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A cool breeze kisses my bare arms, and I tuck them close as I teeter on the precipice.
No one survives the pass on Devil’s Bluff.
It’s one of the first things I learned after arriving at Black Mountain Academy.
I grip the hilt of the knife as I wait for the clock to strike nine-eleven.
It’s fortuitous, I think, that we should be here so close to that time—like this is all the universe’s design. All that cosmic, chaotic energy cycling down to the moment where it all comes together.
The sound of footsteps on the trail pricks my ears. The snap of a twig echos against the stone crags. A girl’s lilting voice caries as she curses.
I turn to face her, knife held behind my back. “Over here,” I call out.
The sounds suddenly stop, then Addison emerges from the trail, her face ashen. “What are you doing here?”
She is beautiful. I can admit that. I don’t fault Carter for falling for her lies. She has the face of an angel, all sweet smiles and innocent eyes.
“Where’s Sully?” Addison demands, as she looks around the cliff.
“He’s not here,” I answer simply. “It’s just us.” It’s the first time we’ve ever spoken to each other. I want to slow this moment down, breathe it in.
What it is about this girl that transfixes Carter? Why is she so special?
Why was Irina so special?
I grip the hilt of the knife harder and drop my hand.
It takes a moment for her to notice the blade, but when she does, those innocent eyes widen with certain understanding. She immediately turns to dart down the rocky path.
“If you run,” I say, catching up to her, “that just proves you’re not willing to fight for him.”
I catch her arm, digging my nails into the fabric of her long-sleeve T-shirt. “Let me go, you crazy bitch.”
“You sound just like Sully, you know that?” I yank her back toward the ridge of Devil’s Tooth. For all her fight, she’s surprisingly weak. “You should be ashamed to have been associated with such a deplorable, vile scumbag—”
She faces me, features horrorstruck. “What did you do to him?”
Now that I have her full attention, I release her arm, but I keep the blade in sight. “He did it to himself, Addison. We’re all responsible for our choices.” I flick the knife in the direction of the pass. “I don’t want to hurt you. That’s not why you’re here. Let’s go.”
She resists, and I sigh out a long breath. “We need a girls’ talk,” I say. “Just you and me.”
“This isn’t happening,” she whispers under her breath.
“Oh, but it is. There are consequences for our actions, too.” I force her toward the edge of the cliff, where the crescent rock formation shows the way to the other side of the peak.
“You’re not even a real counselor!” she shouts at me. “You didn’t graduate high school. You were sent to a fucking mental institution for killing—”
I hold the blade up to her face. “Shut your damn mouth about things you have no idea about.”
She goes for her phone—her lifeline—and I knock it out of her hands. The phone clatters to the rocks. Keeping my eyes on her, I lower myself down to grab it.
The wind picks up, and Addison shudders, her gaze locked on the knife. “Please… You’re right, okay? I don’t know anything about you. Sully was a complete idiot. I don’t even care about him. Just let me leave, and I’ll never say another word about you. I promise.”
“So, you were just using him,” I say, as I swipe the phone screen open.
She nods. “Of course.”
“Right.” I shrug, uncaring. He was just a tool for her. Just like Irina, how she commanded her devoted admirers to ridicule me, to attack me.
