by C. R. Jane
When the Warden didn’t say anything but simply stared at me, I said, “I promise to continue working hard. Is that all?” I shifted to the edge of my seat, ready to run out of here and stop feeling like a bug under a microscope.
“No.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, moving a bit too close to me for my liking.
With only a short distance between us, I could see the golden flecks in his dark eyes that seemed to move around his irises. The brackets around his mouth deepened as he smiled. The look he gave me hit me hard, because I knew what it meant. I’d seen Julian wear this same mask many times.
The Warden wanted something from me.
I pushed back into my seat, knowing I wasn’t going anywhere fast, and waited for the news to drop. My stomach churned with anticipation. Did he want me to do something that involved sexual favors for someone? Did he want sexual favors from me? I gritted my teeth because I would walk into Hell before I did any of that.
His eyes narrowed. “I need to ask a favor of you.”
And there it was. My gut tightened, and I held my breath, waiting for the favor that would somehow make my life here even more unbearable.
“You recently visited Seth, the only fae in our penitentiary, and I was told you had a very calming effect on him. Is this right?”
I stiffened, confused at first by what he was saying.
Seth. So that was the fae’s name.
Even if the guilt of what I’d done gnawed on me, there was this level of separation between us without knowing his name. I didn’t really know him... but now that I had his name, it made it ten times worse.
Seth.
He was no longer just the fae. Now it felt personal. A name gave someone an identity and a presence. There was power in a name. We once had a mouse in the mansion back home, and the moment my mother named him, we couldn’t kill him. So, he ended up being the family pet.
I groaned under my breath, wishing the Warden hadn’t told me the fae’s name.
Now when I heard his name, all I’d think about was the extra anguish I caused him. Of course, it was an accident, but that thought didn’t eliminate the hurt in my chest. All I could picture was the sorrow on his face, as though the crystal was the only thing he had left in this world.
“I tried to help him,” I said. “He was distraught when I last saw him.”
The Warden’s eyes narrowed as he studied me for a long moment.
I blinked at him and prompted him to tell me what favor he wished from me. “What would you like me to do? Comfort him more?”
With a curt shake of his head, he said, “There’s information I need from Seth, but he’s not in the right state of mind to tell me.”
“Like a secret?” I asked, my voice trembling because the stories I’d heard of the fae and their secrets never ended well. They were always complicated and filled with drama, and revenge. Everything came with revenge for them.
His mouth pinched at the corners. “More like where he’s hiding something.”
I still couldn’t get my head around why he was asking me this. I didn’t know Seth. We were both in fact locked in a cage.
As if he picked up on my confusion, he said, “You have a very calming nature, Selena. And with your siren ability to attract, it will be easy for you to get to know Seth, for him to trust you. I’ll give you unlimited access to spend time with him. We’ve amped up our torture tactics lately and I’m sure he’ll be grateful for anything...or anyone that gives him a break.”
My stomach twisted in knots as I remembered Seth’s anger when I told him that I had the crystal. And on top of that, he’d murdered a king. Well, it was rumored he did that, but he was in this prison for a reason, right? And now the Warden wanted me to get close and cozy with him?
“I’m not sure how I feel about deceiving him. Why would he tell me his secrets anyway?”
The Warden exhaled loudly, frustration furrowing his brow. “It’s simple, Selena. You get to know him, win over his confidence, and then you will find out where he’s put his father’s scepter. It was hidden after the murder.” He stared at me with that same look he had when he negotiated for the crystal. Ruthless and callous.
“Scepter?” Now I was even more confused. “What’s so special about this scepter?”
“The light fae can’t appoint a new king without it. So I’ve agreed to help them. And you will help me,” he said firmly.
I doubted I had a choice in this.
I realized that the Warden was working with the light fae...that was a new development.
Seth must have been taken here specifically so the Warden could have access to him. So that he could hunt down the scepter.
The Warden didn’t seem like a person who did anything out of the goodness of his heart, so what was he getting out of this arrangement? Gold? More artifacts for his collection?
“You will start right away, and you will be successful,” he assured me, as if failure wasn’t an option.
My arms were trembling by my side. “I don’t know if I can do this. What if he sees through my lies and goes crazy on me?”
“I never said you had a choice, and I’m sure you can work it all out,” he snapped. “And of course, I’m not going to make you do this without giving you something in return.”
I stilled, knowing there were only a few things in the world that I actually cared about. And one of them was in this room.
“If you succeed, I will give you back your power.” His gaze drifted over to the shelf where my golden orb sat.
He had me. And he knew it.
With that power, I could finally take control of my life, escape Julian, and follow my own life. Freedom lay so close, and I drew my bottom lip into my mouth, gnawing on it.
Meeting the Warden’s eyes, I asked the question plaguing my mind. “And if I fail?”
