Evergreen Academy - The Complete Series

by Ruby Vincent

  “Daddy?” I repeated. “Daddy!?” Suddenly I was shouting. “The headmaster doesn’t pay a lick of fucking attention to you! He’s not your father! What the hell kind of game are you playing right now?!”

  Ciara’s face remained neutral through my outburst. “He is my father. Can’t you see the resemblance?”

  My glare was my response. They both had sandy-colored hair, but so did a dozen other people in the school. They looked nothing alike.

  She heaved a sigh. “Oh, well. Everyone always said I looked like Mom, but I don’t need to inherit his looks to inherit his title. You’re so damn smart, Moon, think about this. Ace leads the Spades. They choose the Knights. They deliver the marks. Who besides the Evergreens would have the right to decide who does or doesn’t belong in Evergreen Academy?”

  “But it can’t be you. How can it be you?” I whispered. My mind recalled every minute I had spent with Ciara. “The junior winter trip. You— You were in the hot tub when Ace attacked me with the ski.”

  “But I wasn’t.”

  My head whipped around at the voice. Penelope smirked at me from her spot on the wall. “Ciara sent the text to get you out. I dropped a little lesson on your head.”

  I turned back to Ciara, gazing at her as my denials faded. “But... you were my friend.”

  There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in Ciara’s brown eyes.

  “How could y-you—” I stuttered to a stop.

  Big sis, I recalled.

  She watched her sister struggle with me before flying over a cliff. Of course, she hates me, but...

  I swallowed thickly as I glanced at the others. Do they all know what happened with me and Scarlett? Do they know what really drives this crusade?

  I can’t go there, I reminded myself. If there is a chance they’re still in the dark, then they need to stay that way.

  “How could you let it get this far?” I amended. I was staying far away from the topic of Scarlett. “You marked the real Knights and turned the school on its head. Aren’t you supposed to be about maintaining the status quo? You’ve wrecked this place!”

  Her eyes flashed. A spark of anger broke through her cold mask. “Me? I turned the school on its head? That wasn’t me. That was you,” she hissed. “You forced me to mark the Knights. You turned them against me.”

  “You did that, crazy! You blackmailed their girlfriend.”

  Ciara’s lips peeled back into a snarl. “I’m not crazy. I tried to get them to see you for the worthless slut you were. I gave them a chance to do the right thing. Their loyalty is to me, not you.”

  I scoffed. “You guys are really full of yourselves, aren’t you?” I swept over all of them. “This school isn’t here for you. The students don’t exist to make you rich and no one owes you loyalty.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. My grandad made it clear to me.” Ciara threw out her hands. “All of this is mine, Moon. The Evergreens built this place. We own it. We allow you to walk our halls. We grant you permission to be among the best. If I don’t want someone here, then I can make them go. The Knights are chosen by an Evergreen. If they won’t obey me, I’ll choose Knights who will.”

  My fists clenched. “Like Eric? He wouldn’t obey any longer so you got rid of him?” I turned my attention on the others. “Are you hearing this? She doesn’t care about you. She blackmailed, threatened, and had you attack one of your own. You’re all expendable to her.”

  Silence followed my statement and it buoyed me. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, is it? When you learned about the history of the Spades and the thirteen families, did anyone tell you it would involve assault, lies, and murder?”

  The Spades looked at me, faces blank, until a noise sounded on my right. Disbelief killed the rest of my speech in my throat as Natalie laughed. The others soon joined in. All of them were laughing... at me.

  “Murder?” she cried. “What are you talking about? No one killed anyone, idiot.”

  “But Eric—”

  “Eric isn’t dead.” Natalie peeled herself off the wall and came to stand at Ciara’s side. The look on her face told me how much she was enjoying this. “The plan that night was he was supposed to lead you off into the swamp. Get you away from your boyfriends. It worked until we followed and found out he hadn’t brought you to the spot we arranged.”

  Darren picked up the thread. “It took longer to find you guys and when we did, we heard Eden spilling everything. He betrayed us.”

