Behind me, students murmured, turning to each other to digest the news.
“Hazel didn’t do it,” Quinn said. “A gang set fire to the apartments—”
“Not according to this arson report, sent to me as your legal guardian.” Ms. West removed another document from her robe, this one printed on crisp legal paper. “The police and fire department have conducted a thorough investigation. Hazel Waite had burns on her hands consistent with her starting the blaze. I’m disappointed in myself that it’s taken me so long to connect the pieces, but now I understand everything.” Her eyes narrowed on me. “Youset the fire that burned Dunwich. You’repossessedby fire – a conduit for power. And that is why you cannot leave this school. If I let you out, you’re going straight to jail, and you won’t do the god any good there. You’re the key to getting us all what we want.”
Trey’s hand circled my wrist felt like a shackle. He pressed his thumb into the scar. “Hazel, is this true?”
“Of course it’s not.” Quinn dropped an arm around my neck. “Hazy would never…”
Quinn’s words trailed off. He saw something in my face, in the flames in my eyes, in the defiant tilt of my chin.
I did it.
I killed them.
Memories of that day flew at me in a rush, riding the wave of the god’s screams. Some kids from Dante’s neighborhood kept trying to haze him into joining their gang. They would often follow us around his street, taunting us with slurs and spittle. That particular day, Dante hadn’t been in class, so I walked over to his place to see if he was okay. He wasn’t there, either. On the way back, four guys surrounded me. They tried to rough me up and take Dante’s journal from my arms. The fight was a bit of a blur, but I kicked someone in the nuts, gave someone else a bloody nose, and ran for it. I raced home, lungs bursting. I thought maybe Dante might’ve gone there to wait for me. I thought my mom would protect me. That’s what parents were supposed to do.
I rushed into our apartment to find the two of them together. On my bed. Naked and wrapped in each other’s arms.
My mom.
Dante.
Betrayers.
I wanted to scream, but they’d stolen my voice. They’d taken everything I thought I could trust and torn it to pieces right in front of me. And so I gathered up all the screams that echoed inside me and I shoved them into the flame.
I ran.
I raged.
Iignited.
I watched from the street as the flames blew out the windows to dance in the crisp breeze, relishing their freedom. Black smoke spewed out as the building cleansed itself of treachery. People in the neighboring apartments rushed into the street. The kids who’d followed me tossed their Molotov cocktails into the empty parking lot and scampered into the night. I tried to pick one up and throw it after them and that was how I burned my hands.
My mother leaned out the window, a halo of fire wreathing her hair like an angel. Only she was no angel but a demon burning up in the inferno fuelled by her betrayal. She cried at me to help.
I watched her body collapse. I sucked in fresh air as the two people I loved most in the world breathed their last. The fire that possessed me burned like a warm comforter in my chest.
That is my truth.
That is the secret that possessed me, that made me a prisoner.
That is the lust fuelling the god’s desire.
As the memories surfaced, the god came with them. He reveled in my secret, gorging himself on my crime like a kid loose in a candy store. A chorus of voices screamed in ecstasy inside my head. I clamped my hands over my ears, trying to push the sound back inside, but that didn’t make the pain go away. I collapsed to my knees as my legs gave out and my body turned to jelly. Trey and Quinn let me fall.
Ms. West glided toward me, wrapping cold fingers around my wrist and holding my arm high. “Is this the girl you’d allow to lead you in rebellion? Amurderer.”
“That only proves my point further.” Vincent stood on the side of the stage now, his hands in his pockets, a satisfied smirk playing across his lips. He thought he had me now. “That girl is trying to mess everything up for us. She must be got rid of.”
“Hazy?” Quinn stepped away from me, his eyes wide. His face froze in the same expression he wore when he found out what his mother had done. It broke my heart to know I’d caused it.
“That’s sick,” Courtney gasped, clutching her stomach. “You burned your motheralive?”
They don’t know you as I know you,the god spoke to me through the screams. How it was speaking to me while I was awake, I didn’t know.You alone can end this as it began. You alone can cleanse this place and do what I cannot.
As the god spoke, I felt the black web of his power sliding over my skin. Wherever it touched, heat scalded me, turning my guilt into rage, tugging out all the memories of my torture at the hands of these students. I swam in the evil of their legacy, and in that dark place, I grasped for the light - the light of my own power.My vengeance.
