What are they showing me? It’s like a zipper being pulled or… or…
Hands wrapped around my waist, tearing me away. My fingers scraped at the pillar, desperate to retain my tether to the god. But they grabbed only air. I yelled as the darkness tore from my mind, flaring pain across my temples.
“You shouldn’t touch that thing,” Trey whispered. “You don’t know what it does.”
“Actually, I think I do.” I grinned down at the rats, who had stopped their strange dance and stared up at me expectantly. You guys always have the answers, if only I’d listen. “It’s a lock. And I’m the key.”
Chapter Five
“A key to what?” Trey asked as we slipped out of the auditorium.
I shrugged. “I could start guessing. The destruction of all humankind. A treasure chest of unimaginable riches. An entire mansion filled with gummy bears.”
“What are the chances it’s the latter?” Quinn had his eyebrow raised in his cheeky way, but there was no smile in his voice. He looked completely rattled.
We rounded the corner, our voices echoing in the vast atrium as we took the marble stairs down to the ground floor. “You’re right about one thing, Quinn.” My gaze flicked over to the blinking screens that hung over the staircase, flashing the class lists with their scores. Ayaz’s name was at the top of the list, with Tillie Fairchild underneath him. I could have beaten them both, if this was a normal school and points weren’t awarded just for being rich, and Trey would’ve wiped the floor with Ayaz if he hadn’t given me half his points to save me. “If anyone can figure out what this pillar is about, it’s Ayaz. We need him. We need—”
A dark shadow stepped in front of me, blocking our path. Not one of the god’s shadows – this one was pure flesh and blood and human evil.
Pale hands reached up to flick back a black hood, revealing the cruel, hard face of the Deadmistress.
I spun around, but more robed figures teamed up the stairs, black robes flapping as they moved to surround us, blocking our exits.
I turned back to the first shadow. Ms. West flashed me her cold smile. Her talons tightened around my shoulder. “Well, well, well. Hazel Waite returns.”
Chapter Six
The Deadmistress folded her arms and studied me with those piercing eyes of hers. “That was quite a stunt you pulled, Ms. Waite. I don’t believe the senior Eldritch Club will set foot in this school ever again.”
“Good.” I folded my own arms, hoping they’d disguise my heart thundering inside my chest. “If you’re trying to make me feel guilty, you’ve failed.”
I’m already drowning in guilt for much worse crimes, for the things I’ve done while my fire burned bright that haunt me once the flames died down. This doesn’t even register.
“Oh, no.” A smile played across her lips. “I’m pleased to see you. Your little performance has worked nicely into my own plans. I think you and I might be able to help each other, Miss Murderess.”
Is she serious? Help her with what? I remembered the faculty arranging to kidnap Courtney’s mother. I assumed my ‘little performance’ would stop their ridiculous plan, but maybe it hadn’t? I hadn’t seen Gloria since the fire started. I don’t remember seeing her in any of the cars, but in the chaos of the pillar and my fire I might not have noticed. I probably created the perfect opportunity for the teachers to grab her. The smile playing on Ms. West’s face certainly suggested so.
I might’ve played right into her plans.
So what? I don’t care.
We’d achieved what we intended – for better or worse, the students of Miskatonic Prep knew the truth about their parents, and I’d had my revenge by bringing down a reign of terror on those who’d tried to terrify me. “Oh yeah? Seeming as you’re the one who sent me away to Dunwich and tried to make me believe I was insane, how do you figure that?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “That was Vincent’s grand scheme to neutralize your influence on his sons and the god. I told him it was too risky, that you would be better kept here for close study, but he underestimated you. Men like him often do when confronted by clever women like us.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t pretend we’re rah-rah feminism buddies. Not after the things you’ve done.”
It shouldn’t have been possible, but her eyebrow arched even higher. That thing was like the Arc de Triomphe. “The things I’ve done? That’s high praise from a girl who burned her mother and best friend alive, who just tried to raze a room filled with her classmates because she couldn’t control her anger.” Ms. West took a deep bow. “Hazel Waite, I am not worthy.”
“I know about Arkham General Hospital. I know that you were forced to resign because you experimented on bodies in the morgue. I know Vincent and the hospital board let you off and brought you here even though you’re not a qualified teacher. And I know that it was your experiments and not the god that are responsible for the hell each of these students now endures.”
“Hell? I gave them a great gift.” Something flashed in her eyes. Part anger, part admiration. “I see we both hold each other’s secrets, Ms. Waite. Very well, if you come to my office, I will give you a full account of what your little stunt may have unleashed. Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Delacorte may join you.”
“Not before we see Ayaz.”
“Your friends have barricaded him inside the infirmary. With wounds like that, he’s unlikely to be responsive for hours or days yet. Come if you want your answers. Stay if you want to be torn to pieces when the students return inside. No one rewards a revealer of ugly truths, Ms. Waite.”
Ms. West turned on her heel and flounced into the shadows. Even though I hated myself for it, I scrambled after her, registering Trey and Quinn falling into quick steps behind me.
“Hazy, wait up!” Quinn’s boots beat a fast rhythm on the marble as we turned into the faculty wing.
I exchanged a glance with Trey and Quinn. “One of you should find Loretta and Andre, see if Ayaz is all right.”
“We’re not leaving your side.” Quinn huffed as he came up alongside me. I noticed that he still didn’t touch me, unlike Trey, who slipped his fingers through mine and squeezed. “You’re fast when you’re after a maniacal Dr. Frankenstein.”
“Quinnanigans has a point. Why are we following her?” Trey growled. “She should be running with the Eldritch Club.”
“She’s got nowhere to run,” I said. “She’s just as trapped as the rest of us. And we’re following her because she has Greg and Zehra. And because she’s done something to Ayaz’s memories. Also, there’s a huge-ass obelisk in the auditorium and we need answers.”
We ducked into the darkened corridor, our feet sinking into lush red carpet as we kept our distance from Ms. West. Her swirling black skirts flicked around a corner, past locked offices and pigeonholes for internal mail, past a dusty suit of armor and her secretary’s desk to the twin wooden doors of her office. She shoved them open and beckoned us inside.