AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 24
It woundup being surprisingly easy to convince mom and Reg to let me go. As soon as Penny’s name was mentioned, it was like an automatic approval. Reg had mumbled something about not staying up too late or I’d be too tired on Sunday, the day I was supposed to study for a final. I ignored him, hugged Mom and sat on Nat’s bed for a few minutes while she told me about her planned dance performance for the Christmas recital.
Penny swung by and picked me up just after noon. Mom was in the front yard doing some winter clean-up and Reg had fucked off somewhere with Rick as I was talking to Nat, so it was easy enough to leave.
Once I got into Penny’s mom’s van, she turned up the music and we began to talk like nothing had happened over the past few months. Like we were two boring girls from Oakville High, living our lives unnoticed on the fringes of society again. The thing I’d hated when we were in it, but the thing I now craved and longed for.
It’s funny how the things you once despised became the things you were sentimental about when life took you in unexpected places. The person you once were became the home you’d always miss.
“Oh,” Penny said and turned the music down just a pinch so I could hear her better. “I can’t believe I didn’t tell you this, but one of those guys from the party. Remember that?”
“How could I ever forget,” I said and my stomach clenched at the memory. I longed for the person I’d once been, but not that version. The horrible friend with dark, twisted secrets and a darkness lurking inside.
“Well, get this,” Penny continued, and I was again reminded of her resilience. I didn’t know if it was because she had grown up in a religious and oppressive household or if she was just an amazingly strong person, but she kept plowing through life after her rape like nothing had happened. I loved her for that, I loved her strength. “One of them has disappeared.”
“What?” I asked. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s the weird part, he wasn’t the kind of kid who would run away and he just got this big science scholarship to a pretty decent university. He had his entire life to plan, but people said he’d been getting into some sketchy stuff.”
“Like what? Gang raping drunk girls for the Organization?” I asked acerbically.”
Penny snorted. “Well, yeah, I mean there’s that. But other stuff, too.”
“What kind of other stuff?”
I’d told Penny about Mitchell’s involvement and how the Organization had planned it because of me, but she hadn’t registered I don’t think. It was like it all had happened and now she had it contained in a box somewhere in her head.
“I heard drugs and some fight ring like Dirty Kingdom, but more violent,” she said. “He wasn’t doing drugs and he wasn’t the one fighting, but he was supplying and arranging it all. He was from a good family, but he was selling pills at school and more at parties. White powder, coke or meth, I mean I’m not exactly a drug connoisseur. But now? He’s missing.”
“Well, good,” I said. “I hope it hurts. I hope he suffers, in fact I hope he’s suffering right now.”
“Me too,” Penny said, but then she quickly added, “This is more about him being connected to what’s happening to you, though. And him disappearing. I’m afraid of what it means, though. Could they make you disappear if you piss them off?”
“I mean, it’s the Organization. I suspect they could do anything they want,” I said. “I imagine they have done worse in the past to people better off than me, so why not? They could make me disappear and there’s nothing I could do about it.”
“God, Everly, what are we going to do about this?” Penny asked, her voice suddenly not so upbeat when she got the answer she’d been afraid of. “How are we going to keep you safe?”
“Well first of all, we aren’t doing anything because this doesn’t include you,” I said. “I would die before I got you dragged in again. I mean, even this is enough. Even helping me with the Kings will put a target on your back. I’m scared they’ll come for you if you help me, they might do terrible things or make you disappear.”
“They won’t,” Penny said. “I promise I’ll be careful. After what happened to me, I’ve gotten tougher, you know. I’m not the same girl you knew last year, even. I’m stronger and don’t take shit anymore.”
“I love you for suggesting it, and I’ll let you know if you can do anything to help,” I told her just to get her to stop thinking about it. I knew the more I fought her or tried to talk her out of it, the more insistent she would get. I had to keep Penny in the dark from now on, for her safety and my peace of mind. I would die if she was caught up in any of it.
Well, other than tonight. Tonight I was going to let her sneak out with me, but after tonight, it would all change.
We drove to Ashton, like we said we were going to, and I planned on meeting Ryker at the mall there. Ryker wasn’t able to come all the way to Oakville, especially if I was seeing the Kings at midnight, because we didn’t know if he was being watched, too. Kingston had suggested it, and Archer and Valen had agreed I had to see him.
Sometimes I felt like they wanted me to keep seeing Ryker so we could cover more bases. Strategically it made sense to have somebody out of town in case I had to flee at the drop of a hat.
When we walked towards Ryker, Penny huddled closer to me and whispered, “Oh god, I think that creepy looking guy is staring at us.”
I laughed and grabbed her hand, swung it with mine, and said, “That creepy looking guy is the one we’re here to meet!”
“Him?” she gasped and pulled her hand away to hold it to her chest. “That’s Ryker? I thought he’d be more. Um. Well, normal.”
“Like the other three?” I asked.
“Yeah, like them.”
