Afterwards, Jeffery began leading each participant to their stations, leaving the chaperones behind. At some point, Courtney had found her way to Andre’s side.
“Ready to taste some mediocre creations?” Courtney said a little too enthusiastically.
Andre gave Courtney a halfhearted smile. “As long as none of them have been poisoned.”
Courtney laughed. “Oh, Andre. Always the optimist.”
Andre chuckled a little before the smile vanished from her face. “Jeffery’s been oddly…complacent, hasn’t he?”
Courtney frowned. “Not this again,” she groaned.
“Why else would Henri willingly let him go?”
“I don’t know!” Courtney bellowed before lowering her voice. “Just, have some faith. Please.”
Andre didn’t want to have to explain to Courtney that faith was a foreign concept to her, so instead, she remained silent as she watched each participant prepare their dishes. Her eyes instantly found Sabrina, who was in the middle of preparing a chicken dish.
“I’m getting hungry just looking at all the dishes being prepared,” said Courtney.
Again, Andre didn’t respond as her eyes swept to the perimeter of the stadium.
And then, the buzzer sounded, and the chaperones marched out into the stadium. It was there where they began to silently taste each dish and provide their scores.
After a while, Jason announced the French score: an eight.
Andre made her way around the stadium, tasting what she could, delighted she hadn’t found a hint of poison in any of them. Not that she would expect teenagers to poison their creations, but not much surprised her anymore.
Then, the Russian score was announced: a nine.
Eventually, Andre made her way to Sabrina’s dish and gave it a small taste. The flavor, much to her surprise, was bland, and the chicken was slightly undercooked. She decided right then and there that it was deserving of a six. However, others around her clearly disagreed, and some even gave it a high score.
In the end, Sabrina had earned a seven.
And as the stadium began to clear out of both participants and chaperones, Andre couldn’t help but notice how Sabrina held her head low, clearly distraught over her score.
~~~
Rebekah: Munich, Germany
Excitement flooded throughout the ICW hallways, since the participants had to endure only one more competition before the awards ceremony came: the cheer portion. The competition in which everyone participated in.
Rebekah didn’t particularly want to participate in such a competition. Knowing that most of the countries the cliques came from didn’t even have cheerleading, she didn’t fully understand why it was included in the ICW. It probably was included so there was a group activity everyone participated in, Rebekah suspected. She also thought the entire activity was superficial.
But so did Holly and Mandy, and she knew they had as much reason to opt out of the competition as she did. She knew she was being selfish by being that way, but she didn’t care. She found herself thinking back to the sports portion of the ICW in which the trivia participant for Russia also participated in the sports portion because the one who was supposed to partake in that competition was killed before she had a chance to.
Natasha Alekseev.
Rebekah knew there would be no one to take her place if she couldn’t participate in the cheer portion, since everyone else in Eternal Division was already participating. However, she still wanted to try to get out of it, and all Rebekah needed to do now was come up with an excuse to get her out of the competition. Something Jamie would believe.
In the courtyard of the ICW, Jamie became a drill sergeant as she took charge of their routine and forced them to strive for perfection. Rebekah hated Jamie even more in that moment for making her perform ridiculous and difficult routines that her uncoordinated self was unable to handle. She wasn’t the only one having issues, though. Holly and Mandy were having just as many issues.
Jamie’s desire to beat France was so engrained in her mind that she forced her frustration out on her clique. All around her, Rebekah noticed the other cliques practicing as well, but none of their leaders acted as dogmatic as Jamie. In that moment, Rebekah wanted nothing more than to sabotage the cheer portion for Jamie, thus guaranteeing a French victory.
If she was able to successfully get out of the competition, she was going to sabotage it.
Rebekah knew she needed to fake a severe injury, one that if real could last at least a week. As Jamie was showing the next part in their routine, which involved some sort of complicated dance, Rebekah knew of the perfect injury. As the rest of the members began to practice the dance, Rebekah made sure she did a mediocre job—until her right leg conveniently locked in place, causing her to fall to the ground and twist her ankle the wrong way.
When she landed, she felt nothing. She only hoped her fall looked like it would result in a twisted ankle.
“Ahhh, shit!” she said through gritted teeth as the nonexistent pain shot up her leg, and if it were a real injury, her ankle would have throbbed tremendously.
Jamie shot her a disapproving glare. “What happened?” she demanded.
“I think…I may have…twisted my ankle,” Rebekah panted, bracing herself for Jamie’s frustration.
“You what?” Jamie said as if she didn’t hear Rebekah.
“I think I may have—”
Jamie held up a hand to shush Rebekah. “Why weren’t you more careful?”
“Well, I’m sorry your routine is complicated, and I can’t handle it!” Rebekah snapped.
“How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad,” said Rebekah. “I don’t think I can walk.” At this point, she knew she was exaggerating. She’s had plenty of sprained ankles before, and she had no problems walking on them.
“Are you serious?” Jamie questioned in an eerily calm tone. “That means you can’t practice with us, meaning you won’t be able to participate with us. No participation means disqualification from that one portion!”
“I know,” said Rebekah. “I’m sorry. I mean….things like this happen! I’m sure Jason would still let you guys participate without me!”
