Evilly Amused

by Marlowe Blue

  I shook my head. I didn’t know anyone capable of such a thing and it felt like we were talking in circles.

  Bloom made a sound like a balloon deflating. “Come on. All the stupid shit you kids were doing. You must have pissed someone off.”

  McAllister furrowed his brow. “Now’s not the time to be quiet. You need to start giving them some names. Four kids are dead. Brutally murdered. Someone is going down for this. If you don’t want it to be you, start talking.”

  The detectives nodded in agreement but still, I kept my mouth shut. Nichols held up a page he’d removed from the folder. His eyes skimmed over it. “Something happened a few weeks ago, didn’t it?”

  My body went cold. They already knew. I couldn’t even protect him if I wanted to. I balled my fists, looking back and forth between the detectives. “You don’t understand. He would never ever do something like this.”

  Bloom smirked. “But you and your friends did piss him off. Don’t you think that’s something we need to know considering the circumstances?”

  I shrugged and looked down at my hands.

  Nichols closed the folder. “Lela, tell us about what happened with Hunter Clark.”

  9

  Three Weeks Ago

  Once again it was Coach’s night to choose the challenge. He was always more secretive than he needed to be just because he liked the power of holding a secret. At Ray’s, we kept trying to get clues from him, but he wouldn’t even tell us where we were going.

  “You’ll all be blindfolded,” he announced. “You won’t know where we’re going until we get there.”

  “Again with the blindfolds,” Brayden complained.

  Coach scowled at him. “Hey, if you want out just say so right now, Red.”

  AJ shot his brother a look and Brayden held up his hands. “Chill, man. I’m just saying.”

  After that, no one said anything else about the challenge.

  After we ate, we piled into the Explorer where we put on our masks. Coach handed us our blindfolds which we tied over our animal faces. “If I catch any of you peeking, you will be immediately disqualified and I mean that.” We all knew he meant it and none of us had dared to sneak a peek.

  We drove out a little further than we normally did for challenges—or maybe it just felt that way because I was blindfolded. The excitement and adrenaline I usually felt was gone. It had been replaced with nausea and the sense that something bad was about to happen.

  Morgan wasn’t there to keep me calm.

  The road turned from smooth to rocky, as we came to a stop. “Nobody move,” Coach ordered from the front seat. There was some shuffling and the sounds of a car door opening and closing.

  “What do you think he’s doing?” AJ asked.

  Brayden twisted beside me. “I dare one of you to look.”

  “Shut up!” Charlotte ordered.

  A minute later Coach returned.

  “What were you doing?” I asked even though I hadn’t expected an answer.

  Surprisingly he gave me one. “I had to cut the chain and open the gate.”

  More movement came from beside me. “What?” Brayden demanded. “Where the hell are we? Coach, you’re going to get us arrested.”

  The Explorer moved forward again. “Shut up with that chicken shit, man,” Coach called from the front seat.

  After a few moments we stopped again. Coach told us to get out and take our blindfolds off. We stood in the dark lot of a huge building. On one side of the lot were a few tractors, a bulldozer, and a couple of dump trucks. The building brought back memories of the abandoned carpet factory and the place where Zander had lost the use of his legs.

  “What is this place?” I asked.

  Coach shrugged. “Just a place.”

  Charlotte stood beside me. “Awesome. So what’s the challenge? It sure as hell better not be walking across a beam.”

  We’d decided that after what happened to Zander we would never do a stunt like that again.

  Coach pulled his backpack off, letting it drop to the ground. “This challenge is going to be a bit different. It’s going to be kind of like an obstacle course and there will be three tasks to complete. Task number one, bust out a window. It needs to shatter completely.”

  He pulled a can of spray paint from his back pack. “Task number two, you must spray paint a swear word on one of the walls. The third thing—you’re going to rappel down from a third story window.”

  That’s why he’d told us to bring our harnesses. Coach had taught all of us how to rappel about a year before.

  After a round of Vodka shots, we put our harnesses on and he tossed us each a bottle of spray paint. “Be careful. Remember not to get it on your hands. The guy and girl who complete all three tasks first become the king and queen.”

  I’d earned the shark-tooth necklace back from Charlotte and I had no intentions of losing it again.

  Brayden picked up a brick and hurled it through one of the first story windows. It was definitely an attempt to impress Coach, probably to make up for the questions he had asked before.

  We stood back for a moment waiting to see if an alarm would sound, but everything remained deathly quiet.

  Coach patted Brayden on the back and wrapped a towel around his hand. With that, he knocked away some of the access glass so we could climb through without being cut. Once we were all inside, we stood with our back against a wall waiting for the official start of the challenge.

  “On your marks, get set, go!” Coach bellowed and we took off looking for hard objects to throw at the windows.

  The inside of the building was filled with palettes of sand and mulch. There was a cement mixer in the center. Stacks of brick and wood made the place feel like a maze.

  I found a large rock and hurled it toward the nearest window but it merely bounced off. Around me, glass was shattering so I was going to have to move fast. Even though Charlotte was really my only competition, I didn’t want to be beat out by all the boys.

