by April Marcom
“Okay.”
He reached behind my head and grabbed my hair roughly, pulling it tight, as he kissed me the same way he had the first time.
He stood up when he was through and held a hand out to me. “I’ll take you to get that cut patched up. I don’t want to leave it open like that.”
“What about you?” I asked, standing up.
“That’s nothing.” Luke opened the door.
“Wait.” I stopped to look over at Roman, still lying half-dead on the floor. “We can’t just leave him here.”
“Why not?”
“What if he went into a coma or something, and no one ever found him?” I really wished Luke hadn’t taken things so far.
“Who cares? It’s what he deserves for what he did to you.”
I still felt the sting where Roman had hit me, but he didn’t deserve to die over it. Leaving him there wouldn’t be right. I gave Luke a pleading look, hoping he’d come around.
He looked up and groaned. “Fine.” He grabbed Roman’s arm and dragged him into the hallway carelessly, smashing his shoulder into the doorframe on the way out. Then he spit on him before putting an arm around me and leading me away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
~ Mass Decision ~
Oh—my—gosh, I woke up thinking the next morning. Luke had kissed me! Like a hundred times! Each time sweeter than the last. Of course, nothing would ever compare to the first one.
Flipping my light on, I held up Luke’s medal to look at. I turned the gold flame over. Cinder Champion was printed in two lines on the top and Knight had been engraved in larger letters underneath. His first medal. And he’d given it to me freely.
It was impossible not to notice the cut on my hand coming out from behind it on both sides. I smiled a little wider, thinking that my heart could be pumping his blood through it at that very moment. I couldn’t believe how something I would have thought so sickening with anyone else felt so good when it was with Luke Knight.
The cold flame fell against my chest as I climbed out of bed, not wanting to wait another second to see him. “Morning, Sassy,” I said, pulling open a drawer.
She was digging around in the neighboring dresser. “Good morning.” She grabbed my face when she looked at me. “Your cheek’s bruising. You better let me do your makeup today. I can probably hide it.”
All three girls were awake, waiting for me in my bed when I got there the night before. So they knew about Roman.
Harmony leaned over the edge of her bed. “Thank goodness Luke was there last night. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn’t been.”
“Do you believe me now?” I asked, changing into a red sweater with eight sparkly gold reindeer pulling an empty sleigh across the front.
Harmony rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know. All Cinders aren’t bad.”
“I still think you should tell Headmaster what Roman did,” Sassy said. “He would want to know.”
“If I thought anything else might happen, I would. But it’s finally over...Should we wake up Nadine?”
“She left an hour ago. Soccer’s next Friday. We probably won’t see much of her until after that.”
I changed into a pair of jeans and grabbed some boots. “I’m gonna brush my teeth and see if Luke’s waiting for me.” We hadn’t made plans the night before, but it was our routine last weekend.
“Wait,” Sassy said. “Don’t you want me to cover up that hideous bruise?”
“If you think you can.”
“Don’t insult me. I’m the makeup master.” I pulled on my boots as she looked through the mess of makeup scattered all over the top of her dresser.
A few minutes later, I was running down the stairs to the first floor, bursting to see Luke. As much as I had looked forward to seeing him every time before last night, it was much more powerful now, like all I could think about was getting to him and knowing he still loved me.
Roman was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, though, so I forgot about this temporarily. I hurried past him before he noticed me.
“Kristine, can I talk to you for a sec?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said, walking beside me. “I can’t believe I was such a jerk.”
“Neither can I.”
“I want to talk about what you said, still being friends. It’ll be hard, but it’s better than losing you completely.”
I continued to stare forward as I picked up the pace.
“Kristine,” He grabbed my arm and spun me around. “Talk to me.” The tears springing to his eyes didn’t bother me a bit.
“No, Roman. We’re not friends. We’re not anything. We’re done.” With that, I yanked my arm away and turned the corner into the dining hall corridor.
“Wait!” He chased after me and grabbed my arm again, harder this time. “I can’t remember what happened.”
“Let go. My arm still hurts from last night.”
“First I need to know what happened. Someone grabbed me, and then I woke up alone.”
“Hey, Armstrong,” Luke’s voice came from down the hall. “Hands off.”
Roman gave him a puzzled look for only a second. Then his grip loosened as a look of realization came to his face.
I broke free and ran into Luke’s arms. He looked smokin’ hot in his typical black wife-beater and jeans.
“Is he bothering you?” he asked me.
“He said he can’t remember part of last night.”
“Go wait by the dining hall doors. I need to have a talk with him.”
He left me for an enormously enraged Roman. I watched them argue from the place where he’d told me to stand, hoping it wouldn’t become physical. Roman kept looking down and taking deep breaths, because Luke kept cutting him off mid-sentence. After a few minutes of this, Roman walked away and ignored me as he went in for breakfast, slamming his fist into the door to open it.
“What did you say to him?” I asked Luke when he came to stand in front of me.