He huffed and ran a hand over his mouth before he reclined into his seat. “Well, Selena, if you fail, I will be adding at least ten more years to your sentence at Nightmare Penitentiary.” He gave a wry smile and got to his feet, signaling the end of the conversation.
I couldn’t move. I sat there completely speechless.
I’d forgotten the fact that in my life, things could always get worse.
But I would do anything to feel the call of the siren flowing through my veins once again.
Even steal secrets from a murderer.
It was time to get to work. Any chance of happiness depended on it.
It wasn’t betrayal if we weren’t friends.
Right?
TO BE CONTINUED IN SIREN SACRIFICED. GET YOUR COPY HERE.
Sneak Peek at School of Broken Souls
C. R. Jane & Mila Young
Copyright
School of Broken Souls by C. R. Jane and Mila Young
Copyright © 2019 by C. R. Jane and Mila Young
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review, and except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
For permissions contact:
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Welcome to Raven Academy… Where the price of admission could be your soul…
Adeline Jones is perfectly average. Or at least she thinks she is until she receives an invite to attend Raven Academy, complete with a full scholarship. Raven Academy is the mysterious school that only the elite of the elite go and despite Adeline's misgivings about giving up her whole life to attend, there's no way her parents are going to let her give up such an opportunity.
But things at Raven Academy aren't what they seem. Everyone is a little too perfect, a little too rich, and a little too powerful for any normal student population. Things only complicate further when Adeline catches the eyes of Raven Academy's group of elite boys.
Can Adeline figure out what secrets Raven Academy is hiding before it’s too late? Or will the price of admission to the elite academy be more than she can pay...like perhaps the price of her soul.
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
I grip the gun under my coat, and my hand shakes. All of me trembles.
What the hell am I doing here?
A drop of sweat slides down my back. It must be a hundred degrees in this store. Or maybe my nerves are just making me feel like I’m in the living embodiment of hell.
A sudden shriek has me jumping in my boots, and I flinch around to see a child stomping his feet when his mom takes away a bag of fruit snacks that’s he’s poached from one of the shelves. Listen to your mother, I want to say, but I can’t find my voice. Not now.
Not when I’m ready to run and hide.
But I have to see this through. People are counting on me. And I can’t let them down.
I won’t let them down.
I glance around at who else is in the store. There’s a teenage couple making eyes at each other in the row over, and a grizzly old man looking over the beer aisle, but other than that the store’s empty. I need everyone to leave before I do this though. This stupid, crazy, impossible thing.
I go through my plan again in my mind for the hundredth time. The gun is filled with water... a toy gun. But it will do the trick. Please God let it work.
The first time my friend Cody pointed it at me, I screamed. It sure as hell looks like a real handgun. The toy mirrors a Glock G43. I have no idea what the number means, but it’s black and looks real. That’s what matters.
Hopefully, the store clerk will think the same. And then when inevitably the police pick me up, maybe they will take it easier on me since it isn’t a real gun. At least that’s my hope, but I know I’m just fooling myself. I have to lie to myself, or I’ll never go through with this.
I need the money.
I need it despite the fact that I’ve always been a good girl, the type of girl who never walks outside the lines or does anything unexpected.
Until now.
Robbing a 7-11 is definitely going to yank that title from me fast. And if that is the worse it does, I’ll take it.
Sweat is rolling down my back now. It slides under the waistband of my jeans and beneath the elastic of my underwear. Why is it so hot in here?
I think again of the other night when I walked into the kitchen at midnight and found mom crying over a stack of bills. Dad withers away in their dark bedroom, too weak to come out, and too proud to ask for help from anyone.
There’s a surgery that can help him, a surgery that can fix my family. But we need money for it.
I hated the word.
Need.
Just as much as I loathe the cancer slowly taking my dad from me.
My throat chokes, and I struggle to breathe. I glance around, finding the sliding door as the young couple leave.
Escape.
It’s there for me. But it won’t help my family.
I work two jobs after school and save every penny. But $8.00 an hour doesn’t add up fast. I often talk to mom about maybe dropping out of school for a little bit, but she won’t listen to me and threatens to make me quit my other jobs if I even mention it again. My mother and I both work as much as possible, but it’s never going to be enough. Or at least it’s never going to be enough in time to actually save my dad.
Another review of the store reveals three people wandering around the aisles, and this will be the best I can hope for. I swallow past a dry throat, my finger twitching on the gun handle, and I meander toward the only working cash register. The guard is at lunch, and I see no cameras. This is the right time, but hesitation slows me.
Dad. I have to think of him. Losing him isn’t an option, and the doctors say with the right amount of money, he stands a damn good chance to heal.
I want that chance, so with squared shoulders, I march closer to the young girl picking at her nails behind the register. She’s wearing her blue hair in a high ponytail and she has a small piercing in her nose.