Jamie scoffed at that. “We’ll see.”
“The Russian clique was still able to participate in the sports portion, even though Natasha died,” Teri noted. “Viktoriya just ended up participating in two portions.”
“Okay, fine,” snapped Jamie. “We don’t need her. We can still win with the six of us.”
In that moment, Rebekah expected the members of Eternal Division to help her off the ground and escort her to the room. Yet, they did no such thing and instead walked past her, presumably back to their room. Even though Rebekah’s injury was nonexistent, this infuriated her, for it showed the shallowness that was Eternal Division and that they didn’t really care about her. Their care previously had all been an act.
Holly and Mandy were the only ones who remained behind. What surprised her was that neither of them made a move to help her up, too.
Then, Holly spoke up. “Your ankle’s not really sprained,” she said. “You’re faking it.”
Rebekah could hear the hurt in Holly’s voice. “I have a good reason for backing out of this competition,” she said. “I’m going to try and sabotage it in order to guarantee a French victory.”
In that moment, Holly’s and Mandy’s hurt expressions softened.
“How?” Holly asked.
“I haven’t figured that out yet, but in order to do so, I needed to get out of this competition,” explained Rebekah. “You two, however, need to remain in it.”
“Okay,” Holly agreed, even though it was evident that she wasn’t fully convinced. “Do you want me to ‘help’ you up?”
Rebekah laughed, still laying on the ground with her “bad” ankle outstretched. As she stared at the sky, she noticed Jeffery at the edge of the courtyard out of the corner of her eye.
And he began to approach her wi
th an amused smile.
Oh god, she thought exasperatedly. He knows the injury is fake, too.
“That was some fall you had there,” he said once he was in hearing distance.
“Yeah, it hurts like hell,” said Rebekah sarcastically.
“I bet it does,” said Jeffery, planting himself next to her. Then, his tone became serious. “Why are you faking an ankle injury?”
“Okay.” Rebekah paused. “I am faking said injury because I am not a cheerleader.”
Jeffery chuckled, evidently amused. “And you want out of the cheer portion,” he said.
Rebekah nodded.
“That’s not a good enough reason to get out of it,” Jeffery declared. “I mean, I’m sure you want your group to win, am I right?”
Rebekah couldn’t help but laugh. “The official members of Eternal Division are bitches, and I want no part of them anymore. Jamie let herself get consumed by her want to beat the French clique to the point where she forces it on us and pushes us past our limits,” she explained. “I’d rather see France win than us, honestly, and I plan to sabotage the competition.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
“I…don’t know yet,” Rebekah admitted, “but I’m thinking.”
“You know, I could just ask my father to give Eternal Division a lower score than the French clique for you,” Jeffery offered. “It would save you the trouble of coming up with something elaborate.”
“But what’s the fun in that?” questioned Rebekah. “They need to be put in their place.”
Briefly glancing at Holly and Mandy before switching his gaze to Rebekah again, Jeffery proceeded to pick her up off the ground and carry her.
“What are you doing?” Rebekah laughed.
“You want your story to be believable, don’t you?” was Jeffery’s response. Then, he began to carry her back to the Eternal Division room with Holly and Mandy trailing behind him.
The walk to the room was spent in silence. Luckily, when the four of them arrived, the only people who seemed to be in the room at the time were the two chaperones.
And both of them wore confused expressions when they saw Rebekah’s current situation.
“The others aren’t here?” asked Holly.
Courtney shook her head, her eyes never leaving Rebekah. “They’re…out. To be honest, I thought you’d be with them.”
Jeffery laid Rebekah on the couch. “Unfortunately, I don’t think my father has any casts to give you. My advice would be to just put ice on it to stop the swelling.”
Rebekah rolled her eyes in amusement. “Thanks for the advice,” she said sarcastically.
“What happened?” questioned Courtney.
“She sprained her ankle,” Jeffery deadpanned.
“No, she didn’t!” Holly snapped. “She’s faking it.”
Andre didn’t look the least bit amused. “Why are you faking an injury?”
“Because there’s no way I’m participating in the cheer portion with them,” said Rebekah.
This made Andre smile. “Out of all the things you have to worry about, you choose to worry about the least important issue.”
“This may sound bad, but it wasn’t until this competition when I realized how callous Jamie and all of them are,” said Rebekah. “I don’t want them to win. I don’t want to be associated with them. I want to sabotage the competition so they lose to France.”
“If you’re pretending to have a sprained ankle, how are we going to continue training?” Courtney inquired.
“I’ll be better in a week,” said Rebekah.
“And I’ll let my father know about your sudden and severe injury,” Jeffery said, drawing out the syllables of the last word. Then, he quickly kissed her and left the room.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Jeffery: Munich, Germany
O
nce again, Jeffery was not in control of his mind. The claws jolted him awake as they sunk into him, feeding him a command that he was unable to resist. “Find Rebekah.”
Glancing at the clock beside him, Jeffery noticed it was only midnight. The ICW hallways would be deserted and quiet by now, for he already knew that curfew has passed. Yet, he still found himself climbing out of bed and standing on wobbly legs that were still not yet awake. Internally, Jeffery groaned, the fresh command Henri gave him during their meeting still fresh in his mind. Perhaps he wasn’t doing a good enough job, and Henri felt the need to take matters into his own hand.