“I made sure he understands that his personal safety depends on whether or not he hurts you again.” He leaned forward and put his hands around my back. I reached up to lay my arms on his broad shoulders and neck. A shiver passed over me as I stretched my neck to allow him to kiss me repeatedly, all the way down my jaw line.
“Do you regret anything?” he asked me.
“Nothing. Do you?”
He dragged his bottom lip back up over my jaw and laughed softly. “I’ve waited half my life for last night. Now I can die a happy man.”
“Just don’t die too soon.” With the finger of one hand, I stroked the back of his neck. “I need you, Luke.”
He got this desperate look as he pressed me against the wall and kissed me. I only leaned away when I heard kids coming down the hall.
“Will you sit with me—in there?” he asked.
“Like, with the Cinders?”
“Yeah.”
I really didn’t want to, but my yearning to be with Luke far outweighed anything else. “I guess so.”
The group of North Haveners I’d heard coming entered the hall right in front of us. Then I let Luke lead me by the hand to the end of the second table.
“Hi, Bane,” I said enthusiastically when I recognized him sitting right across the table from me.
His big blue eyes looked up at me in surprise. The two guys beside him began scooting away, staring at me like I was some freak of nature. “Get back over here,” Bane ordered them. “And stop acting like idiots.”
“Try not to be so happy and nice with these guys,” Luke whispered to me.
Okay, not nice, and not happy. That would be hard.
“Armstrong’s girl,” Bane said with a truly Cinder smile. “What are you doing here?”
Not nice, not happy. “I know you’re not talking to me, because I am not Armstrong’s girl.” I jabbed at the table with my finger for emphasis. “I’m Knight’s girl. And somebody pass me the bacon!”
All four g
uys stared at me in shock—before they started laughing. I wondered if it was because I’d suggested I was with a Cinder or if they found it hilarious to hear me talk that way.
“I like you, Fayre,” Bane managed to say as he handed me the bacon.
When they were done laughing their heads off and I felt mildly comfortable, I ate a few pieces. “Does anyone know how Titus is doing?” I asked halfway through my third piece.
Thorn glared at me when she sat down on Bane’s side of the table and saw that I was the one who’d asked. “What do you care, Fayre?”
I pounded the table with my fist and tried to sound tough. “That could have been Knight.” Bane tried to suppress his laughter, I could tell.
“So?” Thorn asked.
The guy she was sitting by waved his finger back and forth at Luke and me. “They’re a thing.”
Thorn gave Knight a disgusted look. “You’re a traitor.”
“You’re just mad that she can run faster than you,” Bane said.
“What?!” Thorn stared at Bane, stunned for a minute. Then she stood up and left, muttering about traitors.
I noticed Harmony pointing me out to Hunter, who was wearing latex gloves and holding a small tube of something, at the other end of the room. He had a doctor’s patch on his chest. “I’ll be right back,” I said before going to see what was up. Hunter waited for me right where he was. “Are you looking for me?” I asked.
“Please tell me this isn’t going to become a regular thing,” Sassy said from her seat, “you sitting with them.”
“Probably not. Luke has training most mornings,” I said.
“Miss Janey wanted me to look at your hand,” Hunter said, reaching for the one with band-aids all over the inside.
“Why?” I asked.
“She said she couldn’t find the cream she was looking for when you came in last night. She found it this morning, so she sent me down here with it.” Carefully, he peeled the band-aids away. The long cut looked pretty gross to me.
“What happened?” Sassy asked. She and Harmony stood up to get a better look. Even though I’d spilled everything to them about Roman, I’d kept the hand thing to myself.
“I fell against a sharp edge of a wall,” I lied.
Hunter opened the tube he was holding and squeezed a bunch of clear goo onto his fingers. My entire hand tingled as he rubbed it on and wrapped gauze around it.
“Is Titus all right?” I asked him.
“He’s got a few broken ribs and he’s in a lot of pain.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yeah. Put this on once a day, okay?” He handed me the tube of cream. “See ya, Kristine.”
Luke got up to meet me halfway as I returned to him. He held his hands up. I pressed mine against them, our fingers criss-crossing through each other’s and holding on. He arched our arms outward and down as he leaned forward to kiss me. “You’re the cutest thing banging your fist around, but you might want to tone it down. Some people just can’t do mean. With you, it’s like watching a beautiful rainbow get trampled.”
The great hall doors opened and students began pouring in, herded by Haven and Cinder teachers. It looked as if every student on both sides had been dragged out of bed or practice to be there. Some kids were still in pajamas and barely made it to a table before they slumped down and fell back asleep. Even Nadine and the other soccer players came in together.
Luke and I stood in the middle of it all as kids milled around us. “I wonder what’s going on,” I said.
“We better sit down before we lose our seats,” Luke replied. Once we sat down, I could feel the scrutiny of every noticing eye—me sitting at a Cinder table, leaning against Luke with his bare arm around me.
“Hey, Knight,” One of the Snow Riders sat next to Luke. I think his name was Spinner. “What’re you doing with that skank?”