My thoughts tangle into a web while fear squeezes my chest. What if I get caught? Mom and Dad will be horrified.
Shaking my head, I push that thought out of my mind. I can’t let those thoughts creep in, or they’ll cripple me. It took me three weeks to work up the courage to finally take action.
So, I have to do this.
I need this.
Fuck.
I lick my dry lips and approach the young girl. She looks up at me, disinterested, and my attention falls to her name tag.
Mary Sue.
I almost laugh out loud at the simpleness of her name, the cliché of it, but she distracts me.
“What do you have?” She eyes me up and down, seeing no groceries in my hand.
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out, and I will my hand to move. To pull out that damn gun. Sweat rolls down my neck.
“If you’re gonna order cigarettes, I need to see an ID.” She folds her arms across her chest.
My free hand juts out and I grab a handful of gum from a rack of candy, then dump them on the counter. Six packets. She starts scanning them, and I inch the gun out from under my coat, the words of what I‘ll say roll through my mind.
Stick’em up.
Stupid. So stupid. She won’t take me seriously. What am I thinking?
I hold the gun low between me and the counter. I’m inches from showing her the weapon. I can do this; I keep repeating in my mind.
“Want a bag with these?” she barks, and I flinch so hard, I hit the gun’s trigger and it squirts water across the bottom section of the counter near my feet. A light hiss sounds.
Shit!
“Yes, yes,” I say, hoping she didn’t hear the noise.
She cocks an eyebrow. “Really? You want a whole bag for six packets of gum. What about saving the environment?”
I flick my gaze up. “Then why did you ask? And yes, I want the bag.”
She rolls her eyes and sighs as she leans over to grab one.
I lift the gun, placing it just over the counter, pointing it at Mary Sue, my body concealing the weapon should anyone behind me come to the register.
I can barely breathe when the front doorbell chimes. From the corner of my eye, I spot the navy uniform, the hulking form of the guard.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I shove the gun back into my coat and retreat from the counter, lowering my head.
“Hey, ma’am,” Mary Sue calls out. “You forgot your six gums in a bag?” she says sarcastically.
The guard stands in my way in front of the glass door, and I freeze, about to fall apart. When I glance up, he studies me.
“You okay, Miss?”
“Y...yeah, of course.” My voice trembles, and I sidestep him, sliding through the door. The bell gives another ring as I pass, startling me. The cool air does nothing to cool me down, not when my heart pounds inside me, and my mind screams the word run in my head.
A quick look behind me shows that the guard and girl are staring at me through the window. I’m sure they think I stole something. I turn away and walk fast down the sidewalk. The moment I take the corner, I run, still holding the gun under my coat. Over my shoulder, no one follows. I did nothing wrong, but still, I can’t stop sprinting past people meandering on the sidewalk. A man in a suit bumps into me, but I keep going without apology.
I berate myself as I run for chickening out, for failing. I won’t be able to return to that 7-11 again, they’ll remember me next time for sure because of my odd behavior.
I made a mess of everything today. I’ll have to start again, find another location with no guard. I can’t stop, not until I find a way to get
money for Dad’s surgery.
Finally, I slip into a quiet alley and press my back to a brick wall, gasping for air.
“Idiot,” I mumble under my breath. If I moved faster, I’d now have a bag of cash. I rack my brain for the best store to steal from. Maybe I should have come up with a backup plan before this like in the movies. On those shows, they make it seem so easy, their plans go off without a hitch. In real life, I just suck and fail at everything.
I contemplate the locations I can try next, which ones would be potential hot spots. The bakery is quiet after the morning rush, except the owner stays in the back, so he might easily see me. The bookstore is always empty, there are rumors that it’s going out of business which means they won’t have a lot of cash on hand. I need one big hit, not small ones.
Then I remember the new pawn store. I shove the gun into the big pocket of my coat and take a deep inhale before stepping out of the alley.
Several blocks later, I stand outside the pawn store, studying the window filled with men’s wristwatches and used cell phones.
Someone walks into me, hitting me so hard that I fall against the window, and spin around. “Hey!”
“Watch out,” a young kid snipes at me as he rushes by.
“I was standing still,” I call out, annoyed.
I really must be invisible as this type of thing happens more often than not.
I head inside the store. The walls are full of merchandise, and it smells like worn socks. An L-shaped glass counter sits against the back wall, and there are three assistants present, but no registers. I observe a customer paying for her merchandise by handing over money to a sales clerk who heads out past a shut door. He uses a card around his neck to open the door. This is a lot more complicated than the register at the convenience store.
A sales guy strolls toward me with a smile. I turn and head outside, putting quick distance between me and the store. That place is not going to work, so I keep walking, not ready to return home and face my parents. Not that they’ll know what I’m doing but the hurt in their eyes, the hope to keep fighting will eat me up because I failed my mission.