  “We had to think fast,” Natalie continued. “We got him out of the way and Darren and Genesis snuck him back to the hotel while everyone was frantically running around looking for you. Once we got him in Darren’s room, we called his grandmother.”

  “His grandmother?”

  “That’s right. She raced down and took him away, but not before getting out of him his little plan to give you the yearbooks.”

  My breaths grew shallow as they spoke. What the hell were they saying? “You mean Eric isn’t missing?”

  “He’s taking a little... time out while he remembers what his priorities are,” Natalie replied. “We’re not freaking murderers, Moon.”

  Anger twisted my gut. I shot off the door, advancing on her. “Sorry if I don’t know where you draw the line. You all bound and blindfolded me. You threw me in water and left me alone in the dark. I can’t swim! There could have been alligators in there.”

  “Ugh,” Penelope groaned. “Do you ever stop bitching? You’re fine, aren’t you?”

  I bristled at the nastiness in her tone. She didn’t give a flying fuck about how terrified I was that night.

  “It was to teach you a lesson,” she went on. “One that you still haven’t learned. Why the hell did you come back to the academy after that?”

  “I—”

  “And I was so clear too.” Ciara brought my eyes back to her. Her phone was in her hand and when I looked, she tapped the screen.

  “You’re done at Evergreen Academy.” The creepy high-pitched voice that haunted my dreams filled the night air. “You do not come back next semester. If you do, you’ll go the same way as Walter McMillian. Goodbye, Valentina Moon.”

  She ended the recording and her hands fell to her sides. “You shouldn’t have come back,” Ciara repeated.

  I swallowed hard. “But I did come back. I’m here and I’m not leaving.” My lips quirked up in a smile that trembled at first, but held as determination broke through. “There are only a few more months until graduation. I’ve stood up against everything you’ve thrown at me for years. I can hold out for a little longer.” My smile widened into a smirk. “And now, I know who you are. I know your names. I know about the thirteen families. I know everything. Something tells me things are going to be a lot easier from here on out.”

  Genesis stomped toward me. “I wouldn’t listen to that ‘something’ because it’s dead wrong.”

  “Why not? You think I won’t tell everyone what I know?”

  “You won’t,” Ciara stated. There was a surety in her voice that rattled me but I didn’t let it show on my face.

  “How do you think you’re going to stop me? I’ll tell everyone if you don’t leave me and the people I care about alone. Unless you are planning to do to me what was done to Walter McMillian, there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  Natalie laughed again. “Will you get over yourself? No one is risking prison over you. We told you we’re not murderers.”

  “That’s right, Val.” Darren picked himself up and walked over to us. I tensed when he passed behind me. “No need to go through all of that when there are easier ways to keep you quiet.” Darren pressed his nose to my neck and inhaled deeply. My skin crawled as his lips brushed against me. “We’ll go through your friends and fucks.”

  “We’ll have Evergreen expel Claire for the pills,” Genesis announced. “She’ll end up right back in your slum where she belongs with the other drug dealers. Which is what we’ll say she is when we tell the headmaster she offered to supp
ly us.”

  “The twins too.” Darren moved around me and slung his arm over my shoulder. “They’ll find drugs in their lockers and both will be shipped back to Africa where they came from.”

  Horror filled me, chilling my blood. “Y-you can’t—”

  “Then there are your boyfriends.” Penelope continued. “No one sued Interstellar Records after the leak, but we’re sure for the right amount of money, we can convince a band to.”

  “And Ezra,” Genesis said. “They didn’t kick him out when he knocked you around in sophomore year, but they will when I tell them he hit me.”

  “But Ezra didn’t—”

  “Maverick Technologies might be hard to go after,” said Natalie, ignoring my interruption. “But Maverick Beaumont isn’t. When I start telling everyone how the giant, hulking quarterback pushed me into the locker room and forced me to have sex with him—”

  Red descended on my vision. “You wouldn’t fucking dare!” I surged forward, claws extended, and jerked to a halt gasping as Darren’s arm tightened around my throat.

