Possessed: A reverse harem bully romance (Kings of Miskatonic Prep Book 3)

by Steffanie Holmes

  As soon as they disappeared into the trees and we were certain we were alone, Trey and I crept out from our hiding place and headed down the stairs. The garden felt strange now. It had been the location of so many memories of my time at Derleth – some of them horrible, some of them wonderful, but tainted now because Courtney was in the arms of my guy.

  He’s not my guy.

  I’ve got Trey. And Quinn. It doesn’t matter.

  He said I was beautiful.

  I followed Trey as he picked his way through the weed-choked pathways to the tunnel. He parted the vines we used to disguise the entrance and disappeared inside. “We should have thought to bring a lantern,” he called from within as he held out his hand to me. “We could go back and see if there’s one in the maintenance shed.”

  “No need.” I opened my palm up and let the warmth spread along my veins until it pooled in my hand. A tiny flame burst from my skin and danced in the air.

  Trey’s eyes widened. He swallowed hard. “That… that is…”

  “I know. It’s freaky as fuck. But it’s our best option.”

  “Right. Yes.” Trey looked like he was trying hard not to throw up. “Is it safe in this narrow space? It won’t burst free and burn us?”

  “Nope. I’ve been practicing.” I allowed the flame to dance a little higher. “I can keep it burning for hours. I promise it won’t hurt you, unless you ask me about the fire that killed my mother. Then all bets are off. Deal?”

  “Deal.” We climbed into the tunnel, the tiny light illuminating a circle at our feet. Trey walked stiffly, jumping at every water drip or flickering shadow. The fire made him nervous.

  I ran my fingers along the walls, noticing the marks of the tools that had hollowed out this cave. I wondered who the workers were who made this secret route for Parris, and what he did to them once they had finished their clandestine task.

  Trey’s broad shoulders and athletic frame blocked my view down the tunnel. After a time, he stopped short. I skidded to a halt, flinging my arm in the air before I accidentally set fire to his shirt.

  “You might’ve warned me you were putting the brakes on.”

  Trey didn’t apologize. That wasn’t his thing. He shrunk away again, flattening his back against the hunnel wall to be as far from the flame as possible. “I’ve found the blockage. You weren’t kidding.”

  With Trey cowering against the tunnel, I had a narrow view in front of them. The entire width and height of the space had been blocked by a wall of reddish-brown bricks, each one mortared in place to create a wall. It looked expertly done and solid as stone.

  “I don’t understand,” Trey said. “The only people who know about this tunnel are the four of us. So how was this done?”

  “It was maybe an hour after I left your room when I tried to get through here,” I asked. “Could it have been done after your father took Ayaz and did whatever he did to corrupt him?”

  Trey shook his head. “Even if they did somehow manage to get the tunnel bricked up in that time, which I doubt, the mortar would’ve been wet and soft when you came through. You could have easily removed the bricks.”

  “True, and they were already hard when I was here. Then it must’ve been done earlier. The last time we used the tunnel was the night we saw Zehra. It could have been done any time after that.”

  “Fuck.” Trey rubbed his temple. “How long have they known?”

  “Don’t know. And right now I don’t care. Do you think we can move the bricks?”

  “Come closer and shine that light.” Trey flattened his back against the wall, but I didn’t need to crowd him to help. I directed the flame to leave my hand and float above his head, so that it sat at the highest point of the tunnel, shining its flickering light down on the bricks.

  “That’s amazing.” Trey managed to sound both impressed and horrified.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. It takes a lot of effort to hold it in place, though, and I can only do it with a tiny flame. Anything bigger I lose control once it leaves my body. So work quick, rich boy.”

  Trey rolled up his sleeves and used the pick to clear as much of the mortar as he could from between the bricks. Red dust swirled around us, stinging my eyes and making it difficult to breathe. Several times we had to run back outside to gulp in fresh lungfuls of air.

