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Prologue
I muscled in a deep breath before striding across the lawn toward the cluster of trees that took up the front of Woodman High’s sand-colored building. I spotted Pierre leaning against one of the trees, just like always.
He nodded at me. “Hey, Kat.”
Since he was a few inches shorter than me, and I’ve taken every opportunity to ruffle his mop of dark hair, I didn’t hold back now.
“You find your phone yet?” he asked.
“Of course not.”
I’d gotten home from school about a week ago to find that my phone wasn’t in my pocket, backpack, or anywhere it should’ve been. Checking all six of the classrooms in my schedule and the school’s lost and found had turned up nothing.
Pierre leaned back against the tree. This was the last time I would see him like this—leather messenger bag, white button-down, neon headphones hugging his neck. Sweetheart, schoolboy who wouldn’t hurt a fly. We’ve been friends since day one of Woodman High, and I’d never let him go, not for the world.
Sucked that we were both off to better days ahead.
Pierre looked around at the thin crowd of students clustering around the entrance, those who had spotty attendance records or a genuine affinity for stuffy cinderblock rooms. Then he looked back at me. “We’re losers, aren’t we?”
I smirked. “Completely.”
If it weren’t for Pierre’s acceptance to a university halfway across the world, then I wouldn’t have shown up today. This was my one chance to say goodbye.
The bell rang and we started toward the entrance of the building.
“You know what?” Pierre said. “This day is blessed.”
“How so?”
He reached an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a loose headlock as we pushed through the wide red doors.
“Think about it. The few fuckers who have wreaked hell on our lives these past four yearswon’tbe here. We’re free. For one day, we’re—”
I stopped short, breaking away from Pierre’s hold.
“Fuck,” he muttered.“ Ispoke too soon.”
Sprawled across the floor of the lobby were Elliot, Felix, and Leo—the school princes. Calling them gods wouldn’t even be a stretch. They made both girls and school administrators fall to their knees at the snap of their fingers, at one word, at one gesture. They made this world spin in any direction they pleased.
“Why are they here?” Pierre hissed. “Aren’t they too good for the last day of school?”
I looked at Elliot, at his short, jet-black curls and his black dragon tattoo. I’d never seen it before. I traced the tattoo with my eyes as it snaked over his shoulder and around his collarbone to end with the serpent licking at his ear.
The three of them had set up bright-colored beach chairs, reclined to their lowest setting, in the center of the lobby. Elliot straddled the middle chair, while Felix stretched out to his right and Leo to his left. All three wore pairs of pink cat eye sunglasses and tight speedo swim trunks.
Nothing else.
Elliot removed his sunglasses and stared right at me.
He was tall—they werealltall—with eyes like a tiger’s, changing from amber to green depending on the light. His skin was pale enough to be cause for mockery, but he made it edgy with the dark contouring of his tattoo.
“Hey!” He flashed a bright white smile. “I have something for you.”
“Ignore him,” Pierre muttered, grabbing my arm to pull me past the group. “Let’s go.”
Before we could escape the spotlight, he leapt up from his chair and pulled something out of the tote bag that was leaning against his chair. He spun around, holding out the object toward me.
My cellphone.
