“And look, I can make it into a dick,” I smirked to myself as I turned the line into an enormous cock, complete with a huge set of balls. “Because this school is full of dicks. Consider it a class portrait.”
Trey made a choking noise. His shoulders trembled with suppressed laughter.
“Come on, rich boy. Your whole life you’ve done everything that’s been asked of you. And where’s it got you? King of a school of reanimated corpses, that’s where.” I slashed my paintbrush across the wall, painting a tic-tac-toe board. “Go on, it’s cathartic, I swear.”
Trey’s hand trembled. Red paint splattered on the starched collar of his shirt as he raised the brush. His shoulders tensed. The earth wobbled on its axis.
He pressed the brush into the stone, pulling away to leave a small red dot.
“Bloomberg, you rebel.” I slapped him on the shoulder. I could practically see the adrenaline surging through his veins.
A wicked grin spread across Trey’s lips, a smile that skipped stones across the river of my soul. He stared at the brush in his hand. After what felt like an eternity, he dipped it in the paint.
With two lines, Trey slashed a red cross into the tic-tac-toe board. Giggling, I placed a circle. He won, hooting and hollering as he enacted a dorky victory dance that was more appropriate for a major lottery win than a kid’s game that was rigged from the start.
I’d never imagined Trey like this, giddy with childish joy. He laughed and whooped as he slapped the paint as high as he could reach. We covered the wall in immature drawings, then collapsed on the grass to relish our orgy of rebellion. The historic wall was completely covered in dancing dicks, stick-figure representations of teachers involved in all manner of lewd activities, and some wonderfully poetic curse-words.
“Jizzwizard?” I pointed to a word Trey had just finished. “Where’d you come up with that?”
“Quinn said it to Ayaz once. It has a certain permeance.”
“Of course. And who’s that?” I asked, pointing to a caricature of a man with his mouth open, ready to suck on the enormous cock I’d drawn.
“My dad,” he replied, placing his hands behind his head and grinning up at his creation. “He thinks he’s this powerful leader, but really he’s just doing the bidding of his god. He’s a pawn, just like me.”
“You don’t have to be a pawn. Do you think when we’re free of this place, you’ll go to college?”
Beside me, Trey’s body stiffened. “You keep saying ‘when,’” he said, his voice straining. “But it’s never going to happen.”
“Have a little faith. I’m clever. Ayaz isn’t too bad himself. We’re going to crack this.”
“I know you’re clever. And you’re stubborn and strong, too. But you can’t stubborn your way out of this. The Great Old God has been trapped in that void for over five hundred years, drawing power from despairing souls. No one’s even come close to defeating it.”
“That’s because no onewantedto fight it.”
“We don’t know that. Maybe there were people in Parris’ circle who tried to stand up to him, and—”
“Wedoknow that, because we know the people who are attracted to its power are exactly those who can’t resist it. Think of who your father might be if he was free from this need to control everyone and everything around him,” I touched my hand to his. “Think of whoyoumight be.”
Trey shuddered. It was like he was shrugging off a heavy cloak that had been dragging him down.
“People who are truly free… they would never come to a place like Derleth Academy in the first place. They don’t need it.”
“Then why are you here?” he whispered, turning to me, his amber eyes burning.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I whispered back.
Trey’s lips brushed mine, not hot and needy like they had been before, but soft and warm and searching, brushing against mine with a featherlight touch.
This was the guy who’d been my tormenter from the moment I arrived at this school. He’d been specificallyselectedto unleash my own personal hell, and he’d done an admirable job. He’d broken me down, very nearly destroyed me. But in the process, he was destroying himself, and in this kiss we started to rebuild the broken walls—
“Is someone out there?” Professor Atwood called. I jerked my head up. Trey swore, rubbing his lip.
Two shadowed figures stepped out from the side entrance. Flashlight beams crisscrossed over the tennis courts.
“What do we do?” Trey looked terrified.
I grabbed his hand, yanking him to his feet. “We run!”
