by Huss, JA
Then I remember what the Chairman said. Find Isabella. I left her in the woods.
“Isabella!” I scream it and stumble across the blacktop road. There is a path that leads into the woods. A path that will almost certainly take me to the tomb if I follow it. But that’s not where he told me to go.
“Cadee!” Isabella screams back. “Cadee, where are you?”
I’m still dizzy and sluggish, but I move forward on the path and enter the woods. “Isabella!”
Then I see a flash of white. “I’m here!”
She’s drugged too. Her body sways uncontrollably as she props herself up against the thick trunk of a tree.
She is wearing a thin white robe and no shoes on her feet. And even in the haphazard moonlight, I can see that they are bright red. A stark contrast against the white snow. Her robe is open in the front. She is naked underneath and there are weird symbols painted on her breasts and stomach.
She pulls the robe closed, her teeth chattering when she speaks. “Wh-where do we go? Wh-what do we do?”
I almost say I don’t know. But I do know. “The gate. We have to find the gate.”
“What gate?” She looks around, frantic. “What gate, Cadee?”
And again, I’m about to say I don’t know when I realize I do.
Victor.
I had a conversation with Victor once, last summer. He was trying to talk me into leaving that first day. And he said, There’s a path, Cadee. Right behind the Glass House. And that path takes to you to a gate. And outside that gate lives the real world. You could just slip out the gate and be done with it.
“Come on. I know where it is.” I take her and help her walk along the path. There are tons of people in the woods. FBI agents, I guess. High Court cult people too. They are yelling and screaming.
But they are all at the tomb and we’re not going to the tomb, we’re going to the Glass House. There’s a helicopter overhead. Several, actually. But Isabella and I are both wearing white. We blend in with the snow as we carefully make our way over to the Glass House and find the path.
We follow it and the commotion in the woods becomes a thing of the past. And finally, we do find a gate.
A very small gate that leads to a very narrow road, where a car is idling with its lights off.
Then the driver’s side door opens and Cooper steps out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE - COOPER
Isabella drops to the ground, taking Cadee with her. Cadee looks up at me. “Cooper! What are you doing here?”
I rush over and help pull Isabella to her feet. “I’m saving you back, Cadee Hunter. And we are not gonna argue about it this time. You’re getting in this car and you’re leaving this place forever.”
I reach for the passenger door and open it up. Isabella slumps down into the seat and I buckle her in. I catch sight of the red markings on her chest and pull her robe closed a little tighter. Then I pause to look her in the eyes. “You’re gonna be OK, Isabella. I promise.”
She brings her freezing and shaking hand up to my cheek and starts to cry.
I don’t know what happened to her tonight. I don’t think I want to know, at least not right now. I have way too much work ahead of me to fall into a rabbit hole of despair. So I take her hand in mine and gently kiss her knuckles, letting my breath warm her a little. “You will be OK.”
She takes a deep breath and nods. “Thank you.”
I flick the heater up to high, then close the door and turn to Cadee. “The GPS is set. All you gotta do is—” I’m interrupted by a barrage of gun fire coming from the woods. Cadee and I both duck down out of instinct.
“What the hell is happening, Cooper?”
I glance at the woods. Trying to determine if anyone is coming our way when a few more shots ring out into the night. Not that close. I turn back to Cadee. “The GPS has been programmed. Just get in and follow it.”
“What?”
“I don’t have time to explain. I have to go. I’m not arguing with you, Cadee. You’re leaving. Just get in the car, follow the map, and you’ll be fine.”
“What do you mean? You’re coming with us! We’re not leaving you here!”
“Cadee.” I place both my hands on her cheeks. She’s cold too, but not nearly as cold as Isabella was. “You know that’s not how this ends.”
“Bullshit! Bullshit, Christopher Valcourt! I am not leaving here without you!”
I put my hand over her mouth, stopping her words. “Cadee, you have no idea what just happened tonight. In a few hours, this is going to be on the news. High Court is over. People are being shot back there in the woods and everyone else is going to prison. When the public finds out what was really going on here, they will spew hate at us with a venom almost unheard of in modern times. You are leaving. This has been planned from the beginning. And if you try to stay out of some… very misplaced loyalty to me—then you really are the stupidest girl alive. Because I don’t deserve that loyalty. I’m not worth it, Cadee!”
She pulls my hand off her mouth. “Fuck you! You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do!”
I put my hand around her throat. “You have a collar around your neck. Has that not quite sunk in yet?”
Her hands grip mine, trying to pry it loose from her neck. Little noises squeak out of her mouth as she struggles.
I’m not squeezing. I can’t. The collar is in the way. But her attempts are futile. I am much bigger, I am much stronger, and I know a thing or two about intimidation. I grab both her wrists with my free hand and hold them tightly together as I look her in the eyes. “Get in that fucking car, follow the fucking GPS, and never—ever—look back.”
“Or what? What will you do, Cooper? Hmm? Bully me?”
