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Beyond the lobby was a small flight of stairs leading into the auditorium, and I gave a small gasp as we entered the room, choosing a row of empty seats near the back. I’d never actually been in there before, and I marveled at the size of the stage, framed by dark red plush curtains tied with gold rope. The entire theater was enormous, large enough for a Broadway play, I imagined, and as elaborately decorated.
The room was loud with the chatter of students all excited for the end of the semester, and the mood was infectious. I felt excited, fancy in all my borrowed finery, and for once like the happy and carefree teenager I was supposed to be, all my worries tucked away for another day. The expressions on the guys’ faces reflected my own, and I slipped my hands into Micah’s on one side and Devan’s on the other, wishing I had a third hand to extend to Garrett as I tipped my head back to look up at the ornately-carved ceiling soaring high above.
The lights had just started to dim, the noise of the crowd quieting down to a low hum in preparation for the concert to start when I felt a vibration in the pocket of my leather jacket. Thankfully I’d remembered to turn the sound off. I disentangled my hands from the guys’ and pulled out my phone, shielding the bright light of the screen as I read the new message.
Nora: I left the sheet music for one of the songs in my room, and I don’t have time to run back for it. I’m so sorry, can you grab it? I swear, I’ll owe you forever! It should be on my dresser.
I glanced down toward the stage, and while the lights had been turned all the way down, the concert hadn’t started yet. Maybe if I hurried, I wouldn’t miss much, and at least we’d sat near the exit. I texted her a quick affirmative message, then leaned over to Devan, who’d been watching me. “I need to grab something for Nora,” I told him. “I’ll be right back.”
“Do you want—?” he began to whisper, but just then the curtain rose, revealing the Lost Lake Academy orchestra filling the stage, and the cheers and whoops from the audience drowned out the rest of his words. I shook my head briefly and shrugged, then rose and slipped out the side door.
I hurried through the deserted lobby, sad that I was going to miss the opening, and out into the brisk evening air. It was much colder without my human shields, and already full dark at only seven o’clock. I rubbed my hands against my leather-clad arms, my breath puffing in front of me as I hurried down the dimly-lit path, moving as fast as I could in the high stiletto heels.
The sound of footsteps echoed loud on the path behind me, raising the fine hairs on the back of my neck. Devan had likely been asking if I wanted him to come with me—could it be him? I was too cold to stop and wait, but I turned to glance over my shoulder, hoping to see a glint of his familiar auburn hair.
Instead I saw…nothing. Just shadows shifting on the pavement before a figure darted out of the darkness. A fist came up, then pain blossomed in my jaw the second before I crashed to the ground.
43
Had I passed out? My vision fragmented into colored spots of light and the pain in the left side of my face was so intense I could feel my heartbeat pulsing there. I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything more than lie there on the pavement, gasping for breath, before those same hands grabbed me again, clamping around my wrists in a vise-like grip and yanking me to my feet.
“Fuck, I’ve wanted to do that forever.”
I barely recognized the snarling voice as Drew’s, but when I did, I nearly choked on the terror flooding through me, so strong it almost washed away the pain in my cheek. I jerked frantically against his hold, struggling to tear myself free. But he just clamped down harder, pulling me and spinning me roughly so my back was to his chest. One of his hands moved from mine and a glint of metal shone in the dark. Any shout of protest, any cry of alarm I might have managed in that instant evaporated as a knife rose up, carefully positioned at my throat.
I froze, too terrified even to breathe.
“That’s better,” he growled, his head bent close to my ear. “Let’s go.”
He shoved me forward and I stumbled, gasping in fear that the knife was about to slit into my throat, but he managed to push me along, keeping the blade there right where I could see it, until he jerked me off the path and we were staggering together down to the shore behind the dorms. My heart pounded in my chest, the sharp heels of my borrowed shoes unstable on the rocky ground, but the vise grip on my arm kept me upright.
We stopped on a flat patch of rocks, water lapping against the edge inches away. This is where he pushed Garrett into the water. My mouth went dry.
“God, that was so fucking easy,” he muttered, and with his free hand he pulled a phone out of his pocket. It was Nora’s—the bright turquoise case glittered in the dark—and he reeled back and hurled it out into the midnight-black water. It vanished beneath the glossy surface, but the action got my frozen mind working again.
My phone. If I could get away from him, even for a second, could I call—shit. I surreptitiously felt at my pocket with my free hand, but there was nothing there. Had I left it in the auditorium? God, I was so fucked.
“What are you—” I tried to choke out the words, but his knife hand came back up close to my throat.
“What am I gonna do?” he asked in a mocking voice. “I’m gonna make you pay.”
“But I didn’t report you,” I gasped, grasping at whatever straws I could. My cheek burned, and my eye was beginning to swell.
He laughed, low and cruel. “You think I give a shit about that?”
With a wrenching twist on my arm, he spun me around so we were facing each other. He still held one of my wrists in his hand, so tight the bones seemed to grind together, and the other held the knife high, angled by my throat. The blade was huge and long, the edge gleaming wickedly sharp out of the corner of my eye.
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t figure out who you are?” he snarled. “Fuck, it wasn’t even hard. Is your family that stupid, to send you here? Did they honestly think I wouldn’t retaliate for what they did to my brother?”
I tried to keep up, tried to process his words, but every shift, every breath drew my attention back to the blade poised just millimeters from my throat.
“What—I—I didn’t have anything to do with your brother.” My voice came out high and choked. “I’m not—I’m not part of them…the Shattered Sun.”
I wasn’t even sure if I’d gotten the name right, but he laughed, his eyes lighting up. “I know!” he crowed. “That’s the best part. You didn’t even know, did you? So typical. Disgusting.”
I didn’t understand what he meant, but I couldn’t shake my head, couldn’t do anything more than stand motionless, tight with terror, and hope that my trembling wouldn’t be enough to jerk my skin against the knife.
He must have read the confusion in my expression though, because his face turned dark with disgust. “In my family, we raise our kids with pride, to know who they are, to carry on the legacy. We don’t hide in the shadows, changing our names and raising our kids like ignorant nobodies. I know who you are Camilla Moretti—” He spat the name out like it was poison. “—even if you don’t. You’re the person who’s going to pay for my brother’s death.”
