I secretly hoped the teller would give us the money in sacks with dollar signs written on them, like in all the old cartoons Dante and I loved to watch. But she just handed Trey two thick envelopes containing stacks of hundred dollar bills.
Seventy-eight thousand dollars.
They couldn’t give us all the money – they didn’t have enough stored in the safe. According to the teller, you’re supposed to call in advance if you want to take out loads of cash. But it didn’t matter. I’d never seen so much money in my life. Hell, I’d never evencontemplatedthe idea of that kind of cash falling across my path.
It occurred to me as I slid the money into the satchel with the sigil that I could walk away with it. I could sneak out at night and be halfway across the country before the Kings even thought of following me. Seventy-eight grand would help me and Greg and Andre and Loretta start new lives.
Trey knew that, and he’d given me the money anyway. Either because he trusted me, or because he wanted to give me the chance to make my escape, the same way he’d tried to save me so many times before – by putting me on a boat and floating me out to sea.
Tough luck, Trey Bloomberg. You’re stranded with me for a bit longer.
We sped back toward the school. The presence of the cash sobered us – even though Trey had the radio on, no one sang along or made jokes or said much of anything at all. Trey sped through Arkham without slowing and turned the corner onto the gravel road. A figure stepped in front of the car.
“Fuck.” Trey slammed on the brakes. I screamed as the car lurched to a stop. My seatbelt bit into my shoulder.
Luckily, the Porsche was such a fucking great car and the tires gripped so well that the front grill had stopped barely an inch from the girl who slammed her fists on the hood, not caring that she’d nearly been flattened.Who is that and why is she screaming—
“Courtney?”
I recognized the halter top and booty shorts, but that was where the similarities to the haughty Queen who’d left school last night ended. Her eyes bugged out of her face, and her hair was all matted, with leaves and branches sticking out. Blood trickled from a cut in her temple.
“Fucking John!” she yelled, punching the hood again to emphasize her point. “I’m going to wring his fucking neck!”
“Watch the bodywork.” Trey was already out of the car, slamming the door behind him as he dragged Courtney out of the road. She clung to him, yelling a stream of incoherent words.
“Courts, get it together. You’re not making sense. What happened? Where’s your car?”
“He took off with it, is what happened,” Courtney shrieked. “Two groups of us decided to stick together. We had a bit of a party on the beach, then went to a bank in Innsmouth to get John’s money. We managed to get fifty g’s, but as soon as we threw it in my car, John sped away and that’s… that’s not even the worst part!”
She broke down into gasping sobs. Trey shook her roughly. “Tell us.”
Courtney paled. “Paul was John’s partner, and he’d gone across the street to get some drinks while we were in the bank. He must’ve… he must’ve been standing in the wrong spot, outside the sigils when John took off, because…”
“What? Spit it out.” The vein above Trey’s eye was ready to explode from the tension. My fingers gripped the edge of my seat so hard the knuckles glowed white.
“Because he collapsed on the street, and his body turned to dust,” Courtney sobbed. “He’s dead.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dead.
No.
Paul can’t be dead.
Trey’s words mirrored my own thoughts. “That’s impossible. How can he be dead? We’re immortal.”
Courtney swiped at her eyes and pointed toward the gap in the trees where she’d emerged. “See for yourself.”
My legs trembled as I stepped out of the car. I noticed rustling in the trees. An animal? A horrible practical joke? For a moment I was transported back to the first quarter, when I was the victim of vicious bullying at Courtney’s behest.I bet Courtney’s tears are fake – she lures us into the forest and then John and his buddies jump out and—
I didn’t like to think of anything past theand. But Quinn and Ayaz stalked into the woods after Trey. They clearly didn’t think Courtney was faking it. I touched my fingers to the burn on my wrist, sucked in a breath, and plunged in after them.
Only a few yards into the trees, we found them. Tillie and Derek held two ends of a makeshift stretcher they’d made of uniform blazers tied between two sticks. Tillie dropped her end on the ground and rushed to embrace Trey, her face stricken.
On the stretcher lay Paul’s body.
At least, Iassumedit was Paul’s body. He was impossible to recognize – he wore his school uniform, so only his head was visible, but he no longer looked like the same fun guy who’d welcomed me into the monarchs’ circle after the Kings adopted me. Paul’s skin had practically disappeared from his bones, save for patches that clung to his cheeks. Instead, the surface of his bones appeared covered in fine dust. Where his hands should have been were only empty cuffs.