“If you get in that car I will make sure that Sophie, Elexa, Valentina, Selina, Natalie, Maddie, and Mona all go free. And if you don’t get in that car, then you’re going to prison and I will make sure they go to prison with you. Even Isabella.”
“You’re lying. You would never—”
“Try me.” I glare at her. Because the woods behind us are now filled with screams as well as gun shots, and beyond that I can hear the crackle of a massive fire. Sirens in the distance. Two helicopters overhead.
“Why are you doing this? You could just get in the car! Come with us!”
She’s clawing at my suit coat. Desperately trying to make me listen to her. But I’m shaking my head through all of that. “Divide and conquer, Cades. We were never getting out of here together. You had to have known that. Christopher Valcourt is a very dangerous person to have on your friends list.”
“I won’t leave,” she whispers. “Not without you.”
“You will leave. Because inside that car is an envelope. And inside that envelope are all the answers you’ve been looking for about your parents.”
“What?” She looks at the car for a second. Hope and longing in her eyes.
It’s a lie. And she will hate me for that lie, but I don’t care. “Get in the car, Cadee.”
She shakes her head. But I take her hand and lead her around to the driver’s side.
“Cooper, please! Don’t do this! Don’t make us drive out of here alone.”
“You’re not alone! Jesus Christ! You’ve got Isabella. She’s got you. Neither of you need me! Don’t you get it? You’re wearing a fucking collar around your neck, Cadee! You think you won, don’t you? You think you outsmarted them because you’re here. Because you’re not dead. You think it was all free will—that you agreed to some grand plan. You are standing here wearing a virgin-sacrifice version of a school uniform. My brother and sister-in-law left you inside their house and set it on fire. There is a tomb of baby skulls in the Old Alumni Inn back yard. You are not in control. You were never in control. You are being controlled! You lost control of this situation so long ago, you don’t even know when it happened. You were a plan, Cadee. Everything that has happened to you was a plan.”
I stop and hold my breath.
&nbs
p; I don’t want to hurt her, but if this is what it takes to make her leave me behind, then that’s what I have to do.
So I say it another way. Just to make sure it really sinks in. “I treated you like shit, Cadee. Total fucking shit. And if you can’t see that, then you’re sick. You’re sick and you need a lot of fucking help.”
I want to kiss her. I want to make this the most romantic moment in the history of fairy tale endings. I want to tell her I’ll be back one day. We’ll have our chance.
But I can’t.
Because I’m no good for her.
I’ve never been good for her.
And she needs to see that.
So I turn my back and for the second time tonight, I walk away.
The woods are filled with smoke and it doesn’t take long before I disappear. I don’t stop and look back, I keep walking. But I hold my breath until I hear the car pull away.
Then I start running towards the fires.
Gunshots ring out again and I stop and hide behind a tree. Because this time they are very close.
So close I can hear voices. Arguing. Men arguing.
I follow them and find the Judge lying on the ground and Ax standing over him with a gun pointed at his chest.
“Ax! What the fuck are you doing? You’re supposed to be with the FBI!”
Ax’s response is low, and calm, and steady. “No, Cooper. I’m supposed to be right fucking here.”
“You won’t do it.” The judge is already seriously injured. So his words come out as a cough. He’s flat on his back just staring up at his… son. And his stomach is leaking blood. “You don’t have the fucking guts to do it. You’re just a mongrel. Just another nobody. Just a piece of shit boy who—”
The gunshot is loud and echoes in my ears for several seconds before I can comprehend what Ax has done.
Right between the fucking eyes. He shot him right between the fucking eyes.
Then I look at Ax. He’s still staring down at the man pretending to be his father. “They’re never gonna care.”
“What?”
Ax looks at me. “They had some kind of suicide pact. That’s what all the shooting is about.”
I look into the depths of the woods all around me. A shot rings out, but it’s far away. There are still voices, but even I can tell they are FBI or some other law enforcement agency.
“I gotta go.” Ax turns away and starts walking deeper into the woods.
“Wait! Where the fuck are you going?”
“Don’t worry about me, Cooper. I’ll be OK.”
“Ax!” I catch up with him and grab his arm. “No, dude. No. You’re not walking away.”
He chuckles. “Come on, Coop. Don’t be such a fucking romantic. Divide and conquer. You know this is how it ends.”
“But—” And then I just run out of words. Because he’s going to tell me all the things I just told Cadee. And in the end, my protests won’t matter.
So I let out a long exhale and say, “Take care, man.”
He nods once and walks away.
I watch him until he blends into the darkness of the forest and disappears. Then I turn back to the sound of chaos coming from the direction of my house, and return to play my part.
I stop on the edge of the woods and watch as my father is led over to a cop car in handcuffs. The red and blue strobe lights mixed in with the background of fire makes the whole thing surreal.
“Wait!” I come out of the woods and several state troopers come towards me. They’re gonna grab me, and that’s fine. But I want to talk to my father one last time before this ends.
