I stop and hide behind a locker. The first voice I recognize is our English teacher—Mr. Halpern.
“Look,” Halpern mutters, “you and I both know it wasn’t drugs. Cynthia didn’t knot her own hair like that. And I know you don’t believe the idea that she bargained for money. It called to her, drove her mad. This wasn’t just some girl who wanted a shiny new bag.”
My blood runs cold.
“She couldn’t have knotted her own hair,” Halpern presses on. “Not with her arms broken after the accident. The same person who knotted her hair could have dragged her there.”
Mom left those parts out.
“Keep your voice down.”
Rourke?
“Why are you even here? Why post up at a school dance unless you think something could happen again?”
“We’re just being careful.”
“Because it’s the same night. Same moon.”
“Because it’s Tar City,” Rourke answers.
“Let me ask you something,” Halpern says. “What if Cynthia wasn’t random—what if she was… chosen?”
Footsteps.
I step back fast, ducking into the hallway nearby.
“Just keep your eyes open. Pretty girls are easy targets,” Halpern mutters.
“I always do,” Rourke replies.
People walk by as Halpern and Rourke split off?—
I stay in the shadows until it’s clear. Suddenly, the whole dance, the whole night, feels like a fucking joke. Who gives a shit about Ivan or a flask when there’s something real and nasty crawling around this town. All I can think about is Sisk.I need to keep her close.
I walk back to the gym, but it’s empty noise. She’s not by the spiked punch. She’s not on the dance floor. She’s not with her friends. And Ivan? Fucking gone, too.
My eyes do another lap, slower this time, slicing through the bullshit. A cold knot starts to tighten in my gut.She wouldn’t just bail, not without a word.
“Yo, lookin’ for your ballerina?” It’s Whistle, propped up against the wall like he’s judging the performance. He jerks his chin toward the door. “Pretty sure she dipped with lover boy.” A slow, shitty grin spreads across his face. “Told you, you can’t turn a ho into a housewife, bro.”
All I can picture is my knuckles splitting his lip, but the thought of her is stronger. I turn and move, his laughter bouncing off my back.
The hall is all clear. I kick open the bathroom door.Empty.The library.Dark.I’m about to check the parking lot when I hear it. A soft laugh, her laugh, coming from a dark classroom down the hall. I follow it, and I don’t bother with the handle. I shove the door open and it crashes against the wall.
“What the hell, Jax?” she yells, jumping up.
They’re huddled over a desk. Ivan’s got a knife and he’s carving into the wood like a goddamn punk.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” I bite out, my voice a raw wire. “What the fuck are you doing in here?”
Ivan stands up slow, trying to look tough. “It’s a desk. Not like you’re Mr. Respect School Property.”
I don’t even look at him. My eyes are locked on her. “You couldn’t have told me where you were going?”
“I didn’t think I needed your permission!” she fires back, her face flushing. “You told me to have fun!”
“Didn’t mean it.”
