by Kat Cotton
“It’s not just the school being attacked.” With that, he turned the music back up and gave me a look that defied me to keep questioning.
We’d almost reached the highway turn off when Mr. Norton’s phone beeped.
He picked it up and stared at the message.
“Mr. Norton! Jeez! Eyes on the road!”
“This is important. My friend, the one who is researching the prophecy... oh, gosh... you have to...”
Light flooded the car. I put my arm up to cover my eyes.
Metal crunched against metal in a sickening screech.
We skidded. Out of control.
I gulped, trying to scream but my mouth filled with the acrid taste of burning rubber.
My hands flailed for something solid to hold on to.
We’re going to die. We’re going to die. The words hammered in my head as shattering glass rained down on me.
Time slowed as the car spun in circles, smoke billowing around us.
Mr. Norton’s twisted face was the last thing I saw before the world went black.
Chapter 32
“ARE YOU OKAY? CAN YOU hear me?”
I opened one eye. A man wearing a yellow safety vest shouted at me, banging on metal. I tried telling him to keep it down, I was trying to sleep here, but it all flooded back.
The car crash.
Lights flashed around me. Fumes of burning rubber still filled the air and the pain in my head — it’d been there the whole time but I only just started to notice it.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, but even that made me want to scream.
Scrambling to undo my seatbelt, something didn’t seem right. The world had tilted to the side? No, not the world. The car had flipped. As the seatbelt released, I tumbled onto Mr. Norton.
“Sorry.”
But Mr. Norton didn’t answer. I shook his arm, trying to get him to respond.
“Leave him. We’ll get him out. You might cause more harm.”
Yikes.
Using the console to get traction, I tried climbing out. The man put his arm through the broken window and helped me.
A couple of others rushed over and tried to take me away. Paramedics. The flashing lights came from an ambulance.
“My teacher...” I tried to rush to the car, but they held me back.
“That’s okay, we’ll get him out.”
They put me in the ambulance, but I needed to get to Mr. Norton. He’d been about to tell me something important, if only I could remember what it was.
Shivers overwhelmed me as they flashed a torch in my eyes. I swatted at the light, trying to get it away from me. Obviously, I couldn’t tell them I was especially sensitive to light, that it ripped through my skull, but I couldn’t just lay still while they tortured me either.
Then the ambulance thumped. I screamed but they just loaded Mr. Norton in beside me.
“Mr. Norton?” I tried to get up, but hands pushed me back down.
I screamed. If they didn’t want me to see him, it meant he was dead. But he couldn’t be. I wouldn’t let him die.
“He’s fine,” one of the paramedics said. “And you need to relax.”
Relax, as if. That’s the last thing I could do.
But the next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital bed.
I tried to sit up but got tangled in the wires attached to me. A nurse stood beside my bed, her hand on my wrist.
“What’s happening?” The words came out thick and awkward.
“I’m just taking your blood pressure, but you’ll be fine.” She smiled. “We’re keeping you in overnight for observation. You should be out of here tomorrow.”
While she poured me a glass of water, I tried to sit up. She nodded toward a remote control on the table beside me.
“Do you feel groggy?” She handed me the water.
“Not at all.”
She raised her eyebrows. I should feel groggy? They’d given me a sedative, for sure. But now I’d woken, it had no effect.
“Mr. Norton?” I asked.
“The man who was in with you?”
I nodded. “My teacher.”
She sucked in her breath. “He’s in intensive care but he’s stable. I can’t tell you any more than that.”
I sighed with relief. “He’s going to be okay, though?”
“If you feel well enough, you can get up and walk around. But maybe wait a while before going to see him.”
I gulped down the water and checked the drawer next to my bed. My clothes were in there along with my wallet, my notebook and my phone. Mr. Norton’s phone? He’d received that message just before we’d crashed. And he’d said it was important. I needed to know if they’d found his phone.
“I need to know about another friend of mine too.”
The nurse laughed. “I’m not a walking encyclopedia of every patient in here but give me her name and I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Angela Blackstone.”
The nurse jolted. She recognized Angela’s name. “That poor girl. She’s still in a coma and no one can figure out what’s wrong with her. She came in here in a terrible state.”
Mr. Norton had said the same. The vampires hadn’t bitten her and they’d left her for dead. I hated vampires but, if I needed to, I’d do business with them.
When the nurse left, I got out my phone. Hopefully, it still worked.
I sent Mr. Quiller a message: I’ve got something you want. Meet with me.
Chapter 33
MR. QUILLER LEANED back, draping his arm over the cheap plastic chair beside him. He looked so out of place in the brightly-colored hospital cafe. Of course, the rotten, decaying smell of him contrasted harshly with that disinfectant hospital aroma.
He tried to look cool but he had a glint in his eyes after I mentioned Farran’s ring. He wanted that ring back. He wanted it so bad. Which seemed mighty suspicious to me, since last time we met, he’d said the ring didn’t interest him.
No matter what I did, I felt like Mr. Quiller played me.
He moved forward, the tables packed so close together here that it was difficult to not be overheard.