  He hauled me back, keeping my swiping hands away from Natalie. “Easy, Moon. You haven’t heard what we’re going to do to Ryder Shea,” he growled. “I thought of something perfect for him while I was sitting at home with my jaw wired shut.”

  “G-get off!”

  “No one ever found out what happened to his old man,” he continued. Although he loosened his grip slightly, letting me breathe. “But we always suspected his mental patient of a mother. She must have gotten tired of his dad running out on her and sleeping with every slut he saw, so she had him taken care of. We’ll be sure to pass that along to the police.”

  “Leave them alone!” I struggled in Darren’s hold. “You can’t do this!”

  “We won’t do it,” Natalie said, voice hard. “If you go back to your dorm, pack your shit, and don’t tell anyone what you know. Understand?”

  I bobbed my head rapidly, bouncing on Darren’s arm. “I won’t. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “And you’ll leave,” she pressed.

  “I’ll leave. I’ll be gone tomorrow.”

  She closed the distance between us, putting her face in mine. “You’ll be gone before the sun comes up or I’ll go crying to the headmaster.”

  “Okay,” I whispered. I stopped fighting Darren. “I’ll leave before they wake up.”

  “Good. I’m glad we understand each other.”

  Just like that, Darren released me. I stumbled away from him, furious tears burning behind my eyes. I held them back. I wouldn’t let them see me cry.

  Natalie smirked at me all the same, reveling in her victory. It took everything in me not to lunge at her again.

  “We’re done here, guys,” Ciara spoke up. “Go back to bed. No reason to lose more sleep over her.”

  “Can’t disagree with that,” said Natalie.

  One by one, the Spades filed out until only Ciara and I remained. I glared daggers at her as fury made my limbs tremble. Ciara strolled up to me, looking completely unconcerned.

  “You won’t get away with this forever! Someone else will discover your secret. I—”

  Ciara reeled back.

  I didn’t have time to react as the punch connected with my face and snapped my head around. I went flying, crashing onto the coffee table. Dazed, all I could do was wheeze as the air rushed out of me.

  “That was for my sister, bitch.” Nails dug into my shoulder and hauled me up.

  “Ciara, wait—”

  The next punch was even more brutal. Cartilage snapped under her fist as blood spurted from my nose.

  “And that’s for everything else.”

  I staggered back and tipped onto the sofa, clutching my face. Through the tears, I could see Ciara lean over me. The pain scrambled my mind, but I forced myself to speak.

  “Ciara,” I croaked. “Listen to me.”

  “What? You going to beg and say how sorry you are? That you never meant to spread those lies about my family?”

  Slowly, I shook my head. “No. I was going to say... your sister is a sick, twisted monster that got exactly what she deserved.”

  I was ready for the next one. When Ciara swung, I threw myself to the side and her fist went sailing through the spot where I was. I took my chance and ran.

  The roof’s ledge loomed in front of me, but if I could double back around the couch, I could make it to the door before—

  Hands seized me and pulled me back. I crashed onto Ciara and flailed as she got me into a chokehold like Darren’s.

  “Let me go, you psychotic piece of shit! You’ve made your point!”

  Ciara’s arm constricted until my screaming was cut off with a gasp. “I haven’t begun to make my point,” she hissed into my ear. “Those idiots may be too weak to get rid of you, but I don’t have that problem.”

  Suddenly, the arm choking me was gone. Ciara put her hands on my back and shoved. I careened forward and fell a foot from the ledge. She was on me before I could get up.

  Ciara’s nails dug into my neck as she raised my head off the ground. “I can’t say I liked Scarlett. She grew up with her mother and never gave enough of a fuck about me to come around. It definitely pissed me off when I came to the academy and she refused to let me take over as Ace, but no matter how I felt about her. You can’t get away with—”

  “I’m innocent!” I bellowed. “I never wanted any of this to happen. She came after me. She marked me. She dropped the planter. She set my room on fire.”