  I took over from Trey for a bit, driving in the chisel with the hammer, sending chunks of brick and mortar raining down on the floor of the cave. I had to work in pitch black because I couldn’t control the fire at the same time. When I couldn’t lift my arms any more, Trey took over again, peeling off his shirt to reveal strong muscles that flexed as he attacked the wall with everything he had. His torso soon glowed with a covering of red brick dust.

  My throat tightened. We ran outside again. This time, the moon was higher in the sky. Back outside, Trey mopped crimson sweat from his brow with his ruined shirt. “I’ve never had to work this hard in my life. Even chiseling out that sigil wasn’t this difficult.”

  I squeezed his biceps. “How’d you get these?”

  “Lacrosse. Rowing team. Pure genetic good luck.” He dared a half-smile. “My dad did give me something useful, after all.”

  “Remind me to thank him.” At the mention of his dad, my veins boiled. Our light flared up, flames licking around the sides of the tunnel. Trey slammed his shirt against the rock, smothering the flame.

  “Maybe you’d better keep hold of this one,” he muttered as I summoned another flame, his shoulders heaving with silent panic.

  Slowly but surely, we chipped out the mortar around one of the bricks. Trey whooped with delight as he wiggled the brick free and tossed it toward the cave entrance. A faint rush of cool air blew through the gap. More bricks followed soon after, and a short time later we had a hole big enough to crawl through.

  I went first, sending my flame floating through the hole in front of me before getting down on my hands and knees and climbing through. Cold brick dug into my thighs as I twisted to fit through. I rolled on the tunnel floor and pulled myself to my feet. “Your turn, Bloomberg.”

  It took Trey some time to fit his broad shoulders through the gap. He had to back out and remove two more bricks in order to make enough room. Finally, he was through, too. We slung along the tunnel, arriving at the short, narrow stairs leading down to the mirror that served as the tunnel’s secret entrance.

  To my relief when I pushed on the mirror, it swung open unhindered. They must’ve figured the bricks were enough to deter anyone using the tunnel. I climbed down into the storage room, Trey on my heels. I snuffed out the flame, plunging us into darkness as we crept through the boxes and junk piled around the room. My hand grazed the door handle.

  I poked my head into the hall, my breath caught in my throat. Cold, oppressive silence greeted me, broken only by a thump in one of the hot water pipes that stretched along the low ceiling.

  I dragged Trey into the hall. It was only ten feet to reach Greg and Andre’s room. My gaze fell on the door opposite theirs – the door that had been mine, that I’d shared with Loretta until she’d been taken by the creature and reborn with popularity. So much had happened in that room – stilted conversations with Loretta, midnight schemes to get even with the Kings, Courtney and the monarchs assaulting me, Ayaz telling me I was beautiful…

  I turned away from things that were too painful to consider, raised my fist, and rapped lightly on the other door. The sound ricocheted like gunshots down the hollow hall. “Greg, Andre,” I whispered. “It’s me. Let us in.”

  The door flew open. Andre’s dark skin was barely discernible from the night that crept around him. His eyebrows shot up as he recognized me. Wordlessly, he ushered us inside, closing and locking the door behind him.

  As soon as he’d pushed the bolt across, I grabbed him and held him close. He felt just like the Andre I loved – the kind, silent giant with the gardenia and coconut scent. His hands on my back felt like shields against the world.

  I pulled away, c
asting my eyes around the dim room, resting on the two beds – one rumpled, one empty and perfectly made. “Where’s Greg?”

  Andre flicked on the light beside his bed and scrambled for his pad and paper. He dashed off a note and handed it to me. His usually neat handwriting was a messy scrawl.

  “Three days ago Ms. West took Greg out of class. She said it was for an extracurricular project. I haven’t seen him since.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Andre pulled me down to sit beside him. The bedsprings creaked under our combined weight. Trey sank into the hard wooden desk chair, his long legs hanging over the side as he clicked on the desk lamp and started riffling through the papers. “What happened?” I demanded. “Tell me everything from the time you last saw me.”

  Andre reached across the bed and swiped a paper out of Trey’s hand. He gestured for Trey to get out of the chair. Trey leaped up and flattened himself against the wall. He still wasn’t used to being around Andre. In Trey’s world, people like Andre only existed to be ridiculed.

