“That’s stupid. And not necessary. I made a pact—”
“The only agreement you’ve made is that you and the other two charity cases make it to the end of the year alive. Anything else is fair game. For someone so clever, you’re shit at making deals. Technically, they wouldn’t be in violation of the agreement if they cut off all your limbs. Don’t think the headmistress won’t consider it. She’s quite creative.”
“I don’t doubt it,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. A cold fear shuddered down my spine. “Is she going to cut off my limbs?”
“She might,” Trey shrugged. “If she thought it would give her an answer. I don’t think she’ll touch you until she understands why your pain hurts the god, but she’s not the one you have to worry about now.”
“You mean Courtney? You said she was going to do something to me last night. That’s why Ayaz came to my room.”
Trey’s jaw tightened. “Courtney has a new boyfriend.”
“What’s that got to do with—”
“His name is John Hyde-Jones.”
“I know him.” John was a hulking guy with a thick neck in my Ancient History class. He sat in the back with the monarchs, making lewd remarks about the Greco-Roman mosaics in his textbook and slapping every girl’s ass who walked by his desk. He had an intellect to rival a gardening hose, but his father was a senator and he exuded an aura of danger. I always gave him a wide berth.
John + Courtney = a match made in hell.
“Courtney gave John your room key. He and a couple of his buddies were going to wait until you were asleep and—” Trey shook his head. His eyes flashed with danger, but this time I didn’t think it was directed at me.
I didn’t need him to fill in the words. A cold fist curled around my heart. I stared down at the desk, unfolding my arms and letting my hands flop against the wood. My fingers curled over to touch the scar on my wrist, peeling off the dressing on my new tattoo – the ink that was supposed to protect me but might’ve put me in the firing line.
Neither of us spoke for what felt like forever. Trey’s unspoken words hung in the air between us.
No one would have heard me scream. No one would have helped me.
I forced my mind back from the precipice – I was already dealing with too much horror, I didn’t need to imagine what would have happened if Ayaz hadn’t come for me first.
Finally, I raised my head and met Trey’s icicle eyes with my defiant ones.You may have tried to break me, Courtney Haynes, but I have more allies than you know.“They hate me that much?”
“You’ve been systematically tearing this school and all its institutions apart ever since you arrived. Of course they hate you. They’re not used to a gutter whore having a voice. They want to silence you, Hazel.” Trey flipped a page in his textbook. “That’s why you shouldn’t go back to your room until we can get the lock changed.”
“But the teachers… were they in on this, too?”
Trey shook his head. “When the guys found your room empty, Courtney alerted the headmistress. Ms. West thought you were making a run for it, so she had everyone out looking for you. It would be much harder to find you if you left the boundaries of the school, since none of us can cross the sigils on the barrier. It’s like butting up against a brick wall. But a scholarship student could, and an escaped student would threaten the entire system – that’s why they only choose orphans, so no one will come looking for them and they have nowhere to run to. If you’d got in that boat, you’d be safe in Arkham by now, telling your story to a police officer who thinks you’re high.”
“And Greg and Andre would be doomed.”
Trey shrugged. “We’re all doomed.”
My fingers slid from the burn across to the tattoo, shooting a jolt of pain down my arm that also caused a fire to flicker in my head as the god felt it, too.Interesting that I now seem to be able to sense the god’s pain as well as my own.“Tell me about the fire,” I whispered.
“Quid pro quo, Hazy,” Trey flashed me a smile that was completely devoid of mirth. “I show you mine if you show me yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to know about the fire that killed your mother.”
No.
“You already know everything,” I hissed. “You read about it in my file.”
“Not everything. I don’t know how you got that scar you keep touching.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as heat flared in my hands. The scar glowed so hot I tore my finger away. When I opened my eyes again, the corner of Trey’s textbook had caught on fire. He yelped in surprise and smothered the flame with his sleeve.
I shoved out my chair and stood up, my whole body shaking. “This study session is over.”