  With my flashlight, I spotted a sledge hammer in the corner. It was heavy, but I raised it over my head and brought it against the window. I ducked to shield my face from the glass raining around me. Task one was complete.

  There was no time to admire my work. I reached for my bottle of spray paint and found an empty wall. As soon as I had painted the letters SH, light flooded the building.

  There in the entrance stood Hunter and his father. It was only then in the light that I spotted the banner that read Clark Construction.

  Hunter and Mr. Clark looked around the room as the others hauled ass through the back door. All around lay shards of glass, broken windows, and obscenities in bright orange paint. I locked eyes with Hunter. He looked so hurt and confused that I had to look away. “Lela? What are you doing?” He knew who I was, even underneath the mask.

  “Come on!” someone shouted from outside and I knew that if I didn’t follow, they would leave me.

  Mr. Clark pointed at me as he drew his phone from his pocket. “Don’t you move! Dammit. The one time we forget to set the alarm.”

  Giving Hunter one last apologetic look, I turned on my heels and followed the others. Staying there wasn’t going to change anything. The damage had already been done—to the building and with Hunter. The way he looked at me, I knew he would never speak to me again.

  On the way home everyone was in a panic. “Shit, Coach!” Charlotte screamed. “Masks or no masks, Hunter knows who we are. You know his father’s calling the cops right now.”

  The tires squealed as we pulled onto the road. Coach waved his hand as if it were no big deal. “It’s cool. They can’t prove anything. That’s why I told you guys to be careful about not getting spray paint on your hands. Just say you don’t know anything about anything and that we were all hanging out at my house. My dad will vouch for us.”

  His dad probably wasn’t even home. He never was. Coach was trying to play it cool but he knew we were screwed. We were going to get arrested for breaking and e
ntering along with vandalism and there was nothing we could do about it.

  I ripped off my mask and flung it away from me. “I’m going to be in more trouble than any of you, well besides Coach. I already have a record.”

  Coach had been to juvie too for crimes unrelated to the Hex. He drummed on the steering wheel as he cranked up the music, obviously trying to drown me out. “It’s gonna be all right, guys. Everything’s gonna be all right.”

  Once we got to Coach’s house and unloaded, I smacked him across the face. Everyone gasped and stood frozen in place. Charlotte covered her mouth. “What the hell, Lela?”

  Coach clenched his jaw.

  I stepped as close to him as I could stand to get. “You knew exactly what you were doing tonight? How could you do that to him, Coach? He’s a nice guy. All that because we went on one little date and you’re jealous. You’re a spoiled little bitch!”

  Coach stepped toward me and I had to move back. “I didn’t make anybody do what they didn’t want to do. You knew what we were doing was wrong. It shouldn’t matter who we were doing it to.”

  He had a point about that.

  His lips curved into a cocky smile. “Anything else, Lela?”

  I couldn’t stand to be in his presence another second. I headed toward the sidewalk even though my house wasn’t in walking distance. Somehow I’d catch a taxi or figure out which bus to take.

  “Lela, wait!” I turned to see Charlotte running toward me.

  “Char!” Coach barked. She stopped like a dog would after being called by its owner. I stood watching her for a moment, waiting to see what she was going to do but she only looked at me helplessly. I turned and continued on my way. If Morgan were there, she would have come with me no matter what Coach said.

  That was our last challenge.

  Things weren’t as bad as we thought they were going to be. Mr. Clark was furious, but he didn’t want to press charges. We had to pay fines and come up with money for the repairs to the building, but that was it. I didn’t know if Hunter had talked his father into going easy on us or if Mr. Clark was just a merciful man, but I was grateful. I had been right about Hunter, though. After that night he was done with me and that was punishment enough.

  My parents were making me get a job to pay for the fines and repairs, but I was having a hard time finding one considering my record and reputation. Apparently even the local Sack-N-Save wanted trustworthy and dependable people to bag their customer’s groceries. I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t have hired me either.

  Detective Bloom sat back in his seat. “Was that the last time you spoke to Hunter?”

  “Yes,” I lied.

  The last time I had spoken to him had been a few days later at school. I could tell he had been avoiding me and I was glad for it because the looks he gave me cut me to my core.

  Unfortunately, that Wednesday I bumped into him in a deserted hallway during lunchtime. I literally bumped into him. He had been coming around the corner and we collided.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. I was too ashamed to meet his eyes and that sorry stood for so many things.

  “No, I’m sorry,” he said roughly. “I’m sorry for saying you did stupid things. I’m the one who does stupid things. I should have never put myself out there for a girl who doesn’t care about anybody but herself and those dumbasses she thinks are her friends.”

  “Hunter—”

  “Don’t. Just don’t. Do you have any idea how hard my family works? How could you do that to us? How could you do that to me?”

  I choked back the tears. I couldn’t start crying in the middle of the hallway. “I swear, I had no idea that was your family’s building. I didn’t know what it was until you and your father showed up. Hunter, I promise you if I had known I wouldn’t have gone in and I would have stopped the others too.”

  Hunter made a face like he was smelling spoiled meat. “Just stay away from me.”

