“They’re getting away,” I growled, leaping up.
“Let them.” Quinn shrunk away from me. “After today, no student is going to doubt how they came to be here. We won this battle, Hazy. We showed them the truth.”
The fire inside me burned bright and hot as I watched the taillights recede into the trees.That’s right, you cowards. Run away. Leave us trapped here with that… pillar thing.
Whatever it was.
Right now, it wasn’t the most important thing. The parents were gone. They wouldn’t try anything else tonight. The pillar was… doing whatever it was doing. The god rumbled within his cage, content with the chaos we had wrought together. But there was a boy with dark eyes and burnt flesh, and he needed me.
“We have to get to Ayaz.” I stood up. “Even for an Edimmu, wounds like that… I have to know that he’s okay—”
Trey gripped my shoulder, dragging me backward. I flailed for Quinn, but as he reached for me, he froze in place. He didn’t want to touch me.
I didn’t blame him, not after what I’d done to Ayaz. But it hurt.
Itfuckinghurt. Much more than my arm being twisted out of its socket – and that wasn’t exactly comfortable.
“Let go of me,” I yelled. “I have to see Ayaz.”
“Hell no. Andre and Loretta will look after him. You have bigger things to worry about.” Trey let go of my arm and wrapped his across my chest, holding me in place against him. With his free hand, he pointed toward the front steps.
“But Ayaz—”
“Hazy,look.” Quinn’s eyes followed where Trey was looking, and a fresh shudder of fear tore through his body.
I squinted into the shadows that hung over the school, like a curtain falling on the final act. Ms. West stood between the stone pillars, her arms folded across her chest and a look of complete triumph arresting her solemn face. Behind her, Dr. Atwood, Dr. Halsey, and Mr. Dexter formed a triangle, their robes fluttering in the breeze as they watched the last car tear around the bend in the drive.
Silence descended – an eerie stillness punctuated only by the roar of the ocean beyond the trees and the sound of the god hissing in my ear.
“I know you’re out there, Hazel Waite,” the Deadmistress called into the trees, where the students cowered. “You and I have unfinished business.”
Chapter Four
Trey, Quinn and I spent the night in the mouth of the cave where they’d first hidden me from Ms. West at the end of first quarter. We leaned against cold stone, just far enough back to be hidden from view, but with a clear line of sight, and huddled together for warmth. Quinn still refused to touch me, so Trey had to act as the middle of our sandwich, smothering my body in his as much as possible.
All around us in the woods, students whispered and shuffled and sobbed, moving in their hiding places to huddle in small groups. In the bitter-cold night, the truths I’d laid down in the auditorium burrowed into their psyche and took root. Spending the night cold and uncomfortable in the woods did more to alter their minds than I could have ever achieved on my own.
Sleep eluded me. I reached out with my mind, trying to touch the god, but he’d gone quiet, as if joining with me and raising that pillar had sent him into a slumber of his own. That was annoying. I had so many questions – I desperately needed his confusing non-answers. I tried to summon the shadows to look in on Ayaz, but since they were part of the god they too were silent.
When the first light of morning crept through the trees, I shook Trey awake. “Get up. I want to be back at school before the teachers start—”
He shook his head. “You should be in Mexico by now, not here where both West and my father have seen you. I’ll walk you down to Arkham. Deborah can take you to an airport and—”
“Not happening. I’m not leaving Ayaz, and I’m also not going to ditch you with that weird pillar thing.” I brushed cave mud off my clothes, trying to ignore the cold that seeped into my bones. I desperately needed sleep and warmth and a safe place to think, but I’d be 0-for-3 where I was going. “C’mon, we don’t want to miss breakfast.”
“Quinn.” Trey poked him in the side. “Wake up and help me talk some sense into our girl.”
“Noooo…” Quinn mumbled in his sleep, gripping Trey’s sleeve like it was his lifeline. “Please, don’t burn Ayaz… he’s my friend… and I don’t have friends…”
His words sent a jolt of cold through my already freezing body.He’s talking to me. He’s begging me for his friend’s life.
I’m a monster.
“Quinn.” Trey landed a kick in his side. Quinn bolted upright, his eyes darting around, searching for something familiar. When he saw me, he slunk away, although he tried to hide it with a half-assed stretch.
“I was having a nightmare.” He ran his hand through his sandy hair, averting his eyes to the cave wall. With grey light dripping through the entrance, I could just make out the edges of the cave-in that Ms. West had used to trap Zehra.
“It’s not over yet.” Trey hauled him to his feet. “Hazel wants to go back to school.”
