek. “You’re so beautiful, Teagan.”
I cringed. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because the society needs your power,” he said. “I’m going to miss you afterwards. I know that. But this sacrifice you’re making is going to help all of Scales and Fangs. It’s a big deal. I have to help. For the greater good.”
“No,” I said. “Harper, we’re friends. Let me go.”
He shook his head sadly. “Can’t. Sorry. And, you know, I always wanted to be more than friends.”
I gulped. He was punishing me because I hadn’t been attracted to him?
“Where was I?” He paused. “Oh, right. I don’t blame Carter. Now, the two of you could have been more discreet about it. Reba has a big, blabby mouth, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. But if Adelaide simply had brushed aside the accusation, and pretended like nothing was wrong, well, then we wouldn’t be in this pickle, would we?”
Maybe I should try to make a run for it. Maybe it would be better to starve in these tunnels than to listen to Harper.
“But no,” he continued. “She had to make it into a federal case. You want to know why, Teagan? Because she was jealous. That’s right. Her and Carter were hot and heavy last year, and she couldn’t stand the thought of him with you. You’re everything she isn’t. Young. Pretty. Delicate. She was crushed that Carter wanted you instead of her. And so she took him off my play, and she told you to stay away from him. And then when you tried to see him, as anyone would, she put wards on you.”
He sighed, yanking me around another corner. “I think if the wards hadn’t been put on, everything would have been fine. I would have been able to convince you that things were okay. That was what I was supposed to do, you see. I was supposed to get you to see that you were crazy, and that everything was okay. And then we could all go about our business. But Adelaide put those damned wards on you. And after being in excruciating pain like that, there was no convincing you that weird things weren’t happening. That’s why I completely blame her. No one else. Just her. And now, she’s gone and ruined my play.”
His play? What?
We turned left. How many turns had we made? Maybe I could still get back to the door if I got away now. But Harper’s grip around my arm was like iron.
“When it became obvious that I couldn’t calm you down,” said Harper, “I talked to Professor Bancroft and told him you wanted to come here. He said it was perfect. We’d get you down into the inner sanctum, and we’d be able to keep watch over you.”
He opened a door on the right side of the hall. He pushed me inside.
I stumbled, sprawling on the floor. I expected to hit hard stone, but it was plush carpet.
The room was bathed in light. I looked up to see Harper standing next to a light switch. The room I was in was quite modern. There was a single bed in one corner, covered in a red paisley comforter. A flat screen television was fastened to the far wall, in the perfect spot to watch from the bed. A closet was open next to the bed. It seemed to be stocked full of clothes.
“See,” said Harper, “Bancroft was worried that you were going to lock yourself in your room, and that we’d have a heck of a time getting you for the ritual. Would have brought a lot of attention to ourselves, and that’s not a great thing for a secret society, is it?”
I struggled to stand up, but it was difficult with my hands tied together. “So, you’re locking me up here instead then. So that you can get me for this ritual—whatever it is—whenever you want.”
“That’s right,” said Harper. “But it completely fucks up my play. And I’m kind of pissed about that.”
“Your play.” I glared at him. He disgusted me. “You’re worried about your play. This society is going to kill me.”
“No, we’re not.” He closed the door and sat down next to me. “We’re not going to kill you, Teagan. We just need your power. It’s a very easy little ritual. You’ll be on an altar with Carter. He’ll have sex with you, and all your power will transfer to him.”
My dream. It was my dream. In the woods, on a raised dais with the dark man. Oh God. Carter was trying to steal my light, just like my aunts had always said. He’d known this the whole time, and he’d never tried to help me.
Harper began to untie my hands. “Of course, when he takes your power, it tends to sort of... lobotomize you at the same time. You won’t really be the same. But you won’t be dead. I promise you that.”
“Scales and Fangs did this to my mother.”
He pulled the shoelace free. “To women of the Moss clan for generations on end, all the way back into the fourteenth century, when Scales and Fangs and your family lived in Europe.” He smiled. “You’re part of a vast legacy, Teagan. You should be honored.”
I flexed my wrists, rubbing my hands because some of the circulation had left. Then I dove at him, clawing at his face.