  I spun around, arm up, and knocked her hand off me. Quickly, I scrambled to my feet and we faced each other.

  Ciara didn’t look pissed at my escape. On the contrary, she was smiling. “Actually, about that last one. It wasn’t Scarlett who started the fire; it was me.”

  I gaped at her, genuinely stunned. “You what?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “I told you Scarlett wouldn’t let me take over. I had to do something to prove I could be Ace so I took my chance to get rid of the mark that just wouldn’t leave. Then Daddy moved you to that dorm and I couldn’t try again.” Her smile widened. “Don’t have to worry about those cameras now.”

  I could barely hear her over the roaring in my ears. It was Ciara. She was the dark figure that escaped into the night. She tried to burn me alive.

  My chest felt so tight it hurt. A thin layer of sweat covered my body and made me shiver as the cool air ripped through my pajamas. I thought this girl was my friend and she tried to kill me.

  “How could you?” I asked, voice rising. “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Who would try to kill someone because they won’t obey a stupid card?!”

  Ciara’s face twisted. “It’s more than a card, Val. That’s what you never understood. That is why you never belonged here. Quae sequenda traditio. Tradition is everything.

  “It’s the traditions of this school that have made it the best in the world. You think the thirteen families are using the students, but what they’re really doing is helping them make a difference. No one gives a fuck about the person who had the idea. It’s the ones who make it a reality that end up in the history books.”

  Ciara took a step toward me and I resisted the urge to move back. I wasn’t getting any closer to that ledge.

  “My grandfather explained it all to me.” She took another step and was only inches away. “We do good. Not just for the students, but for the future. We make sure that people with the potential to be something, achieve that potential. The very least we can ask in return is that people don’t ruin our good name.” She swept out her arms. “All of this is mine, and everyone here has to obey me—whether they know it or not.”

  I lifted my chin and looked her directly in the eyes. “I won’t.”

  She laughed—a sharp, mirthless sound. “You don’t have that option anymore.” Her eyes flicked over my shoulder. “Go ahead. Jump. Make it easier on both of us.”

  I held her gaze steadily. “No.”

  “Fine.” In the time i
t took for me to blink, she lunged.

  I screamed as Ciara shoved my shoulders and sent me flying. Reacting fast, my hand flashed out and grabbed her before she could pull back. We both fell hard and I cried out when my back hit the ledge.

  Snarling, she pulled away and grabbed the sleeves of my pajamas, readying to shove me over for good.

  “Wait!” I cried. “Ciara, listen—”

  “Shut the fuck up!” She heaved me to my feet. It was terrifying how strong she was. “I’m done with you, Mo—”

  “It’s about Scarlett! I need to tell you something about Scarlett.” Ciara jerked, coming to a standstill.

  “What about Scarlett?” she asked through gritted teeth. “You going to admit you and your boyfriends lied about her?”

  My breaths came out in rapid pants. “I w-will admit something.” I yanked an arm out of her grasp and straightened. She let me, but the other arm was secure in her grip. “You need to know that your sister”—I grabbed the collar of my nightshirt and ripped—“fell for the same damn trick. Say hello to the camera, bitch.”

  Ciara’s eyes popped open. Her grip slackened in the moment of surprise and that split second was all I needed. I swung at her jaw and connected with a blow that knocked her back. Ciara tripped over her feet and crumpled to the floor. I jumped on top of her before she could get up.

  I plucked her phone out of her pocket and flung it with all my might. It smashed against the roof door and splintered into satisfying pieces.

  “That was to get rid of any videos you might be holding on to,” I hissed into her pale face. “But just in case you’ve gotten it saved somewhere else, my handsome, computer genius boyfriend who has been watching the whole thing as it streamed to his laptop, has also sent every single electronic device you own a nice virus.”

  The blood from my nose dripped onto her cheek and ran down, looking eerily like a teardrop. “Try running this place from jail, psycho, because the police are on their way.”

  As if they heard me, the sound of sirens pierced the air.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Kiss. Kiss. Kiss, kiss, kiss.