  Well, too bad. Andre’s awesome and Trey will have to get used to him. He’s my friend and he’s not going anywhere. I wasn’t going to force Andre to act differently just to make Trey comfortable.

  Andre slid into the chair and pulled his pad toward him, scribbling frantically. Trey bent over his shoulder, trying to read the words.

  “Don’t interrupt him.” I shoved Trey onto Greg’s empty bed, crowding him down the far end. Trey’s gaze settling on the ceiling, where the rats circled frantically above our heads. Scritch-scritch-scritch. Trey’s fingers gripped my knee so hard pins and needles shot down my leg.

  He’s scared.

  “They’re just rats,” I said, prying his fingers off my knee.

  “You say that like it’s a good thing,” Trey muttered. “I’ve never heard anything like it before. It sounds as though the ceiling is about to cave in.”

  “That’s because you have a room on the top floor.”

  “If you say so,” Trey said cryptically. Andre tore off a paper with a flourish and handed it to me. He bent his head to continue writing. I angled his lamp over the paper, my eyes scanning his neat, looped handwriting.

  “You didn’t show up for exams. We knew something was wrong. None of the teachers would tell us what happened to you. They cleared all your stuff out of your room. I asked Sadie to see if she could find out anything downstairs. She said the groundskeepers saw orderlies placing something wrapped in white into a van. There was a doctor too. They recognized him from Dunwich Institute. A couple of days later, Sadie delivered coffee to Ms. West and overheard her on the phone, discussing your ‘treatment.’ Greg was convinced that whatever happened to Loretta was about to happen to you.”

  I waved the paper in Trey’s face. “If you were trying to find me, why didn’t you just ask Greg and Andre? According to this, they knew where I was well before you did.”

  Trey bristled. He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. I didn’t need to hear. I knew what he was going to say.

  It never occurred to him because even when someone dear to him was in trouble, people of his status didn’t associate with people like Greg and Andre.

  Well, that was going to fucking change.

  Andre tore off his second paper and handed it to me. “Greg was making plans to leave school and look for you. He found a map of Dunwich in the library. He was stashing food and water in case he had to go the whole way on foot. He was going to leave that night when they took him away. Sadie says she can’t find him anywhere, and she’s looked in all the dark corners of the school. She even checked Ms. West’s ‘laboratory,’ whatever that means, but she says it’s been cleared out. Nothing left.”

  I shoved Andre’s note into Trey’s hands and turned to my friend. “I’m here now, and we’re going to find him. They can’t have sent Greg to Dunwich. That place is toast, literally. So he must still be on the grounds somewhere—”

  BANG. THUMP.

  I froze as sounds came from the hallway. The door handle rattled.

  “Open this door!” A muffled voice commanded.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Trey yelped as I shoved him to the floor. “Shut up,” I hissed, crawling under Greg’s bed and gesturing at him to get under Andre’s. Trey indicated the cold floor, the smudges of filth and unidentified particles – as if he had to worry about sullying his already filthy clothes. I made a slashing motion across my throat. This was no time for his pretty rich boy concerns. He wasn’t too good for the floor if it would save his life.

  BANG BANG BANG.

  The door rattled on its hinges. Trey’s eyes widened. He scrambled under the bed, coating himself in even more dirt and grime. I wished I had a camera to capture the moment forever. Andre yanked down the covers on the beds to better hide us from view. Then he flung open the door.

  A figure barged past Andre and strode inside like he owned the place. The door slammed shut behind him.

  “I heard voices from this room, which means you’ve either listening to contraband beat poets or you’re hiding a lover. Please tell me you’re getting some tail, because a guy with your physique is going to waste being celibate.”

  My heart skipped. That familiar voice. That jocular tone. That complete disregard for the brevity of the situation. It has to be, but it can’t…

  “Quinn?” The word escaped my throat before I could stop it. I clamped a hand over my mouth. I didn’t know if Quinn had been turned like Ayaz, if he was still on my side. If he’d ever been on my side to begin with.

