Page 128 of Merciless

I pass a group of girls on my way to the building. Their gazes track my movement, and they snicker, whispering to each other.

“I can’t believe she did that,” one whispers loud enough for me to hear.

A bead of sweat runs down my temple, and ducking my head, I quicken my pace.

What the hell is going on?

I enter the next building and jog to my class. My heartbeat thunders in my ears as I rush to my desk. A black mass lies on the surface, and I stop dead in my tracks. Tears form in my eyes as I stare down at the dead crow, its wings spread wide and eyes open and sightless on me.

Snickers fill the room.

“Something the matter, freak?”

“Did someone hurt your wittle friend?”

“Grow up, you disgusting bitch.”

“Is your brother going to kiss it and make it all better?”

More laughter.

I reach for the dead bird.

“Oh, there you are!” Katie’s voice filters through the buzzing in my brain and the laughter in the classroom.

I numbly raise my head without bothering to brush away the tears.

Katie crosses the room. Her gaze falls to the crow on my desk before slipping back to me. Sympathy fills her eyes, and she stops before me.

“Oh, Eden,” she coos.

“What’s going on?” I whisper.

“Who would do that?” She points to the bird.

I swallow hard. “I don’t know. It could have been anyone.”

“Does it matter?” a guy across the room calls. “I think she has more important things to worry about, like⁠—”

Katie slaps her hands over my ears and yells something at the guy before turning her head toward me. She grabs my hand and yanks me behind her as she rushes toward the door.

“Where are we going?” I dig my heels into the ground and look back at the bird. “We can’t leave her here.”

Katie stops and glances behind me before turning to me again. “We’ll come back for it.”

She pulls me into a private hallway alcove where we aren’t a spectacle for everyone. She turns to me and grabs my hands. I don’t know why she thinks I want to be touched by her or treated like I’m her best friend.

“Is it true?” she whispers.

“Is what true?” I yank my hands out of hers and back away a step. “What the hell is going on?”

A tear falls down my cheek, and I swipe it away.

Something is wrong.

The whispers. The dead bird. Everyone is calling me a freak and going back to bullying me as if Elijah never helped me.

Katie’s expression crumbles, and she digs her phone out of her purse. “It’s better if I show you.”