He grabbed my hands and pushed me against the wall. “Hey, hey. I know you’re scared. But there’s no reason to take it out on me. This is bigger than both of us.” He leaned close, pressing his lips against my forehead. “This is going to give us a chance to start over, Teagan. You and me.”
I struggled. “Get off me.”
He let go of me warily. “I guess it might take a little time for you to adjust, huh?”
“Fuck you.”
He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’ll be back to see you soon, okay? I really want this to work.”
I lunged at him, digging my fingernails into his skin.
He shoved me against the wall hard. His face was bleeding.
I couldn’t help flinching.
He slammed me into the wall again. “Please, don’t do that again. There’s no reason to be violent.”
My head hit. Pain burst through my skull. I bit down on my lip. “You bastard.”
Harper threw me onto the bed in the room. He stalked out, slamming the door after himself.
I scrambled to my feet, but by the time I got to the door, it was shut and locked in my face. I pounded on it for a few minutes, but I knew that no one would let me out.
I was trapped underground by Scales and Fangs. And I didn’t know how I was going to get free.
* * *
He didn’t come back for two days. I thought it was that long, anyway. I had to judge by the programming on the TV, because there wasn’t any way to see outside. I had a bathroom with running water, so I was able to get something to drink, but I didn’t get any food.
I was starving. My stomach had started to ache because of it. It was past growling. Now, I thought it was gnawing on itself.
Harper brought food. A big burger and fries. I ripped into it, shoving food into my mouth.
He watched me with a strange smile on his face. “Happy to see me this time?”
I didn’t answer. I was too busy chewing and swallowing.
“They wanted to feed you before this, but I kept the food from you.”
I set down my burger, too shocked to eat. “You did what?”
“I want you to appreciate just how much you owe me, Teagan. Just how much power I have over you.”
I took another bite and stared at him. Had he always been this fucked up? How had I not noticed?
“I wanted you to be grateful.” He touched my face.
I yanked away from his touch. “Don’t.”
He shook his head. “That’s not the way I want you to be, Teagan. I can keep food from you for longer, you know.”
Oh God.
“You need to cooperate with me. I want to fuck you, and I want you to like it.” He smiled. “You can make me believe you like it, can’t you? You got lots of method acting lessons from Carter. Don’t act. Be.”
I felt like my stomach had closed up. I set down the food. So he was threatenin
g not to feed me unless I had sex with him?
Could I handle not eating for another two days?
I shut my eyes. I could handle it. After all, he couldn’t kill me. Scales and Fangs needed me for the ritual. But I wasn’t going to let Harper rape me before Carter raped me.
Oh. Oh, God. Carter. How had he let this happen to me?
But I couldn’t think about him, or I would fall apart.
I glared at Harper defiantly. “I’d rather die than let you touch me.” I spit in his face.
His face twisted. “You bitch.”
I picked my burger back up. I was going to need to eat while I could.
He snatched it away from me. “I don’t think so. See how you like not eating for a week, Teagan. See if you’re a little more agreeable then.”
* * *
Carter
“What are you doing back here?” Adelaide asked me. She was in the library of the inner sanctum. I’d heard her approach—her heels clicking against the stone floor. “I figured you’d be in New York with Fletcher for at least a week.”
“I wasn’t feeling New York,” I said. Luckily, I’d had time to hide the book I’d been reading before she came closer. I didn’t know how I would have explained to her the fact that I was reading up on ways to remove wards. I needed to get the wards off of Teagan, or I’d never be able to get her away from Thornfield. And that drunk girl in Fletch’s apartment had been right. I needed to make a decision. I either cared about Teagan, or I didn’t. Being away from her like that had made me realize that I was in love with her. I’d do anything to save her. Screw Scales and Fangs. Screw the power. Screw Adelaide. I glared at her.
She raised her eyebrows. “Are you here looking for Teagan?”
I furrowed my brow. “What? Looking for her down here? Why would she be down here?”
She swore under her breath. “You didn’t know.”
“She’s down here?” I said.
Adelaide sighed. “She was becoming a liability out in the world. Talking to people, saying things about the society. We figured it was safer to—”
Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels Page 47