I took off toward the trees, Trey hot on my heels. I threw a glance over my shoulder. Light darted across the field only a few feet behind me. I dived into the rose bushes. Thorns snagged at my uniform, scraping my skin and probably putting runs in my last good pair of stockings. I ran on, listening for Trey’s heavy breathing in my wake. The roses widened out into a small clearing. I pulled Trey down into it, the pair of us crouching in the fallen leaves and rosehips, clutching each other as we listened hard for our pursuers.
“I thought I saw a couple of students out here,” Atwood said, his voice loud and clear in the still night.
“You sure it wasn’t one of the aberrations?” I recognized Doctor Halsey’s voice. “They’ve been more active lately.”
“It must’ve been. They’re gone now. I just… look at that, on the wall!”
Halsey swore. “Those rotten kids. Hermia isn’t going to like this.”
“With the Eldritch Club breathing down her neck? That’s the understatement of the decade. We’d better go tell her.”
I waited for what seemed like forever. When my injured leg could no longer stand the pain of crouching down, I stood up, casting an eye across the field. It was empty, for now.
“Come on.” I grabbed Trey’s hand, dragging him out of the bushes. We emerged further west, closer to the dormitory building. Flashlights started to appear near the gym. I linked arms with Trey and the two of us flew to the fire exit, which we’d propped open with a piece of broken masonry.
I slammed into the door, shoving it open. The two of us dived inside, sprawling across the marble tiles, fighting to catch our breath.
“That was…” Trey struggled to his feet. He pulled me up and we leaned against each other, holding tight as we half gasped, half cackled with laughter. “My heart’s beating a mile a minute. Is this what life in the ghetto is like?”
“Oh sure,” I grinned back. “White graffiti artist like you, you’d fit right in.”
“You know, I think this is the most fun I’ve ever had.” Trey bent down, his lips inches from mine. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, eager to continue what we started before. Trey’s lips brushed against mine, his tongue yielding. I reached up to touch his cheek.
He tore himself away from me, clutching his head in his hands.
“What?” I demanded. “Don’t want to kiss the charity case anymore?”
“That’s not it,” he growled, backing down the corridor. “I promised myself I wouldn’t do this to you.”
“Wouldn’t do what?”
“Hazel, I treated you likeshit.”
“I remember,” I said darkly. “I was there.”
“Right. So I can’t do this. I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserveyou.”
I rubbed my lip. A part of me wanted to say,what about what I want? But he was right – I wasn’t going to beg Trey Bloomberg for anything, even if my body still surged with heat, withneed.
I shrugged. “If that’s what you want.”
The look on Trey’s face said what he wanted and what he thought he deserved were a universe apart. “Yes,” he said, and then louder, more definite. “Yes. It’s what I want.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.” He sucked in a breath. “Okay then. Goodnight.”
“Yeah.” I watched him turn, walk away from me. His body disappeared into the darkened corridor, cloaking himself in the night. A ghost retreating into the spirit realm, leaving behind only a cold spot and a shiver down the spine.
My spine was tingling all right, but not from cold. I pressed my finger to the scar on my wrist as a sick feeling crept across my chest. I thought about the revenge I was plotting. Of all the monarchs, Trey was the one who most deserved my punishment. His relentless cruelty had nearly broken me. When he held me over that cliff, something inside me snapped. I’dwantedhim to let go.
I had to make these rich kids understand that they couldn’t treat people like that. They needed to be punished. So why did I feel so guilty about what I was about to do?
Was it because Trey Bloomberg was already punishing himself?
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Psst.” Nancy pretended to drop her books beside my desk in History class. I bent over so we could whisper to each other. “There’s an Eldritch Club meeting tonight.”
