“You’resick,” Trey spat. “Why are you telling us this now, when you’ve gone to such great lengths to hide the truth?”
“If we are to work together, I demand complete transparency. That is the only way our efforts will be a success. It is why I have told you everything tonight.”
Complete transparency? Was she serious? After everything she’d done, how could she expect us to trust her? And yet, our best chance at surviving this was to make her believe it. She gave us her secrets, and we owed her something in return.
“If you want transparency, you should probably know we overheard Vincent and the others talking before the performance,” I said.
Ms. West raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “How did you manage that?”
“There’s a secret passage Quinn knew about – it leads from the forest cabins into the faculty wing. We hid inside during their meeting.”
“You are resourceful. What did they talk about? No doubt they’re alldeeply concernedabout their imminent aging.” She let out a dry laugh, touching her alabaster cheek. “The god is now too weak to give them the power that keeps them young. You have injured many of them with your fire. They will need to lick their wounds for a while. Perhaps some of them will even die. But they will want to regain control.”
I nodded. “They do want to regain control. They’re planning to release the Great Old God from his cage.”
“A bold plan, if a foolish one.” Ms. West’s lips pursed. “Such arrogance to assume the god cares for their petty power squabbles. Our god cannot be controlled – even from within his cage he exerts his own will and works his schemes. We saw this with the presence of his pillar. If he is free, he will not waste a moment helping the Eldritch Club. He will be with his children, teaching them the wonders of the universe. He will destroy the human race to make the planet ready for his children.”
“Yeah, that’s not good.”
“Agreed.” She waggled a finger. “No destroying the human race until we’ve perfected breeding. We need at least ten generations of evolution before we can be certain of the viability of the god’s progeny. But if he is freed, I cannot promise he won’t be overcome by the deliciousness of our feeble race. But not to worry, the Eldritch Club won’t attempt anything so stupid after that fire. Especially not when they see what we have.”
She drew a mobile phone from the folds in her coat, tapped her fingers on the screen, then passed the phone across the table. I picked it up and hit play on a queued video.
Gloria Haynes was tied to a chair, her mouth gagged, her eyes wide with fear as robed figures flocked around her, leering over her with menace on their minds. She cried incomprehensible words, her voice muffled by the gag and the large room.
I recognize it. She’s in the weight room. But are Greg and Zehra still there with her?
Ms. West hasn’t said anything about the god’s silence, or about his refusal to devour Zehra. She wants me to believe she’s still in control.
Ms. West replaced the phone in her robe. “I’ll be sending that to Vincent within the hour along with our demands. We cannot allow them to free the god.”
“How do you… I mean,weplan to stop them?”
“First, Hazel will return as a student.”
I snorted. “Even with the other problems he’s dealing with, Vincent Bloomberg will have something to say about that.”
She smiled. “Thanks to you, after tonight the Eldritch Club will no longer exert any power over what happens at this school. Think about your future, Hazel. If you return as a student, you can graduate with a diploma. When this is all over, you will be able to leave and continue your life elsewhere, with all the clout a Derleth education could offer. And perhaps, a celestial baby in your belly.”
I snorted with laughter, thinking of the absurdity of what she just said.Never have I been so fucking grateful to my mother for the bad example she set. Thanks, Mom, for making me gun-shy. All those times with the guys and we used condoms even when we didn’t have to…“What clout? There have literally been no graduates of Derleth Academy.Ever.I’d be the first. But fine, I’d get a diploma. You try to use my uterus for your own ends. Good luck with that, but whatever. Say I agree to come back. What’s after that?”
“We need you and your boyfriends—” she let the word dangle on her tongue like a bungee jumper “—to take back the school. You must regain control. We will host a formal dance on the anniversary of the first ritual. It’s the only time the sigils can be broken. The Eldritch Club will return for that if I have Gloria, and I will make them break the sigils that bind us to this school. I need every student to attend and to fight with the faculty if the club tries any tricks, which they no doubt will. We may be immortal, but they are the descendants of great witches and occultists. Vincent will throw his full weight at us, and I need every student on our side. If we are triumphant, every Miskatonic Prep student will be free. Immortal and free.”
I glanced between Trey and Quinn. Neither of them moved a muscle, nor gave any indication of what they were thinking. They didn’t have to – I knew their hearts well enough by now to know what they thought of Ms. West’s offer. But it was important to keep her on our side… for now. “And you’ll return Greg and Zehra?”
“They are safe. You do not need them, but I do.” Her smile chilled my bones.
“I don’t care. We want them back. After tonight, you don’t need to pretend that Greg went to the god. Release Greg and Zehra. Otherwise, there’s no deal.”
“Very well. If you get me what I want, I will return them to you. Show me you can be trusted, Hazel Waite.” Ms. West stood, towering over me in that sweeping black dress. A hand with nails like talons crept toward me.
I shook on it, sealing my new deal with the Deadmistress.
A deal written in blood and lies.
A deal that gave me a ticket back into the school, and the chance to study the pillar and the god, to find the solution that would restore the lives of all the students.
What Ms. West didn’t know was that while her cold fingers gripped mine, I’d already made a deal of my own – that I would end her reign of terror, and the god would help me do it.