  In an instant, the figure dropped to his knees and flung back the blankets. The smile that broke out across his face melted my heart. “Hazy, you sly minx. I knew you’d be back to save us all.”

  Quinn reached under the bed and grabbed my shoulder, dragging me out and wrapping me in his arms. The warmth of his embrace told me everything I needed to know. Quinn Delacorte may not know how to take anything seriously, but he had my back.

  After not nearly long enough, Quinn broke the hug, holding me at arm’s length and twirling me around as though we were waltzing. “Let me take a look at you. No broken bones, no missing limbs. What about that delicious brain of yours? Still intact?”

  I rubbed my head, a smile playing over my lips. “Still intact, but it was a close call.”

  “What am I, chopped liver?” Trey poked his head out from under the bed. Quinn reached down and gripped Trey’s arm, pulling him to his feet.

  “Sorry, Bloomberg. I didn’t see you down there in the dirt. I was starting to think they’d caught you, too.” Quinn said it in his usual jokey manner, but the way he gripped Trey’s forearm betrayed how worried he’d been.

  “What are you doing down here?” I asked.

  “Didn’t Trey tell you?” Quinn pointed over his shoulder at the door. “The Kings have fallen. Trey and I have been disowned. Our parents are no longer supporting our fine education, so we can’t keep our fancy dorm rooms upstairs. We’ve been stripped of most of our merit points for helping you escape out the window. We’re bunking in your old room, which is a complete rat-infested shithole, if you don’t mind my saying.”

  I glanced at Trey in surprise. “You didn’t think to mention this?”

  He shrugged. A flash of something passed over his features for a moment. Hurt. Even after everything his father had done, there was still that little boy inside Trey who hungered for his dad’s approval and who was mortified to fall from favor.

  Well, too damn bad. This was about so much fucking more than wounded pride.

  “Trey hasn’t adjusted well,” Quinn said. “That’s why he volunteered to go after you. It was the best of our shitty options.”

  Quinn’s voice bounced off the walls. I grabbed Andre’s towel off the hanger and stuffed it under the door. “Can you keep it down? I don’t want our voices to carry.”

  “I resent the implication that I’m a loud-mouthed idiot.” Quinn flopped down on the bed, stealing all Andre’s pillows to plac
e behind his head. “And also, good call.”

  I sat down on the end of the bed, wanting to be near him, to touch him, to know he was real, but also afraid of what that meant. Quinn had no such qualms. He pulled me into his arms, cradling me against his chest, the way Trey had done back in the RV.

  “We found that woman Zehra spoke about, the one who used to work with Ms. West.” I tried to explain what we’d discovered about Deborah and her relationship to Rebecca Nurse, but as soon as I tried to talk about magic, my voice froze in my throat. I couldn’t speak. Andre handed me a glass of water, but that didn’t clear the—

  Of course. Andre was here. The bloody agreement was still in place. How could it be when Ms. West broke her end of the bargain? When she’d hurt Greg…

  Wait a second.

  If our agreement was still in place, that must mean Greg was still alive. He was safe.

  For now.

  “Hazy?” Quinn raised an eyebrow. “You look surprisingly smug for someone who’s snuck into a school filled with people who want to kill you.”

  “I am smug. I just figured something out.” I sat up, sending Quinn’s arm slamming into the wall. I touched Andre’s hand. “Greg’s safe. I can’t explain how I know that, but you have to trust that I do.” Andre nodded. “I don’t know for how much longer, though. I need you to get Sadie to keep her ear to the ground. If possible, find out where Ms. West has moved her lab. I can’t explain what it is, but just know it’s important.”

  Andre nodded again.

  “I also need you to go across to my room and wait for me. I have to speak to Quinn and Trey alone for a sec. I’m sorry for kicking you out of your room, but I promise that it’s important and I’ll be done soon.”

  Andre looked like he wanted to argue. I think if it had been me in his situation, I’d have demanded to stay, but Andre wasn’t me. He nodded placidly, caught the keys Quinn tossed to him, and slunk out of the room.