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Father evened him with a nasty glower of his own. “Mind your tongue, boy. I’m not in the mood to put up with your bullshit tonight.” He stalked over to the bar, pouring him a drink before he sank down in the recliner, reaching his free hand up to rub his temples with his thumb and index finger. “I just got off the phone with Griffin. I’m aware you boys are in the loop so there’s no use beating around the bush.”
“So it’s true then,” spoke Isaac. “Damien really is gunning after our territory.”
Father nodded. “Yes, Son, he is.”
“How much time do we have?” I asked softly.
“That, I don’t know,” Father replied honestly. “But what Idoknow, is that we have to tread carefully. As you already know, the academy has been my biggest, most successful achievement. Kids from all around the Valley are sanctioned there to keep them away from the streets, to give them a way out from being recruited into this miserable fucking life they were born into. It has always been my duty to keep these kids safe, you boys included, despite our world. Damien is trying to burn what I’ve worked so hard for to the ground. The academy, your lives, your peers, all of it is at grave risk of coming to an end. Damienwillsucceed if we aren’t careful.”
“What about the parents?” I had to ask, rounding over to face him, Phantom and Isaac right by my sides. “Are they aware?”
Father shook his head then choked down a huge swallow of booze. “No. It’s their money plus the extra we bring in from our drug and weapon shipments that help keep the academy running. If they catch wind of it, the academy will sink. Parents will pull their children from the school and all payments funding their education will wane. If we lose them too, we’re done for.”
“So what the fuck are we supposed to do then?” asked Phantom.
“Sharkey is managing the warehouses. According to him and Griffin, we have more than enough weapons to arm our men on the streets. But the problem is that we’re lacking the bodies we need to help fend against the army Damien is building against us. I hate to say it, boys, but we need help. It’s time to reopen the trials.”
My heart sank low in my stomach. That was the one thing—the one thing— I hoped it wouldn’t come down to.
“But Dad,” I pleaded, swallowing hard. “That means we’ll have to recruit some of the students. And their parents…they’ll never agree—”
“Listen to me,” he argued sternly. “I don’t like it either, but we’re in for the fight of our lives now. Damien will be targeting those kids and we’ll need the bravest, wisest, toughest ones, regardless of gender, on our side if we expect to make it out of this alive. This is the only way, boys. If we don’t do this, Damien will win. We don’t have a choice.”
“I think I have a way to help,” said Isaac, glancing between me and Phantom for our approval. I knew what he was talking about. Phantom did too. We nodded, giving Isaac the OK even though this was something we’d originally planned to keep to ourselves.
“Oh?” Father questioned, guzzling what was left of his drink down. “And what might that be?”
“Jace Reyez. Damien’s kid. We met him the other night at the club.”
“What about him?”
Isaac explained his whole pitch, just like he did with me and Phantom the other night at the dorm. The more he explained, Father nodded along. His lips had curled up in a tight smile by the time Isaac finished explaining.
“Do it,” Father approved with no questions asked. “But be very, very, vigilant of your surroundings when you make your move. Phantom can handle Jace on his own, but its up to you two,” Father said, pointing between me and Isaac, “to ensure there arenowitnesses. Understood?”
Isaac grinned. Phantom gave our father a tight nod. And me? This whole thing had me flustered, worried of what was to come. Even if a small part of me didn’t agree with reopening the trials and forcing our peers to prepare for what could be their demise, the decision had already been made. All I could do was nod and internally pray that this wouldn’t be the beginning to our end.
Chapter 22
Samara
Todaywasmysecondmorning stuck inside the dungeon. Sky wasn’t jesting when she told me what to expect when I walked inside this travesty for the first time yesterday. This was the most vile, disheveled room I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d have rather spent my detention time cleaning out every single toilet in the academy rather than be confined to this room for another minute.
The floors were disgusting. They were hardwood and looked like they hadn’t been deep cleaned in years. It was solid black from dirt and grime buildup. Every other spot was stained with gunk that looked like old, dried-up, molded gum. I had to spend nearly an hour scraping the shit off the bottom of my heels yesterday because the fucking things kept sticking to the floors when I walked.
The desks were falling apart. They weren’t like the fancy mahogany desks we had inside our regular classrooms. No. These were small, un-sanded wooden desks that looked like they’d gotten into a brutal battle with a swarm of termites and lost. The legs tittered to the side, and I was confident that at any moment the one I was sitting in would break and send me plummeting to the floor with wooden splinters deeply impaled in my ass cheeks.
Thirty more minutes and I was out of this fucking room.
Aside from the classroom itself, the teacher, Mr. Spalding, fucking reeked from severe body odor, like the man had no concept whatsoever of what the wordbathmeant. He had to be at least three-hundred pounds and the man’s head was one huge, matted mess of grease and dandruff. There were even small little gnats flying around his head. I gagged the more I was forced to huff in that putrid scent and watch those nasty buggers fly around him as he sat there half-asleep at his desk.
I couldn’t take this shit anymore. Other than me, there was two other people in here, both of them feeling the exact level of torture I was. It was two other girls who’s names I didn’t know. One girl was seconds away from spewing her guts all over the floor. And the other girl, her face was red. Clearly she’d been holding her breath and was on the verge of passing out.
The three of us stared at each other, desperate to escape.
Spalding’s head lolled to the side, letting out a deep snore. The sound was all I needed for me to ease myself out of my seat, wincing at the slightcrackthe desk made. The other two girls followed my example. Together, the three of us hauled up our things, literally tiptoeing in our heels until we made it out safely and made the biggest run for our lives.
I didn’t stop running until I made it to the courtyard, far out of the dungeon’s range. A foul odor lingered in the air and as I sniffed my blazer, I dry-heaved.
