“You don’t think …” he starts as I scrub my hands down my face.
“I don’t want to think he’s a killer any more than I do you,” I sigh, dropping my hands to my sides. Spencer reaches into his pocket and digs around for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, drawing first one out and then the other. He pauses again, frowns, and then flips the lighter over, so we can see what’s on the other side.
What he shows me … gives me serious fucking chills.
There are spatters of red wax all over the damn thing.
“Let me guess,” I start, before Spencer can say anything else. “This is Micah’s lighter, too?”
Spencer might not be one of the killers … but Micah could be.
“It's just a lighter,” Micah starts, blinking big green eyes at me as I drop the offending item into his palm. He studies it for a moment, and then his face pales. Likely, he’s doing the same thing I am, and recalling the red candles and the headless bird, the spatters of red wax left on the coffee table in the girls’ dorm. “Ah, covered in red wax. But I can explain that.”
“Dude, you sound guilty as fuck,” Tobias murmurs, giving his brother a sidelong glance. “Even I don't know why you have a lighter covered in red wax in your hoodie pocket.”
“I brought it to smoke weed with Spencer,” Micah argues, lifting an arm and gesturing at his friend. He reaches up to ruffle his red-orange hair as Church and Ranger watch him, standing to the right of the door.
Somehow, I feel like I'm surrounded by sharks in this room.
Just … are they going to eat me or eat the fuckers who are trying to kill me?
“Listen up, Jaws,” I start, only vaguely realizing that perhaps my Jaws movie reference only makes sense to me. “You better explain yourself and quick. All of you.” My eyes flick over to Church as he exhales and closes his own eyes for a moment. I still have yet to see hide nor hair of Mr. Dave.
“I …” Micah starts, and then clenches his teeth like he knows he’s been caught doing something he's not supposed to. He runs his tongue across his lower lip and glances over at his twin. “I wanted to do something nice for Charlotte. I brought some candles. Just figured we might have a romantic sort of moment together.”
“You did what?” Tobias asks, his voice low and cold. I sense the tension between them pull taut, and my mind drifts to Amber, this mysterious girl I still know nothing about.
“Yeah, well, I …” Micah trails off and turns away, moving across the room and sliding his shoji screen door open, so we can all see the koi pond on the other side. He's shaking, like he knows he's been caught and sees no way out of it. “Even though I like sharing girls with you, sometimes I want to be my own person for five fucking seconds.”
My mouth drops open, and I realize there’s a whole other layer of drama here to sort through that I haven't even touched.
There are the murderers …
And then there are the guys.
It's a whole other shit show I'll have to eventually go through, but now isn't the time.
“Interpersonal drama aside,” I begin, touching Tobias’ arm, so that he doesn't think I'm trying to downplay his feelings at all. I get it: once upon a time, Micah cheated with his girlfriend, and here he is trying to get private moments with me without telling his brother. Not cool. “Why red candles? And how did you get wax all over the lighter?”
Micah glances over his shoulder, and I can’t help but notice how full and pouty his lips are as he frowns, or how much I like the pointed, angular lines of his face. He looks sheepish, but not like he’s been caught in the midst of a murder plot. No, he’s just a boy who screwed up a little.
“You know the Adamson campus used to be home to a church and an abbey, right? There are candles and crosses and all sorts of random shit in the storage rooms. I swiped some the other day when Eddie was smoking a cigarette. Red just seemed sort of romantic to me.” He shrugs one shoulder and leans his back against the doorjamb. “And you try lighting dozens of candles in an enclosed space without knocking any over.” He narrows his eyes briefly, and then flips Mark off when he sees him hitting on a server girl across the way. The football player dickhead actually flips him off right back, and the boys bristle. “That turd sandwich needs an extra helping of ass kicking on the side, don't you think Tobias?”
His twin doesn't answer, pursing his lips and crossing his arms over his chest. For several minutes, the room is quiet. I'm stuck standing near the door with Spencer on my right, Tobias on my left; Ranger is right in front of me, and I can hardly look at Church.
“Where exactly did you set up all the candles?” I ask, and Tobias grimaces like I’ve slapped him. Micah gestures loosely in the direction of the staff cabins and shakes his head, like he’s happy to explain later but not right now.
“I’ve lit them three times, but I hadn’t figured out the best way to ask you over there.”
“You mean ask her over there without me knowing about it?” Tobias quips, and I bite back a grimace of my own.
Ranger, bless his heart, seems to realize that we’re in desperate need of a subject change.
“How did it go with the headmaster?” he asks, breaking the tension briefly as he lifts sapphire eyes to mine. There's something almost desperate in his gaze that makes me squirm, but I just don't feel like I'm in the right mindset to figure it out.
There was a dead kid in those woods.
I was almost a dead kid in those woods.
Church Montague, my pretend fiancé, stabbed our teacher.
“There was no body, no blood, no sign of anything. Pretty sure my dad either thinks I'm crazy or that I'm making it up.” I rub my hands over my face, and then pause when I see him striding across the yard with the owner of the hot springs lodge by his side. He pauses briefly near the lobby entrance to glare at me, and then continues on inside.
So at least he knows I deliberately disobeyed him at this point.
Guess I have to wait to find out what he plans on doing about it.
“Did you try calling the police?” I ask, glancing back at Ranger.
“I did. Your dad already called them, and they said they've got a patrol on the way. But I think you're right, I don't think they believe us.” Ranger tucks his phone back in his sweatpants.
“We have, what, four nights left here?” I ask, trying and failing to run my fingers through my hair. It's too matted and curly to do much with at this point. Spencer helps me untangle myself from my own hair and gives my hand a squeeze. “I can't even imagine.”
“Five. Not that it matters,” Church supplies, and the smooth, easy sound of his voice gives me the chills. “These people, whoever they are, very clearly have an agenda they're willing to carry out, regardless of locale.”
“Where is Mr. Dave, Church?” I ask, and he frowns at me, shaking his head slightly.
“I don't know. I removed the knife and left him there to go after you. You were being chased, Charlotte.” Church pushes off the wall and moves over to me. Despite an initial spark of fear, I hold my ground and look up at him. He gets close, close enough that I can smell that signature lilac and rosemary scent of his, the scent we share because we use the same damn shampoo. Even when I left Adamson to head back to Santa Cruz, I took a bunch with me, just so I could keep smelling it.