by Mae Doyle
My blood runs cold as I look into her face. She’s deadly serious.
She wants to do this.
I risk a glance around me at the crowd and I realize with horror that I’m surrounded by students who are enjoying themselves. They could walk away.
They don’t want to.
Chapter 20
I should have known where they would take us, but for some reason, I’m almost surprised when we end up in the grove.
Now I remember being told that it’s a space for the students to do as they want. I’d thought that it was weird then, but I’m beginning to see what they meant.
The students at Meyer’s Grove do whatever the fuck they want, so you better join them, get out of the way, or prepare to be fucked up.
I didn’t know that those were my only options, and now I’m screwed. And I took my devils down with me.
Swallowing hard, I try to keep from staring at my feet, but there are huge roots in the dirt and I’ve already tripped once. The students holding my arms aren’t too pleased about it, and they jerk me hard back to my feet, making me cry out in pain.
“You think that hurts? Just wait,” the girl digging her nails into my arm had told me.
“What do you do at the grove?” We’re standing at its edge now, the huge stage right in front of us. The moon is fully overhead now, illuminating the space and making it possible for me to see exactly how many students turned out for this event.
Must be better than a lacrosse game.
“We do whatever we want.” She shrugs and pushes me forward, using my body to separate the crowd. “When we have students who don’t belong here then we get rid of them on the stage. It’s great for class morale, you know.”
I think she’s joking at first, but when I look at her face, I see that she’s dead serious. She grins at me, her features slightly distorted in the moonlight. “You’re the most divisive and annoying student we’ve had here in years, you know that? And you’re our first disposal in two years, so congratulations.”
“Disposal? You guys are fucked up.” I’ve lost sight of Asher, and I try to keep her talking for as long as possible so that he may be able to escape.
If he can get away from these crazy people then he’ll be fine, but then my eyes land on him, and my shoulders slump.
He’s already heading up the stairs to the stage. My captors push me forward and I stumble closer to him, willing him to look up and see me, but his head is bent. I don’t know what they’ve been saying to him, but if his teammates are treating him the way I’m being treated, then they’re fucking with him.
They’re going to break him and I have to stop them.
I start to walk faster, wanting to get to the stage as quickly as possible. Even though I think that the girl and boy holding me want me to slow down, they seem to enjoy it.
“Eager bitch, isn’t she?” He shouts over my head, and the girl laughs and nods.
“You know that we’re going to kill you, right? And your precious little aunt and uncle aren’t going to do a damn thing about it, unless they throw a party. Think they’ll throw a party when you’re dead, you stupid slut?”
I do my best to ignore her, but tears spring to my eyes. I don’t like to joke or think about being dead, not after what happened to my parents.
I couldn’t bring them back, and I know for a fact that they wouldn’t want me in this position, but it’s not like they’re here to help me. It’s not like they could, even if they were alive.
I had no idea how much power money could buy.
“You’re really going to kill Asher, too?” My voice wavers a little and I hate myself for sounding weak, but the girl just laughs.
“He’s old money, Kiera. We have to get approval to do that, but she’ll be here in a moment to let us know where the line is with him and the rest of the devils. Don’t you think that they’d all look great with scars on their faces, though? There’s nothing hotter than a guy with a scar.”
I don’t know who the hell she’s talking about. Who will have to be here to give permission on how far they can go with torturing us? We reach the stairs up to the stage and walk up them, each step harder for me to take.
Each step taking me closer to dying, and there’s not a damn thing that I can do about it.
“Asher.” He’s right next to me, and he glances over at me when I call his name. We’re both in the front of the stage looking out at the crowd that’s gathered to see what’s going to happen to us.
Well, gathered to see me die and to see him disfigured.
God, I hope that that’s all they’re going to do to him. I don’t think that I can live with myself if they kill him and I have to watch.
Then I realize that I won’t be living, no matter what happens or who they hurt first, and I feel my knees give out a little. As long as my other devils have gotten away, then I’m going to be okay. I’ll make it through this, one way or another.
“Silence!” The guy holding my arm drops it and steps in front of us, holding up his arms. “Madison, we need you up here.”
Fuck. Is she the one who gets to have the final say on what’s going to happen to Asher? If that’s the case, then he’s as good as dead, because she hates him more than I ever thought was possible. She pushes her way through the crowd and comes up the steps, giving me a moment to look around at all of the faces.
No Sophia. No devils. Even though I know that I should be glad, my heart sinks a little when I realize that Asher and I are really on our own.
I didn’t think that Sophia would be here, especially when we told her to make herself scarce, but she’s the only real friend I’ve had at Meyer’s Grove, and I want to see her before…
Before they kill me.
I’m so caught up in my own thoughts that, at first, I don’t realize that Madison is speaking. She’s droning on about the rights of students at Meyer’s Grove, and from the looks of the crowd, starting to lose them.
But then she does something that I don’t expect. She whips around, her arm out, and slices me across the cheek.
