“This is going to hurt like a motherfucker,” he said as he started to clean the wounds.
“You weren’t kidding,” Quinn hissed through gritted teeth. His fingers crushed mine as Trey finished his gruesome job, taping dressings over the worst of the wounds. Pain shot up my arm as the hand Tillie had stomped on endured more pain, but it only made the god weaker and meant Quinn kept holding me, so it was worth it.
“What happened in that meeting?” I demanded.
“Exactly what I expected would happen,” Trey said. “Courtney had already got to all the other student members. She gave a speech about how the sanctity of the club was in jeopardy, that I had been in charge for too long, and that we needed new leadership to usher in a new era at Miskatonic. She had a stack of support letters from senior members, including my father. That basically sealed the deal. I had a few votes – Paul and Nancy and a couple of others. Quinn and Ayaz might’ve been able to swing things around, but neither of them was there.”
“Ayaz wasn’t there?” I swirled around to face him. Ayaz dropped his gaze again, avoiding me, avoiding all of us.
“No… I didn’t even know about the meeting. I skipped out on afternoon classes. I went out to—” he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter where I went. The point is, I wasn’t there when you needed me. I’m sorry, bro.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered.” Trey’s voice was flat, emotionless. He was doing what he always did – holding all the darkness inside, keeping it to himself. It was the only way he could retain control.
“I tried to get there, but Courtney…” I coughed, gripping Quinn’s shoulder. “I could have done something.”
Quinn winced again, but he wrapped me in his arms, pulling me against his chest, so my head rested on his ruined shoulder. He let out a long, slow breath as his fingers stroked my hair. He didn’t try to kiss me or lighten the mood with a dumb joke. He just held me and I held him, in a way I hadn’t been held since my mother was alive.
This isn’t your fault.
“I hate that you’re getting beat up because of me,” I murmured.
He coughed. “Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself, Hazy. Dad doesn’t need you to give him a reason.”
“Why was your dad even at school today? Doesn’t he have ajob? Why do all your parents care so much about this stupid club and about what you guys do here? They’re the ones who—” I tried to say trapped, but my tongue wouldn’t form the word. I reminded myself that Greg was in the room, and changed what I was saying. “—sentyou to this school in the first place.”
“Because we represent our family honor.” Trey grabbed the first aid kit and started rooting through it. He pulled out a sachet of burn relief cream and another dressing. “Even though we’re—”dead,I finished for him in my head “—invisibleto the world, we are supposed to make this school a miniature representation of the world order. I thought that as the King of Kings, I had the power to decide who would rise and fall, but I miscalculated. I’m just as expendable as the rest of you. We can’t count on the protection of the Eldritch Club any longer.”
Gritting his teeth, Trey rolled up his sleeve. I gasped. Where his Eldritch Club tattoo had been, there was now an ugly patch of charred flesh.
Chapter Twenty-Six
”Look what Hazel did to my hair!” Courtney screamed, waving a bottle of doctored shampoo in Ms. West’s face. “She put chemicals in my shampoo and now my hair is falling out!”
“Is this true, Hazel?” Ms. West steepled her fingers and leaned over her desk, eyes sweeping over me with a mixture of curiosity and disdain.
“You can’t prove anything,” I shot back, leaning back in the hard chair that faced Ms. West’s desk. I was no stranger to the chair. It had cradled my ass many times since I arrived at Derleth.
“I can so.” Courtney grabbed my bookbag. I yelled and grabbed for it, but she dumped it out on the floor. Books, pens, and Turkish Delight candies I nicked from Ayaz’s kitchen scattered across the floor. Courtney grabbed a bottle of shampoo and dropped it on Ms. West’s desk.
“Get one of the chemistry nerds to test that.” Courtney folded her arms and smirked at me. “I bet it’s got all sorts of weird stuff in it.”
Ms. West pushed her glasses down her nose, regarding the bottle with interest. “Hazel, is this true?”
I shrugged. I didn’t care if they knew. What were they going to do to me? What was a little detention when they already planned to feed me to their god? “She got what she deserved. I only did it because she poured tar all over my hair,” I shot back. “I was nearly sick from the fumes and I had to cut off all my hair. Personally, I think she got off lightly.”
“That’s not true,” Ms. West said. “The first week you arrived on campus I took you to Old Waldron. She cut off your filthy dreadlocks. They were a health risk for the student body – we couldn’t have a lice outbreak.”
“No,Courtneyand Trey broke into my room and put tar in my hair.”
“Do you mean Trey, your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend. And she filled my locker with rotting meat and—”
“Stop,” Ms. West snapped. “I’ve heard enough of your baseless accusations, Hazel. I don’t need to remind you thatyouwere the one reprimanded for throwing meat around in the halls. You admitted that you put that meat in yourownlocker so you could deliver it to Courtney’s dorm.”
“Her bullying is out of control.” Courtney folded her arms and stuck out her lower lip. “I just don’t understand why Hazel hates me so much.”
“You being a vile, manipulative bitch might have something to do with it,” I pointed out.
