Why they wanted to protect me after they have done everything they could to destroy me… we hadn’t fully established that bit yet. But I’d just made a deal with a malevolent god. I needed all the protection I could get.
I sighed. “Fine. But only if Greg and Andre get them, too.”
Andre’s eyes widened. Trey and Ayaz exchanged a glance – one of those unspoken conversations that often occurred between them. Ayaz must have won because Trey threw up his hands and stormed into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Ayaz sighed. He flicked the switch on the power unit. A loud buzzing filled the room. A deep furrow appeared between Ayaz’s eyes as he pulled my arm across the counter toward him and rolled up my sleeve.
“Don’t you need a stencil?”
“This isn’t a work of art,” Ayaz pointed out, pressing the needle against my flesh.
There was a stray cat that hung out around the tattoo parlor where Dante interned. It would crawl into my lap while I sat in the corner and read, purring like mad. If I ever tried to touch it, it lashed out with sharp claws, tearing chunks out of my skin. The tattoo felt like that – a sharp, tearing sensation. As the needle broke my skin, something dark reared up inside my head, pressing hatred against my skull. The god, lashing out as it felt my pain.
Take that, you fucker.
When it was done, Ayaz wiped the blood away and taped a clear dressing over it. I stared at the design. I hated it. It made me look like a white supremacist, which hit a little too close to home, given the gross racial discrepancies at this school.
“Do Greg next,” I said, tapping the edge of the dressing, my fingers itching to touch it.
Ayaz shook his head. “He’s asleep.”
“I’ll wake him up.”
Ayaz glanced toward Trey’s door. “I don’t know… he did just had an encounter with the god. His mind might not be up to this…”
“If I’m in the club, then so are Greg and Andre. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee their protection. Ms. West may have agreed they can leave this school, but that doesn’t mean Courtney and her cronies won’t keep up their torture, will it?”
From the way Ayaz’s lip curled, I knew I was right. I shoved the last mouthful of Trey’s stew into my mouth and heaved my body off the chair. Just walking across the room made me wobble. I desperately needed sleep. But I had friends to look after first.
I slumped down beside Greg and poked him in the shoulder.
“Greg, Greg… wake up.”
Nothing. Greg’s glassy eyes stared, unblinking. He felt so cold, so clammy. I threaded my fingers in his, casting around for something that would draw him out of the darkness. “Greg, come on… Andrew Lloyd Webber is doing another reality TV show, and they’re casting for young voices for the role of Raoul de Chagny.”
Greg’s eyes flew open.Gotcha.“Hazel… where am I?”
He’s awake.
Overcome with relief, I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. Greg’s eyes widened as he took in the enormous room, the TV that took up an entire wall, the kitchen suite and the cathedral windows overlooking the quad. Behind him, Andre leaned against the door frame, looking completely unimpressed.
“Where… where am I?” Greg whispered again, rubbing his palm against his temple. “Why do I feel like I have a brick inside my head?”
“Do you remember anything?” I squeezed his hand.
“I was walking to the bathroom when… someone hit me from behind…” Greg winced as he touched the back of his head. “I must have passed out because I had these horrible nightmares, the most vivid nightmares about a cavern and a cult and an imprisoned demon that ate stars… but they can’t be real…”
If only you knew the half of it, I thought but didn’t say. I was forbidden from telling Greg anything about the creature. It was better he believed that was only a nightmare. “You’re safe now. Do you feel okay? We were worried you might have hit your head so hard that you…”
…that you were turned mad by the very presence of that god.
“Apart from a killer headache, I’ll be fine, I—I think. What’s going on?” Greg pulled a strand of hair back from my face. “Honey, you look like shit. Your clothes are ripped and you’ve covered in mud.”
“It’s a long, long story,” I whispered. “Let’s just say that things have changed around here.”
“I’ll say. Where are we? Do you have a new wealthy benefactor you’ve been holding out on us?”
“Unlikely. We’re in Trey’s dorm room.”