Jeffery knew he needed to warn her. Yet, one of the commands Henri set forth was that he couldn’t reveal his situation to anyone. Yet still, if he could just find a way around the command and imply what happened without actually saying it, he could—
Immediately, a wave of magic slammed against Jeffery’s skull, and he cried out as a throbbing pain engulfed his head. Henri could hear his thoughts, even now. And Jeffery knew warning Rebekah was out of the question, especially when Henri would more than likely control the words that spilled out of his mouth.
As he made his way through the hallways, Jeffery focused his mind on Rebekah, and doing so alleviated some of his fears. Down one of the hallways, he heard the sound of low voices. Voices that could only belong to people who were breaking the curfew rule.
Jeffery followed the voices, since the Eternal Division room was in that general direction. Soon, his eyes came across the two participants who the voices belonged to. He knew them as Giselle Mesenschmitt and Isabella Vasquez. Germany and Spain.
Then, something cliqued within him. If all of the countries were competing against each other, it didn’t make sense to him that Giselle and Isabella would be together unless they were up to no good and have united against a common enemy.
Jeffery approached them, and as they saw him, they instantly shut up.
“J-jeffery,” Giselle stammered. “Hi.”
Jeffery didn’t return the greeting. “What are you two doing out here past curfew?” he demanded.
“We just…wanted some fresh air,” said Isabella.
Jeffery could clearly hear the lie in her voice, but he chose to let it slide. Right now, his concern was on Rebekah.
“Yeah,” Giselle agreed. “The rooms can get rather cramped.”
“You should head back to your rooms,” said Jeffery coldly.
Without saying anything else, Giselle and Isabella scurried out of his line of sight and disappeared behind a corner. Then, he continued his journey to the Eternal Division room. After finding it, he opened the front door as quietly as he could and slipped into the room. Then, he made his way to one of the bedrooms—what he presumed was Rebekah’s temporary bedroom.
It didn’t take him long to find her, and when he did, he gently shook her awake.
Rebekah stirred a little before her opened hazel eyes made contact with his—and she stared at him for several seconds. “Jeffery, what are you doing here?” she questioned. “What time is it?”
“It’s after midnight,” said Jeffery softly. “Come with me; I needed to see you.” Even now, Jeffery’s body filled with dread as words that weren’t his poured out of his mouth.
“We’re leaving the room?” demanded Rebekah. “But the Bewitched—”
“There aren’t any near us,” said Jeffery. “We’ll be fine.”
Soon, he watched Rebekah leave her bed, and they quietly slipped out of the room and into the hallway. Surprisingly, they didn’t wake anyone up.
“Where are you taking me?” asked Rebekah.
“Somewhere secure,” said Jeffery, and when Rebekah shot him a confused stare, he elaborated. “So the Bewitched don’t get to us.”
Jeffery knew the Bewitched would be able to get to them regardless, but he didn’t bother to tell her that. If worse comes to worse, he thought, I’ll fend them off. He just hoped Henri would let him.
At the end of a nearby hallway was a closet that would suffice as a secure location. As he led her to it, he felt his body tense as fear flooded throu
gh him. Henri was intentionally putting her in danger, and all so Jeffery could further her trust in him. Henri’s last words to him still haunted him, and he unconsciously shivered. “So it will hurt that much more when you finally betray her.”
They entered the closet, and he shut the door behind them. Then, he spun around, meeting her gaze. Her eyes were full of curiosity and wonder.
“What’s up?” Rebekah questioned. “Why couldn’t we have waited until morning?”
I’m sorry, Jeffery thought as he looked into her eyes that were still so full of innocence. “Rebekah,” he began as Henri made him push her against the wall. After a while, he breathed, “I want to remember you exactly like this.”
Before Rebekah could respond, he pressed his lips upon hers, and soon, they were kissing, tongue and all. Jeffery hated every second of it as he pictured Henri watching from his mind, sick with glee.
In that instant, a scream was heard throughout the hallways. No, make that two screams.
Rebekah broke away suddenly. “What the heck was that?” she demanded with panic in her voice.
Jeffery glanced towards the closet door. “That sounded rather close,” he noted before turning back to her. Yet, he remained clueless as to who the screams belonged to.
Then, it hit him. Giselle and Isabella. The screams had belonged to them, and he knew they had become the latest prey for the Bewitched.
Then, hissing sounded, and Rebekah whimpered slightly. “Jeffery, what—”
He held up a finger to his lips in order to tell her to remain silent. When he was sure the Bewitched were far enough away, he whispered, “I ran into Giselle and Isabella tonight. Two of the clique participants.”
“They’re on opposing teams,” Rebekah noted. “Why were they together?”
Jeffery shrugged. “I think they’re the ones the Bewitched killed, though.”
None of them spoke as they tried to listen to what was going on outside the closet. When Jeffery heard nothing, he opened the door a crack and peered outside.
Bleeding Misery (Threatening Souls Book 2) Page 35
