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CHAPTER NINETEENThirteen Years AgoKandace was having the strangest dreams. Only the weirdest part was, she really couldn’t remember anything about them. All she knew was that she would wake up with this odd sort of heavy feeling, but when she’d tried to piece together the dream that left her with those sensations, she couldn’t remember a single thing about them.
It was the school. This damn house where an oppressive feeling of doom suffocated them. The way she felt both lost in time and utterly aware of every tick of the clock.
The way screams sometimes echoed from the floors below, and then one of the girls would be missing from class for the next few days. She wanted to ask them about it, to get their account, but socializing with anyone other than your roommate—or in her case roommates—was not facilitated. Somehow it was all the more horrifying to let your own mind wander as to what was happening in rooms beyond your own. She wondered if Ms. Wykes knew that and figured she must. Everything here was calculated.
“What happened to you?” Aurora asked quietly, her words mumbled around a mouth of toothpaste.
Kandace looked at her in the mirror in front of where they were both brushing their teeth at the large farmhouse sink in their shared bathroom and then followed her gaze to her arm where there were several small, round bruises.
For a moment she frowned in confusion, but then she remembered the kid grabbing her arm as he’d pulled her from the forest. She hadn’t thought it’d been with enough strength to cause bruising, but obviously it had been. She wasn’t going to mention the kid to Aurora though. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her. It wasn’t that she did either, it was just that she wasn’t going to risk getting the boy in trouble after he’d put himself on the line to help her.
“I was late to class yesterday. One of those old bitches pulled me into the room like I’d personally insulted her with my tardiness.”
Aurora’s eyes widened and she glanced behind her in the mirror nervously as if one of those “old bitches” might walk in unexpectedly at any moment. God, everyone walked on eggshells around here. She was beginning to as well. The rigorous academics, hours of Bible study, the rigid schedule, strange sounds in the walls, secret, forgotten children living in the basement, and of course those screams. She felt like she was walking through a different life, one she had no compass for, one in which every step felt precarious and uncertain.
“Play by the rules, okay, Kandace?” Aurora said, leaning over to rinse her mouth. When she stood, she laid her hand gently on the fingerprints on Kandace’s arm. “I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. Let’s do whatever we have to do to get out of here.”
She offered Aurora a weak smile. God, she had a headache. Those damn dreams. She really hadn’t slept well at all. “I will, I promise,” she lied. Because while she realized doing anything other than “playing by the rules” was risky, her curiosity was spurring her to learn more. Whatever she could. She did plan on getting out of there, but she’d also like to send a whole team of law enforcement officers back. Those who would expose Lilith House and all its dirty secrets.
All three girls dressed in their uniforms and left the room together, headed for their first class. As they stepped down onto the first floor, bells began clanging.
“Holy fuck,” Kandace swore softly.
“Line up, girls,” one of the teachers said loudly from somewhere up ahead.
“Fire alarm,” Sydney said, a worried line forming between her eyes. The small group of girls in front of them started moving toward the front exit.
“There’s been a grease fire in the kitchen,” the teacher ahead explained. “We have it under control, but the fire department is on the way nonetheless. Single file, girls. No need to panic.”
Kandace took hold of Aurora’s arm and tugged at her gently. Her roommate gave her an astonished glance and shook her head. Please, Kandace mouthed.
The girl glanced in front of her, but the staff members were all around the corner, only the group of girls they’d come down the stairs with shuffled ahead of them, those at the front of the line rounding the corner toward the front door. “Cover for me,” she whispered when Aurora widened her eyes in question. “Please.” She didn’t give the girl time to agree or disagree, turning and rounding the corner behind them, hurrying toward the back hall and those basement steps that led to the rooms below.
This time, however, the door was locked. “Dammit,” Kandace swore, reaching up and taking the pin that held her bangs back out of her hair. The hum of voices grew dimmer as did the retreating footsteps. Kandace wiggled the pin in the lock, letting out a frustrated breath when it slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor.