I scream as the blade she’s holding cuts through my skin and as blood starts to drip down my cheek, but my arms are still pinned at my sides and I can’t reach up. My scream echoes through the grove before dying away.
She’s standing in front of me, facing me, the blade still in her hand, a wild look in her eyes. “You shouldn’t have come here, you trash,” she cries, lashing out again. This time, the blade catches me on my arm, and I scream again as it cuts through my skin.
“Stop!” Asher fights against the lacrosse players holding him back, but he can’t get away from them. They’re too strong, and he’s outnumbered, but I can see the tears that are falling down his cheeks. “She doesn’t deserve this! None of what happened here is her fault!”
Madison spins around to face him. “This is all her fault! She had every opportunity to leave, but you turned soft! You and the other devils didn’t do your job, and now you must all be punished!”
My jaw falls open as she lashes out at him, her blade catching him on the chest. Immediately, blood blooms from the cut, a bright red flower that’s growing across his body as he hisses in pain.
“Stop it! Take me!” I don’t know if she can understand me with me crying this hard, but I have to get her to stop. “Please! Don’t hurt him!”
Madison turns back to me. “Don’t hurt him?” Her voice is high and mocking and I cringe away from her as she reaches out and caresses my cheek. When she pulls her hand back, her fingers are covered with my blood, and she reaches out to wipe it on my shirt.
“He didn’t do his job, Kiera. If he can’t do something as simple as taking out the trash, why would he be able to do any better when he grows up? We don’t tolerate incompetence at Meyer’s Grove.” She flips her hair at me, still holding tightly onto her blade.
I wonder how many other students here have a weapon. I wonder if she’s going to be the one to kill me.
Will she do it fast?
/>
Will she take her time?
I close my eyes, not wanting to see the blade whizz towards me when she finally does decide to kill me, but a loud voice cuts through the silence of the grove and makes me look up.
“You didn’t start without me, did you, Madison?” It’s Decker’s voice. I’d recognize it anywhere, even, apparently, with my eyes closed.
The crowd of students parts as she makes her way up to the stage. At first I think that it’s strange that there would be an adult here, especially when it was made clear that this is a space for students, but there has to be someone around with responsibility, right?
I mean, someone has to know what’s going on here and put a stop to it if it gets to be too much.
Even though Decker and I have never gotten along, I can’t help the feeling of relief that courses through me when I see her. There’s no way that this is real. There’s no way that Meyer’s Grove allows students to attack and kill each other.
I mean, honestly. Who in their right mind would send their children to a school where there was a very real chance that they might not make it back home in one piece? It’s a fucking lord of the flies problem, and even though Decker’s evil, nobody is this evil.
I just can’t believe it.
Decker looks at me, her eyes sliding over my body as she takes in the red on my cheek and my arm. She turns to Asher and does the same, barely registering that he’s incredibly hurt. It’s like she doesn’t care that we’re bleeding up on stage for everyone to see.
Well everyone but Sophia and the other devils.
Thank God.
“You may all do whatever you want with her,” Decker says, speaking loud enough so that her voice projects over the assembled crowd. “I don’t care. Her aunt and uncle don’t care. She’ll be dead and gone and they’ll have gotten what they wanted, so have at it.”
I gasp, even though I promised myself that I wouldn’t make a sound up here in front of everyone. I can’t believe that an adult, even one as vile as Decker, would be willing to throw students to the wolves like this.
But it’s happening.
She turns to Asher.
“He’s a tricky one,” she says, obviously thinking hard about what to say and what to do. “I understand your rage, especially you, Madison, since you trusted that the devils would take out the trash for you. But his parents aren’t as willing to see him go as her aunt and uncle. You’re opening up problems for yourself in the future if you kill him.”
Madison face grows dark. She’s a gorgeous girl, but right now she looks murderous. “You can’t expect me to be okay with him walking away from this.” Her rage is directed at Decker, but it’s so overwhelming that I’m sure everyone near her can feel it.
Decker laughs, a sound that gives me chills. She sounds evil, and I realize then that nothing is going to save me.
Not her.
Not Asher.
Not my devils.
They’d be stupid to come back right now, right when everything was about to come to a head.
“Madison, you need to learn how to listen,” Decker says slowly, like she’s speaking to a child. Her voice is still loud enough that everyone in the crowd can hear her. “I didn’t say that you have to leave him alone. I said that you can’t kill him.”
Chapter 21
“No!” I don’t that it’s futile, but that doesn’t stop me from screaming and raging against the assholes holding me in place. “You can’t do this! You fucking psycho! Let us go!”
Decker slowly turns around to face me, a sick grin on her face. “I can do whatever I want, Kiera. You probably should have read the paperwork that your aunt and uncle signed for you to go to school here. If you had, you’d know that I have dominion. I’m the judge and jury. I’m the fucking god, do you understand? And there’s nothing that you or any of your devils or your aunt and uncle can do to stop me now.” She pauses and then continues, “although it’s not like they want to save you, is it? They don’t really give a shit about you.”
