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CHAPTER8
Evie
I storm away, my hands clenching so hard that my nails bite into my palms. Kat swoons a little when I draw near, and grabs onto my arm for support. “What the hell was that?” she asks.
“Nothing.”
“I know what a hallucination looks like, and that wasn’t it. So what the hell did I just see? I told you not to go near him.”
“He came up tome.”
Ada turns to watch us with lidded eyes, looking bored out of her mind. “Are we getting out of here?”
“Yes,” Kat says. “And fast, before Dalton realizes just how good Evie will look tied up in his basement.”
“Dalton?” Ada ducks her head, pulling down her sunglasses to look me in the eyes. Liquid brown irises rimmed with the sharpest eyeliner I’ve ever seen stare at me for a long moment. “No, Evie, sweetie. There’ll be nothing left of you.”
She slides her sunglasses back up her face. With a click of her fingers overhead like she’s summoning her servants, she announces, “Brunch!”
Every girl in the vicinity stops what she’s doing, even the blonde in the swimming pool making out with one of the guys. I almost don’t stand my ground when they head for us like an army.
Ada points at seven of them and then beckons them to follow.
“I can’t go looking like this,” I tell Kat.
“As if I’d let you,” she says through a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I have something in the trunk you could wear.”
“Whatdon’tyou have in your trunk?”
Kat turns to give me a serious look. “An umbrella. I keep meaning to pack one, but never do.” Then she turns to Ada. “I’m driving.”
Ada shakes her head. “Like hell you are. Last time I drove with you, I broke a nail. And that was when you weresober.”
“Bitch.”
“Whore.”
“You know, Ada, youthinkyou’re insulting me, but you’re really not.”
Ada turns to look at her and smiles coldly. “Samesies.”
* * *
When Ada said we’d be staying with the Royals, thiswasn’twhat I’d pictured. I was thinking of a floor in some crappy student housing or something… although I should have known better.
The Walsh House, a fifteen-minute golf cart drive from Pinecrest University’s main campus, is tall, narrow, and framed by the pine trees that infest the Devilknock Woods. A sense of foreboding creeps over me as I stare up at the Victorian-esque façade of the strange manor.
I have my box of things in my arms. It survived being drenched because it was still on the bed when the dorm rooms flooded. Kat had picked through the sodden heaps of clothes on the floor, made a disgusted sound, and left without bringing anything with her. From the comments the girls made at brunch though, replacing her entire wardrobe would hardly put a dent in her trust fund.
“Is that supposed to mean something?” I ask, nodding toward the door as Kat and Ada join me. Carved into the dark wood is a crest featuring a rearing stag and the wordsWe Light The Fire.
Kat waves a limp hand. Her energy levels seem to be at an all-time low, which isn’t at all surprising: she’s been partying since I interrupted her nap almost twenty-four hours ago.
I’d be dead.
“That’s Pinecrest’s motto,” Ada says as she leads us through the doors. “I’m not going to bore myself telling you about it. Ask a history geek.”
Ada heads deeper into the manor. That’s really all I can think to call it. ‘Mansion’ doesn’t work—the place feels too cramped with all the dark wood paneling and damask wallpaper.