“He’s with us,” a voice calls.
The troopers are just reaching for my arms when the FBI agent walks up to us. “Let him go, he’s with us.”
I nod at the agent, but my attention is on my father. “Can I have one minute with him?” I ask the agent.
I don’t wait for the reply. I just walk towards my father.
He’s the one who set this up, not Dante.
He’s the one who saved Cadee, not me.
And he’s the one who will pay for all of it. Because he and the Mayor betrayed their oaths to Fang and Feather.
There was a folder in the car I gave Cadee. The folder the Chairman and the Mayor sent the FBI letting them know where to find four vehicles programmed with GPS coordinates. Where to find four sets of girls who needed to be set free.
And of course, where to find the tomb in the woods and what time they should show up for the raid.
The trooper holding Chairman Valcourt pauses at the open door of the backseat. I open my mouth to say something, but my father speaks before I do. “I really like that tie, Cooper.”
The he ducks into the backseat without being told and the trooper closes the door.
And that’s that.
My father’s bully king reign is over.
BREAKING NEWS
Sick Secrets Discovered at Monrovian Lake Estates
In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, the residents of the small rural town of Monrovia were learning about the sick secrets being kept up in the quiet, wooded campus of an elite private school ten miles outside of town.
The FBI raided a mausoleum deep in the woods beyond Monrovian Lake Estates while seventeen lakeside mansions—some of which were over a hundred years old—burned in the background.
We don’t yet know what really happened out there in the place everyone calls ‘the tomb,’ but there has been talk of ritual sacrifice and a collection of bones were found buried along the shores of Lake Monrovia.
The bones of babies.
Forty-three people connected to High Court Prep and College were part of a murder suicide pact and FBI sources say “the woods are littered with bodies”.
Two of those bodies were identified as Judge Wesley Olsen and the mayor of Monrovia.
The Monrovian Sheriff was arrested on federal charges ranging from kidnapping to murder and seven deputies and city council members are being charged with obstruction of justice and accessory to murder.
It will take weeks to sort the facts from the fiction but the Monrovian County district attorney is already hinting that “the worst is yet to come”.
COURT REPORT
Winston Valcourt, former chairman of High Court College and Prep, finally has his day in court.
A day no one ever really thought would happen is finally here.
He is the last surviving member of what is now referred to as the High Court Cult, and the only one who will be brought to justice.
In the two years since the small upper-class town of Monrovia discovered that a sick Luciferian cult had been breeding children to sacrifice in bizarre rituals and selling young women into sexual slavery, almost all the high-profile men and women associated with the case have died or mysteriously disappeared.
All the deaths of the major players were declared to be murder suicides and occurred in the woods near the tomb the night of the raid. But another dozen high-profile families—all alumni of the elite High Court College and Prep schools—were arrested in the months following the initial raid.
They are all deceased now too, even though they inside prison cells and under suicide watch. No one knows if the minor players—those who were out on bail—escaped or found their final justice outside the legal system. But none of them have shown up for their day in court .
None of them have ever been seen again.
Chairman Valcourt was the exception. The kingpin of the operation. He enters the courtroom today fully expecting his only surviving son, Christopher, to testify against him.
EDUCATION NEWS
Mona Monroe, Chairwoman of High Court College and Prep, announces bold new educational initiative in her first interview since Chairman Valcourt’s conviction.
Interviewer: Thank you for joining us, Miss Monroe—
Mona: Oh, it’s Mrs. Legosi now.
That’s right. How could I forget your secret wedding? The media was in a frenzy when they
discovered you and Dante were trying to tie the knot in secret on that private island. And my, my—that is some rock he gave you.
Oh, this old thing. It’s actually my great-grandmother’s ring. But I’m not here to talk about my private life. High Court College and Prep is once again open for business.
Three long years. But… you do have to admit. The history of High Court is… well… terrible. It’s sick and sad. Why keep that name?
Because High Court was about more than the Valcourt family. It was about my family too.
The Monroes.
Yes. We started that town more than two hundred years ago. My home was one of the first and every square foot of land inside Monrovian Estates always has belonged, and always will belong, to the Monroe family legacy.
But all the homes burned down.
Except one.
Yours.
Mine. I might’ve slipped the firefighters a few joints to put our fire out first.
I’m… what? Was that a joke?
Do you think it was a joke?
Anyway. (uncomfortable laughter) What fantastic news do you have about the school?
Oh, ‘fantastic’ is the proper word for it. What we’re doing out there is amazing.
There have been rumors that it’s become a public school.
Not quite. But close. As most are probably aware by now, High Court has always been exclusive. We only have room for five hundred people max. But we want to enrich the area around Monrovia, so the Legosi family foundation has committed ten million dollars a year for scholarships. When we open our doors again this fall, every single student will be on scholarship. And all of them will be from needy families. It is no longer a school for the rich, but instead a school for the exceptional.