AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tara cuts me off, holding up a hand. “That won’t happen, Al. It can’t.” She gets up from the floor and starts pacing the room. “You need something to protect yourself with.”
I raise an eyebrow as she walks over to the gun she placed on the counter. She picks it up and hands it to me.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I say, a humorless smile twisting my lips. “You wantmeto use that?”
She holds one hand akimbo. “Yes,” she says with an annoyed nod. “Almost everyone here has one, at least you can make it a fair fight if things go awry.”
As somber as my mood is, I can’t help the bark of laughter that rips from me. Tara is literally crazy. She wants me to face off with the other students here, with a gun? I’ve never even held one of them in my life, much less know how to work it.
But I understand what’s happening with her. I’ve felt like this so many times. When the problem is so big, you’re tempted to focus on fixing the smaller parts to make yourself feel better. Giving me a gun won’t stop them from killing me, but it’s something to do when you feel helpless.
“You have better use for it than I do,” I say. “I would want something to protect myself though, just not…that.”
Tara taps her index finger on her chin, then her eyes light up. “I have just the thing.”
She exits the bathroom. Though I can’t see what she’s doing, there’s the sound of zippers and fabric. Does she have more weapons in her room? I don’t have to wonder for long, for she returns bearing a small satchel.
Tara kneels in front of me, opening the bag.
Inside lies a dagger, along with a thigh holster. She hands it to me. I take it with both hands.
It’s a hunting knife—the groundsmen back at home often had them strapped to their waists to deal with the shrubs and small creatures around the estate. However, this one has a sophisticated air to it, more feminine.
It’s light, with a black steel blade almost half a foot long. The handle is made of black metal and encrusted with amethysts and onyx gems.
“It’s beautiful,” I murmur, turning it over in my hands.
I could kill Alexander with this.
“I had it custom made,” Tara says, looking at the blade then at me. “But you have better use for it than me. It’s a gift.” She grins.
I strap the holster to my thigh and sheath the knife. It fits comfortably, hidden just underneath the hem of my skirt. My legs are still raw from my meltdown in the hotel bathroom, but having the knife gives me an odd sense of control.
It’s the feeling I tried—and failed—to get from hurting myself.
“So, what now?” I say as Tara moves to sit beside me again.
“Now, we wait.”
THREE
ALEXANDER
My feet can’t carryme fast enough. I run all the way from Kingmaker House to Hemlock. When I get there, there’s a crowd gathered at the gates.
Well, it’s more like a mob.
The throng of students are brandishing weapons—guns, knives, there’s even one guy with a machete—their attention turned toward the huge, ancient-looking building. The Hemlock House building is one of the oldest on campus, and it shows.
Ivy and flowering vines creep up the sides of the aged, whitewashed stone walls. The building is smaller than Kingmaker, but still gargantuan, set on a lush, slightly sloped, sprawling lawn. Usually, the golden louvered windows are open and the heavy oak door slightly ajar.
Now, it’s sealed shut.
Fuck. My heart is in my ears, my limbs screaming as I force my way through the crowd. I’m trapped in a neverending nightmare, the lines of reality blurring with each step I take. There’s no way I can protect Alize from all these people.
A few of them I could handle, but a fucking mob?
My eyes drift to the building again. Is she inside? She has to be inside since everyone has gathered here. Is she safe? Have they closed the windows and doors to keep everyone out, or to keep her in? My stomach is in knots.