I was shoved forward as Luke twisted around to grab Spinner behind the neck and bash his head into the empty plate in front of him. “You better never let me hear you talk about her like that again.”
“Dude, what’s your problem? She’s a Havener.”
“She’s my Havener.”
Straining against Luke’s hand, Spinner picked up the fork near his face and tried to stab Luke with it, but Luke let go fast enough that Spinner poked himself in the neck instead, drawing blood and a pitiful cry.
“Could I have everyone’s attention, please?” Headmaster called from the teachers’ table, interrupting the murderous looks the two guys were giving each other.
His brother rose from the seat beside him, like liquid night.
“Yesterday,” my headmaster went on, “a Snow Rider’s vehicle was tampered with in an attempt to kill its driver. Not long ago, Rose Jennings was attacked and could have died if the right people hadn’t been there to save her. We’ve had this school searched for any uninvited guests and turned up nothing. We still have no idea who is behind these attempted murders, which means that the culprit is still among us, presumably in this very room. With no evidence to assist us, I am at a loss for what to do. We’ve never had this sort of problem before. Since it began after our arrival, perhaps it’s associated with the Winter Competitions. I fear for the safety of each of you and have consulted with the North Haven staff about returning home early this year.”
“No,” I said to myself as the hall echoed with angry shouting. It was too soon to leave Luke.
“SILENCE!” Headmaster’s heavy rolling voice washed out the others until they all had ceased. “I have not yet made this decision. There are as many teachers with objections as there seem to be students. I have decided to take each of your opinions into account. My brother is against our calling the competition off early and has spoken for his school on the matter. I wanted them to be aware of the situation, though.”
He nodded to the North Haven teachers who had ushered everyone in, and they began walking toward the back tables, half of them carrying stacks of blank white paper and the other half carrying pens.
“I ask my students to write down what you prefer and why. It’s up to you if you would like to sign your name or not. If you wish to wait and write it later when you are alone, that’s fine. Be sure to turn it in to me, to one of my teachers, or to whoever takes care of your hall some time during the day. If you fail to turn one in, you will have no say whatsoever in this matter.”
I left Luke to sit with my friends, since none of the teachers bothered to pass me a paper. Plus, I was hoping I could make sure they voted to stay.
“My staff and I will meet together tonight to read your responses and decide what the best course of action will be.” He looked at his brother, who nodded, and then they sat down.
I turned to Harmony and Sassy before I thought about writing anything down. “You’re not going to vote to leave, are you?”
“No,” Sassy said incredulously “I’ve been looking forward to the competitions all year. We can’t leave before it’s even started. And we haven’t gotten to dress up for the dance yet.”
“I’m voting to stay, too,” Harmony said, “but I’m also going to tell Headmaster that maybe we should have someone we’re actually assigned to stick with all the time. That way, if the attacker’s one of us and he can’t go anywhere on his own, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.” Her eyes got a little wider. “And if he did do something, Headmaster could ask us whose partner wasn’t with them when it happened.” She leaned over her paper and began writing away.
Content that I could at least count on them, I put my pen to paper and began.
Dear Headmaster,
You know my past with Luke Knight. Since I got to Southland Cinder High, we’ve become closer than ever and it would break my heart to leave him now. Obviously, I’m voting to stay. Please, please, please let us stay.
Aside from that, everything I’ve heard and read about the Winter Competitions makes it sound like they’re the crowning moment of every year, the purpose of each school’s creation, even. So
again, please, please, please let us stay!!! Please!
Sincerely,
Kristine Fayre
I went to hand it to Headmaster myself.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~ Scared Child ~
I lay awake well into the night, worrying about what would happen. If we did go back to North Haven, would the Cinders still come next winter? Would there even be a way for Luke and me to write or call each other? Headmaster must have a way of communicating with his brother, I realized. It didn’t help.
I rolled over and planted my face in my pillow to cry. It was so scary. Tomorrow I could lose him forever. I felt helpless—absolutely alone. The part of me that had died with his absence before was dying again. I couldn’t imagine it had hurt this bad before, though.
A half hour or so went by like this before I decided I needed Luke. As I climbed out of bed and took the Cinder suit from my dresser, I felt myself becoming the scared child he once was when he woke up from one of his nightmares. Once I’d changed, I shoved my con into the one very small pocket and turned my arms inward so I could hide in the shadows.
When I left the room and took the stairway down, I was amazed, as always, when I looked down and saw right through myself to the floor. Halfway to the dining hall I began to wonder how I would find Luke since I really had no idea where he slept. I racked my brain for anything he might have said as I approached the gym where we always met.
Maybe Connie could tell me. I stopped and turned into the first floor bathrooms, somewhere I’d never been before. They were just like the ones Luke had dragged me into, but without the urinals. There were no mirrors and no electric lighting, only a torch by the door and at the end of the compact room, so there were plenty of shadows to make you feel like someone could be hiding in there. I took my con out, the light and Connie’s familiar face making me feel better. “You’re up late, Kristine. What can I do for you?”
“Can you tell me how to get to the Cinder boys’ quarters?”