“You want to know where Grace Worthington is and you think that ring is leverage enough.”
“For what I want, the ring is more than enough.” I scoffed. “You’re trying to fool me but that line of sweat on your upper lip tells me all I need to know.”
Mr. Quiller’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t toy with me.”
I had to admit, when he growled like that, he was pretty scary, but I wouldn’t back down here. That ring had saved my life when I’d been captured by Mr. Worthington’s goons and it might come in handy for all manner of things. But I had more pressing concerns.
“First, I want Angela healed,” I counted on my fingers.
His face twitched. “The girl got what was coming to her.”
“Yeah, well, she’s suffered enough.”
Mr. Quiller leaned even further forward, his elbows hovering over the table like he worried the table would sully his white suit.
“I’m surprised she survived the attack, but she’s not a very nice person. Why are you doing this for her?”
What could I say? Because she didn’t deserve to be tortured by vampires? Because everyone deserves a second or third chance in this life? Because I couldn’t fault Angela when I’d done bad things too?
“Because she really loves her cat.” I shrugged. “Anyway, she only acted on someone else’s behalf.”
He glared at me, letting the silence stretch on. I sipped my juice and waited for his reply.
Finally, he nodded. “It will be done.”
He held out his hand for the ring.
“Not so fast. I want my name cleared and for the person responsible to come forward.”
Also, that ring was safely stored away in my drawer back at school. I’d find it and give it to him once I got out of this place.
“I can’t do that. I protect my clan.”
&nb
sp; “I don’t mean your vamps, buddy.” I picked up my straw, twirling it in my fingers. “I mean Oscar. He agreed to send Angela to you so that you’d work with his father. I figured that much out. Either you come forward and confess, or you put pressure on him to do that. Either way, I want everyone to know what he did.”
Mr. Quiller nodded. “I’m happy to do that.”
Yeah, I bet. Throwing Oscar under the bus would mean nothing to him. And, to be honest, I’d throw Oscar under a literal bus myself given half a chance. I’d always lumped Oscar and Angela at the same level of evilness, but maybe Oscar was a whole tier or two above her. As for Blake, I had no idea where he fell on the evil spectrum. He might’ve been up to his neck in this whole thing or he might’ve been tagging along, a bit clueless.
“Okay, third thing.”
“You’re asking for more than enough.”
“I dunno. You’re getting a pretty sweet deal here. It’s a pretty ring. I might keep it for myself.”
Mr. Quiller nodded. A toddler ran past us, squealing. One glance from Mr. Quiller and the kid went crying to his mother. Poor thing would probably have nightmares for weeks.
“Third.” I held up three fingers. “Mr. Norton. He needs to be healed too, and I want to know who was behind that ‘accident’.”
“I can’t do a thing for your teacher. They are normal human injuries, nothing to do with my clan. Unless you want me to turn him...”
Drats. That was not what I wanted to hear. Mr. Norton would most definitely give me black marks if I let an ancient vampire turn him.
“Fine. Heal Angela, clear my name, get the ring. That seems to cover it all.”
I stood up, meaning to make a grand exit but, with a drip pole attached to me, my aura of playing hardball vanished.
Mr. Quiller stood up too, blocking my way out and glaring down at me in a way that was meant to intimidate.
“I’d like the ring back now.”
My body froze as his gaze bore into me. The air around me turned still and heavy, pressing down on me, and I turned back into a scared little girl. He was an ancient vampire and I was here alone. Sure, if he planned to injure me, I was in the right place but I’d prefer to do this the pain-free way. Then I shook myself. I was no toddler. I had powers of my own and we both knew it.
“No can do, buddy.”
I started walking out, then turned back. There was one more thing I had to say.
“While you’re at it, you can stop the demon attacks on the school. Someone’s going to get seriously hurt if you keep that up.” I bluffed. I had no idea if Mr. Quiller had anything to do with the attacks or not.
“Demon attacks? I can assure you, I do not work with demons.”
He dusted his jacket as though the mere mention of demons sullied him.
That was one name to take off my list.
“Okay, I’ve got another question.” I knew I was pushing it now but I might never get another chance. I’d be in no hurry to speak to him again any time soon. “Aren’t you even interested in who set Angela up to steal that ring? Because, if I were you, that’s what I’d be wanting to know.”
“I’m well aware of who was behind that.”
I stared at him, dying of curiosity. He was going to tell me, right?
Mr. Quiller coughed, all dry and rattley. I guess his lungs had stopped functioning centuries ago.
I gasped when he said the name, the last person I expected to be involved.
“Grace Worthington.”
Chapter 34
“I’M AFRAID YOU CAN’T visit right now. She overdid it yesterday and needs to rest.”
I heard the nurse’s voice and sat up straighter in my bed. I had a visitor? Who? Pretty much everyone on this earth still speaking to me was already a patient in this hospital.
“Excuse me, but I will visit her. If you check your records, you’ll find how much money my father’s donated to this hospital and that might make you more inclined to listen to my request.”