I know that what she’s saying is true, even though I hate her for it. I want to scream at her that she’s wrong, that there are people who care about me, but they’re the same ones that the crowd here is going to hunt as soon as they kill me.
Decker leans forward, obviously wanting to make sure that what she’s going to say next is for my ears only. I try to pull away from her, but I can’t move. I’m stuck, and she leans into my face.
“You’re nothing. You were nothing when you came to Meyer’s Grove, and you’re going to be nothing when you leave. Nobody will miss you, Kiera, just like nobody misses your parents. The world will be a better place for you having been wiped from it, and there’s literally nothing that you can do to stop it.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I honestly can’t seem to wrap my mind around the words and the hate spewing from this woman.
She’s working with my aunt and uncle, and that’s almost the scariest thing of all.
“Please,” I almost say, my mouth even goes so far as to form the word, but I bite it back at the last second. I absolutely refuse to give this woman anything, to make her think that I would beg or ask her for a single thing.
That, and something’s caught my eye.
It could be nothing. In fact, it’s probably nothing, but as I stand in place, my arms pinned to my sides, my face and arm bleeding, I can’t help but pray that I’m wrong.
I pray that that the lights I think I saw are real. That helps is really coming and that I’m not going to die here on this stage in front of all of these assholes.
I can tell that Asher doesn’t see what I do. His eyes are glazed over, possibly from the pain of the cut on his chest. It oozes blood with each pump of his heart, but it’s slowed down.
“Asher,” I call out, hoping that I’m loud enough to get him to look at me. I need to make eye contact with him. I need to make sure that he’s here with me and that he’s not going to die.
He doesn’t respond. Doesn’t look at me. He’s staring off into space, his jaw hanging open a little bit.
“Asher! Look at me!” This time his head snaps up and he forces his eyes to focus on me.
“Asher, look at me,” Decker mocks, stepping out of the way. Madison is now right in front of me, her eyes glistening and bright as she looks at me.
I can’t get away from her, and we both know it.
She lunges at me and I scream, twisting away at the last second to try to avoid her blade. The students watching start to cheer and clap as her blade slices through my arm again. The pain is a bright burst that tears through my head, making me dizzy.
But I know that I can’t sit down. I have to stay with it, especially because I need to see what those lights are in the distance.
They’re growing brighter, and while I thought that there were only two or three before, there are more now.
They bob and dance as they cut through the trees, making it obvious to me that someone’s carrying them.
Right?
I mean, they move like flashlights. Like a group of people are coming towards us, their bright beams breaking through the night, shattering the spell over this group of people and making them focus.
It can’t be more students. They’re all already here, all ready to see my downfall and see me die on this fucking stage.
But if they’re not students, then what the hell are they?
Parents?
I don’t think that parents are invited to events like this, even though I’m sure that they know they exist. They’ve come for me before, but this is different. This is my execution.
Not parents then.
Hope rises in me, but I’m too afraid to put words to it. I can’t believe that someone would have been able to get outside help.
It’s too much to ask, but suddenly the white lights are upon us.
They dance across the crowd and students start to turn around to see who’s coming up behind them.
My jaw drops open, and that
’s why I don’t see Madison swing her arm again. This time, her blade slices through the tender skin at my neck.
I gasp at how cold it is.
How quickly it slips through my skin.
Even Madison looks shocked, and although I open my mouth to say something to her, no sound comes out.
“Police! Hands up!” There’s a commotion in the crowd as the people with flashlights finally make it to us. My captors let go of my arms and I instinctively reach up to my throat, putting pressure on the cut.
I don’t know what’s going to happen.
There are police everywhere. They’re separating the crowd, forcing people down to their knees, and some of them are storming the stage where I’m standing.
My knees grow weak and black clouds burst at the corners of my vision. I feel myself start to fall as my knees give out, but someone grabs me before I hit the ground.
My eyes flutter open one more time and I see Asher’s face bent over me.
I try to call out for him, try to lift my hands to his face, but I can’t.
Chapter 22
The next time I wake up, I’m so tired that it’s difficult for me to move. My eyes are heavy and I have thick bandages wrapped around my neck and arm. Slowly I reach up to touch my face and I sigh when I feel a bandage there, as well.
Madison tried her best, but she was a little too slow.
My movement attracts the attention of someone in the room and she rushes over to me, gently pushing my hair out of my face. “Oh, Kiera, you finally woke up. I know that the boys will be thrilled.”
She looks familiar, but only vaguely, like she’s someone I met once or maybe I know someone related to her. Swallowing hurts, but I do it anyway and force myself to speak.
“Do I know you?”
To my relief, she doesn’t seem mad, but instead chuckles. “We haven’t officially met, dear, but you know my son, Caspian.”