  Nichols had been writing non-stop on a notepad. “I’m sure Hunter was pretty pissed with all of you, that would make him a suspect, don’t you think?”

  I rested my head in my hands. It suddenly felt so heavy. “I told you, he would never do anything like that.”

  The detectives stared at me for a long time not saying anything. For a moment I felt as if I would spend the rest of my life in that room because I had no idea what to tell them. They wanted answers that I couldn’t give them.

  Nichols stood and paced back and forth across the front of the room. “Lela, I’m going to go against the grain here and be honest. I don’t think you did this.”

  That got my attention. “You don’t?”

  “Nah,” he said, watching the back of Bloom’s head. “You don’t have any cuts on your hands. With the amount of blood that was shed, the knife would have been so slippery that it would have slipped, causing you to cut your own hand. Also, I have a good gut. You just don’t seem to have it in you. I can’t see you snapping and going knife-happy on your friends.”

  McAllister clapped his hands together. “So, she’s free to go then.”

  Bloom scoffed and pointed at the lawyer. “You sir, are hilarious. My partner here is under the misguided assumption that many people have—that pretty little white girls would never do such a thing, especially blond ones. But that is so far from the truth.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  McAllister wasn’t about to give up. “Please tell me how you think my client would have managed to kill four people at once, three of them being strong, able-bodied boys who could have easily taken her? What were the others doing while she was stabbing one? Sitting quietly waiting for their turn?”

  Bloom smirked at that because it was a good question. “We believe they were drugged. She probably drugged them with the same Valium she had taken. Then when they were out, she went Lizzie Borden on them.”

  I’d just met Bloom, but I hated him with an intense passion.

  McAllister sighed as if it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. “There were defensive wounds on their hands, no? They had to be awake and trying to protect themselves.”

  “Oh, we believe they were awake,” Bloom replied. “Just not coherent enough to fight back hard enough or flee. The autopsy reports will tell us more.”

  Autopsy reports. I thought about my friends’ lifeless bodies lying on a cold metal table being poked and prodded by some medical examiner. It wasn’t fair. It couldn’t be happening.

  Bloom turned his attention back to me. “So, Lela, let’s play Detective Nichols’ game and pretend like you didn’t do this. So far the other likely candidates are either in a wheelchair or too nice to have done this. We are looking into Mr. Perfect as we speak. Who else do you think hated you all so much that they would do something like this?”

  I thought and I couldn’t come up with anything. Morgan was angry, but not angry enough to do that. Morgan would never hurt a fly and like Hunter, I would never say her name.

  Detective Bloom must have been reading my mind. “I’ve been looking through the incident report for the night of the Clark Construction vandalism. It turns out one of you was missing—Morgan Thorne. I thought members weren’t allowed to miss challenges, so what happened to her?”

  My hands felt clammy. I didn’t want to talk to them about Morgan and I hated that at that very moment she probably thought I was a murderer. “Morgan wasn’t a part of the Hex anymore.”

  Nichols frowned. “Why not?”

  I took a deep breath. “She got kicked out.”

  Bloom chuckled and leaned forward with his hands folded in front of him. “Is that so? Do tell.”

  10

  Four Weeks Ago

  That week was Charlotte’s pick. She told Coach to take us to the train station. Coach was more excited than usual because we’d never done anything at the train station before. AJ and Brayden paled, making their freckles stand out even more. I could tell Charlotte hadn’t even told AJ what the challenge was going to be. In the back of the Expl
orer, Morgan reached for my hand and squeezed it.

  Coach parked in the lot and turned to face Charlotte. “Okay. So what’s the deal?”

  Her face lit up. “Everyone has to jump turnstiles and get on the Metrorail without paying.”

  Brayden groaned. “Have you ever seen the security at this station? There’s cops everywhere.”

  Charlotte nodded, a mischievous grin on her face. “That’s why it’s such a great challenge. You guys better move fast.”

  Nervousness radiated off Morgan. “B-but our masks are going to freak everyone out. I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  It was true. Our masks were going to freak people out. Our other challenges had mostly involved us being in a secluded area. No spectators.

  Coach was getting a kick out of it. “People are gonna lose their shit. Put your masks on at the last minute so we don’t draw attention to ourselves. We have to wait right until the train doors are about to close. Those things run on autopilot and if we jump on too early that’ll give security time to catch us and we won’t have anywhere to run. Timing is everything. When it’s time to move, you’d better move. There’s no time to hesitate.”

  We sat in silent agreement. Coach turned to Charlotte and winked. “Great challenge, Char.”

  Her beautiful face beamed with pride.

  We made our way toward the station’s turnstiles. There we stood waiting for Charlotte to give us the cue since this was her idea. A train came roaring to a stop and people spilled off from both sides. The challenge was totally stupid. We had no idea where the train was going, but somehow we’d get on the right one to make our way back. The adrenaline pulsed through me and I was ready to go.

  From the corner of my eye I spotted security standing against the walls chatting away. People got on and found their seats as the timer dinged a warning that the doors were about to close. We had our masks down at our sides.