I groaned and sank further down in my bed. Ren was the last person I wanted to see right now but, from his tone of voice, he wouldn’t listen to any arguments.
“Let him in,” I called. “Otherwise, you’ll have to put up with his rude arrogance for the rest of the day.”
“I might be arrogant but I’m never rude.” Ren pushed past the nurse and entered my room. “How are you, poor girl?”
The nurse gasped at him calling me poor girl. I’m not sure if that was because she thought he was rude or if she worried that I couldn’t afford a private room in this hospital. I gave her a wave to let her know it was okay.
“I’m fine.” I pulled my blanket up. They sure had nice blankets here, all pale blue and soft. “Well, unless you’re here to be nasty, then I’ll call the nurse back and she’ll kick your butt right out of here.”
He ducked his head. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t quite hear that, you’ll have to talk louder.”
“I’m sorry, okay. I said a lot of things I didn’t mean and went too far.”
“You’re not wrong about that. Hey, you know it’s good manners to bring a present when you visit the hospital, like fruit or chocolate, right?”
Ren pulled a half-eaten chocolate bar out of his pocket. “Here.”
He thought I wouldn’t take it. Ha, did he know me at all?
“So, why are you here?” It was difficult to speak with a mouthful of chocolate, but I managed it.
“Huh? Why wouldn’t I be? You could’ve died!”
“It takes more than a car plowing into me to kill me, you know.”
Ren sat on the side of my hospital bed, his fingers splayed on the blue blanket. He used to have soft hands, now callouses covered them from his work in the stables. Maybe it was wrong to think about at the moment, but those callouses had a rugged sexiness to them.
“I thought maybe I could help heal you... with, you know.” He patted the spot on his hip where his birthmark was.
“I really am fine. I’ll be out of here today. But thanks.”
I picked at the fringe on the blanket, wondering if I should tell him what I’d found out. I had to tell him. They weren’t things I could keep to myself.
“Listen, I’ve found out some things.” I inhaled, not wanting to look at him. “I didn’t go looking for your mother, I didn’t break my promise, but the information kind of fell into my lap...”
Ren raised his eyebrows. “It fell into your lap? How does that happen?”
The words tumbled from me, all about making the deal with Mr. Quiller. “I couldn’t have everyone thinking I’d lured Angela to danger.”
“Who thinks that?”
“Well, Britney for starters. She saw me with Angela before she was attacked and —”
“It was Oscar and Blake, anyone with a clue could work that out. Even if you’re an idiot sometimes, I know the truth about you, Cherry Love. You bargained for Angela’s life. You act all tough, poor girl, but you’re a marshmallow inside.”
“Obviously, or I’d have beaten the stuffing out of you by now.”
Ren laughed. “You could try.”
I grinned. He’d believed in me. Even if no one else did, he believed in me.
“Okay, now hear me out and don’t get angry.”
Ren nodded.
“Mr. Quiller said that your mother was the one who compelled Angela to take Farran’s ring.”
Ren looked out the window, hiding his face, but his hand twisted in the blanket, balling it rightly. I wasn’t sure if I should go on.
“But why?”
“He didn’t tell me much more than that. Just a few things. She needs to return to this world. With the ring, she can become corporeal. She’s been in a place, a bad place, like another dimension or something, and the only way to get her out of there is to create a summoning spell.”
Ren’s hand twisted tighter. I knew this hurt him but he had to know. No matter what he’d said about not wanting to find her, he must’ve wondered all
these years. I had. I imagined how they’d react when I blitzed an exam or what kind of stupid jokes we’d make.
“But why Farran’s ring? I thought it was just to let him walk in daylight.”
“He didn’t say. But I don’t think it has to be the ring, just something powerful enough to power the spell. Obviously, she knew that Farran had that ring because of your father’s connection with Mr. Quiller. It makes sense.”
Ren screwed up his face, trying to figure it out.
“But why Angela?”
I knew what he really asked, why Angela, why not him.
I shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe Angela was easy to get to. She said she couldn’t remember anything about who made her take the ring. And, at the time, Angela was spending a lot of time around you. Who knows how long she’d been sneaking into your room, spying on you? If your mother wanted to use someone close to you, Angela would’ve been the perfect pick.”
“True.”
“There’s something else, Ren. He didn’t exactly say this but I get the feeling that your mother didn’t leave your father of her own free will.” I let that sink in. He still didn’t face me but his grip on the blanket loosened. “Think about it. Your mother left the same night that my parents were killed. That couldn’t be coincidence. I think that day in the garden, they were making plans to escape him and he found out. He couldn’t kill your mother but he could get rid of her.”
Ren nodded. “So, what do you do now?”
“We break me out of this hospital. I need to get back to my room and find that ring.” Even though I’d promised it to Mr. Quiller, I hadn’t put a date around that. I could use the ring for my own purposes then give it to him later. If he hadn’t wanted me using it, he wouldn’t have told me about the summoning in the first place. “He said there were two people at the school involved in the summoning.”
“Oscar and Blake.”
I nodded. “Of course, and we don’t want them summoning your mother for their own purposes. We have to get to her first.”
