AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.” Landon nods and licks his lower lip, the only indication he isn’t as calm and apathetic as he appears. His unyielding gray gaze lands on me before flicking back to the pathway. “We need to know. If not today, then soon. Very soon.”
I know what Landon’s referring to—the address we were given by Senator Reece Whipers, just before he gave himself over to The Divine One. According to the senator, this address holds a plethora of information on POP and The Divine One. Enough to, potentially, take the organization down.
For good.
We haven’t dared look into it with everything going on. For one, we don’t know who is a member of POP and who may be one of their spies. For two, we have roles we need to play in this real-life production of Romeo and Juliet.
One of which is the grieving girlfriend.
I watched Ryker “die.” And now, I need to mourn him.
Apparently, Landon has had enough of sitting on the sidelines. He wants to take action, and I can’t say I blame him.
On the same day Reece was taken by POP and Ryker was “killed,” Beckett was able to access a secure app on Dominic’s biological father’s phone. The app led us to a website full of a multitude of sadistic and twisted things. Murder porn, for one, and deadly games that saw humans being slaughtered for sport. Men like Harvey Rollins could bid on them like horses on a racetrack. Who would live, and who would die? That was up for the audience to decide.
Worse than all of that, though, was the option to actually buy some of these men and women.
Buy.
Like cattle.
Nausea burns and sizzles in my stomach at the reminder, and I swear the stench of renewed terror permeates the air. Splinters of ice actually seem to pin my joints in place. I force myself to take a deep breath and continue moving, continue putting one foot in front of the other.
Landon’s right. The sooner we find the information Reece left for us, the better off we’ll be. Hopefully, we’ll be able to work with a trusted FBI agent to end this mess once and for all.
God, how has this become my life? Just a year ago, I was an unassuming high school kid trying to ignore her mounting feelings for her five best friends. Now, I’m in a sort-of relationship with said five best friends…and actively trying to stop a murderous cult run by a sadistic madman with an unhealthy obsession with me.
A part of me wants to give the universe the middle finger and tell it to fuck all the way off. I’m not one to swear, but I feel as if this moment deserves a good curse word.
Fuck you, universe.
Fuck you.
Is it wrong that I want this to be someone else’s responsibility? Anyone else’s? Shouldn’t an adult be in charge of ridding the world of this malevolent organization hellbent on sacrificing young girls to a goddess they don't believe in and killing people for sport?
How has this fallen on me and my guys?
My morose thoughts follow me like a buzzing mosquito all the way to Landon’s dorm.
I just wish there was someone to ease the burden that’s pressing down on my shoulders.
Because I have the distinct feeling that, before this mess is over, one of us will really be dead.
And the thought terrifies me.
2
ELLIE
Christmas decorations still cover the guys’ dorm room.
An artificial pine tree rests in the corner of the room, opposite the stone hearth, and is adorned in green and red bulbs, as well as golden tinsel and multicolored lights. A star sits at the very top—though it’s certainly unlike any Christmas star I’ve ever seen. There are pictures of each of the guys taped to the five points and one of me in the center.
Zane happily calls it his princesa estrella.
Princess star.
He created it during one of his self-proclaimed “crafting” sessions, during which he also bedazzled over a dozen daggers and drew smiley faces on a few of the steak knives.
