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Vera glances toward me, then shifts her eyes to the rearview mirror. My fingers drop to my sides, and I nearly pierce the seat with my nails from how strong my grip becomes.
Burn it to the ground?
Something akin to dread pours over my skin like lava, and I want to roll down the window and leap from the car. For a prank, this is a little extreme. Not that I don’t also want to see the place crumble to a pile of ash at my feet, but burning such a religious, holy place feels like it will be one massive omen branded into my chest.
Even lighting Malik’s car on fire would have a lesser effect than burning down the school. What if one of the nuns are inside? What if the priest is there?
What if we get caught in the building and one of us burns alive?
But then my dark side crawls to the surface, the one I’ve tossed away, along with my spells and witchy items and my irritation over Felix being… him… and I can’t help but want to make him the teensiest bit jealous because we’re more badass they are.
“I’m serious. I want to burn that shithole to the ground. It’s not a church. It can’t even be considered a holy ground. It literally feels like it was crafted by the devil. Doesn’t it feel that way to you?”
That’s true. That’s so damn true.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “It really does.”
“So, let’s get rid of it before it can fuck anyone else up,” Vera urges.
“I’m in,” I say after a beat, excitement roaring through me like a tidal wave.
“Me too,” Blaire says.
“Yeah, let’s fucking do it,” Piper says.
Vera glances in her rearview mirror once again. “Good.”
We take a quick detour to Vera’s house, where we race into the basement storage room to carry out a bunch of red gasoline cans. The severity of what we’re about to do seems too real and feels a bit overwhelming, but as the seconds pass, I think we’ve all come to the realization that this is something that needs to happen.
Though this might be a prank, this is also seeming like it’s a necessity. The school needs to go, as well as all the bad memories that go along with it.
We drive silently the rest of the way, and as we pull into the dark parking lot, our surroundings slightly illuminated by the moon, the school seems even more creepy and sinister than usual.
The only other time I’ve been at the school during the night was last year, after the exorcism was completed on Malik. But there were more people, and it was chaotic. None of us had time to really pay attention to the menacing ambiance.
Right now, with the four of us sitting in Malik’s Rover as we take in the brick monstrosity in front of us, it feels like a silent threat.
“Are you sure? If we get caught, this will literally be the end of all of us,” Piper says from the back.
I clutch onto the door handle, wanting to race to the school and get it over with, yet they seem content enough to relax in their seats and prepare themselves mentally before burning down our worst nightmare.
“I’m so sure,” Vera answers calmly, her eyes unfocused as she looks up at the school.
Though we’ve all been through hell inside these walls, Vera has been dealt the worst hand. Her first year she dealt with hostility and mental depletion, pushing her toward self-destruction. The people who serve the church believe themselves to be holy and servants of God, yet they ridicule and abuse every chance they get. And the degradation from the nuns was abhorrent, to the point she was shoved into The Room of Atonement on multiple occasions.
The Room of Atonement is a place no one wants to go. A small room which feels more like a closet. I’ve never been put in there myself, but from what Vera has told me, the whispers are louder than the silence, and death creeps over your shoulder like a shadow.
The history of this church and town goes back centuries, but as far as I know, the brunt of darkness and the beginning of it all is when the ancient witch put a curse on Castle Pointe.
Since then, this town has dealt with nothing but darkness. Much of it stemming from this church. The hub of sinister activity.
I reach over the center console, sensing Vera’s unease, and grab onto her hand. “I’m with you, Vera. You’re right, you know. This place shouldn’t be allowed to stand another day.”
Vera glances over at me, her eyes glossy, her grip strangling the steering wheel, before she finally nods and turns off the ignition. As if in mutual agreement, we all slip out of the car in unison, a blast of cold air slapping us in the face. We walk to the trunk, and the quietbeep, beepfills up the silence as it opens. We all each reach in, grabbing the oversized jugs of gasoline, then walk toward the school.
It feels like the school is watching us with black eyes, every window filled with such darkness where you can’t even catch a peek into the school. The top window is covered with stained glass, and it glimmers off the full moon. My gaze meets the cross that sits above it on a pointed roof, nearly reaching the low-hanging clouds, and I cringe. That symbol means nothing here.
We walk up the wide steps, the chipped metal bar in the center catching on my skirt as we head up to the front door. I knock into Blaire’s back as she stops.
