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23
“What, the teachers are involved in this?” I’m breathless as Danny helps me ascend the slope with my crutches. I dig the ends of my crutches into the ground like walking poles, then swing my body between them. Every step is labored and messy.
Luke darts ahead of us, as though doing his best not to be seen near me.
“Of course. The teachers are the ones who start it.”
Danny guides me to the area where all the students are grouped en masse. A gremlin looks at me and bursts out laughing.
“Broken lamb! Lamb kebab!”
“Scram,” Danny snaps, and the gremlin runs away with a cackle.
“The Yank’s gonna do it,” I overhear as I pass the gangs of gremlins. “She’ll be done for.”
My head might have cleared after the few minutes’ peace I shared with Luke, but I’m still not sure about this whole ritual thing.
“They want me to run into the forest?” I ask Danny, but his eyes have widened on something behind me. “What happens if I say no?”
“You won’t say no,” a smooth voice says behind me. I turn and stare at Rory, his eyes so much more yellow than I remembered. “Because in my possession is the one thing you don’t want getting out.”
I marvel at the thick gray fur across his head. It reallydoeslook so lifelike… “And what’s that?”
From his pocket, he pulls out a phone.
I stare at it.
It’s weird but I’d grown used to life without technology. A phone seems totally incongruous here.
It’s as fancy as ever, the newest version with an unbroken screen. Totally unlike mine.
Rory’s minions are grouped behind him, ready to be called upon at a moment’s whistle.
When the phone switches on, the rectangle glow lights up his face in the darkness. Shadows sweep across his aristocratic brow, and the gray fur around his head can’t stop the fall of caramel-colored strands of hair across his forehead.
I’m so busy caught up in what Rory looks like that I almost miss what he’s saying.
“I had some spare time over the October break,” he begins in a haughty tone. “What I found when searching for you was very interesting. I mean, unlike us, you don’t actuallyhavededicated websites or even a basic encyclopedia page. But your former high school does.” He scrolls to the video app on his phone. “And they simplyloveposting whatever good news they can about their students.” His mouth widens. “I can hardly blame them. I imagine they don’t have much good news to spread.” Even through the alcohol that’s ripping through my body, I’m still seething at him. Everything that comes out of his mouth is a personal attack against me. “But I managed to download this.”
Businesslike as always, he turns the phone around to face me.
I know just from one look at the blurry thumbnail what Rory’s about to show me.
I turn my face away from him.
“What is it?” Danny asks for me, peering down at the screen. He glances at my face. “It’s just a stage with a banner? My God, Jessa, I was thinking the worst—”
“Don’t do this,” I plead urgently to Rory. “Please don’t—”
“In my possession is footage from Greenvale High’s most recent talent contest. The star turn? Miss Jessa Weir.” The smirk on Rory’s face flicks up. “I’ve watched it. I’velaughedat it. Now unless you want this out for the whole of Lochkelvin to see, I want you to be the one to follow through with the Samhain ritual.”
Danny’s gaze switches between the phone and me.
“What is it, Jessa?” he asks softly. “It can’t be that bad. Talent shows are always cringe. It should be no reason to let yourself be controlled like this.”
I note objectively that Rory angles the phone tight against his torso, that his voice is pitched lower than usual. It’s as though he’s trying not to be noticed by the gremlins, the ones hereallycontrols. It’s like he’s trying to protect me from them.
My eyes flicker shut for a moment.
