A guy at the front door of the Skull & Serpent Society checks me out with narrowed eyes, then waves me through, allowing me in. I don’t wait a second before I slither past, afraid he might double-check and deny me access. Luckily, he’s too busy talking to three girls with blond wigs and Barbie costumes who were waiting behind me.
I go inside and gaze around at all the decorations, letting the booming music guide my way. It’s bustling with people, chitchat filling every damn area of the building. Even the staircases are taken, with only a narrow path available to get upstairs. Someone is in every corner, whether they’re smoking pot, drinking heavy booze, or hooking up.
And I don’t mean just kissing … I mean full-on body gripping, panty-ripping, tit-squeezing, dick-grinding action. Against the concrete support beams, on the expensive leather seat sprawled around the hallway, in the closet behind the staircase, and even on the fucking floor.
My eyes instinctively slide up to the cameras hanging all around the premises. Someone must be watching all of this action going down with their hands down their pants.
I hope they don’t spot me.
I swallow and push ahead, keeping my eyes focused on the target, no matter how hot it gets.
I’ve been to Halloween parties before, but never ones this explicitly horny.
In front of me is a big party room that’s jam-packed with people, the scent of sweat, smoke, and sex filling my nostrils. That must be where the main part of the party is taking place.
I wonder if Nathan’s there.
“Drink?”
I almost jolt up and down from the sudden voice in my ear.
Someone’s right behind me with three cups. “Damn, they’ve got servers here?”
The guy laughs. “No, I’m a pledge. We help out with parties.”
I grab one of his cups, wondering what’s inside. “Ah, so this is part of the hazing?”
He nods. “The nicer side.”
What does that even mean? “Nicer?”
“Yeah, the bad shit comes later.”
“What kind of bad shit?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Oh, they make you drink some laced stuff. There’s some nude runs, beer throwing, lots of chugging, a pissing contest, some more drinking. Anyway, that’s what I’ve heard. I’ve yet to go through it. This is my second day.”
I’ve seen the beer-throwing thing. Not something I’d want someone to do to me. But I doubt that’s the worst they can do.
“Well, good luck with that. Thanks for the drink,” I reply, and I walk off.
“You’re welcome! If you need more, you know where to find me,” the guy yells after me.
But I pour his drink into the first potted plant I can find. No way am I touching any of these because next thing I know, I’ll be stumbling through the streets, blacked out from it being laced.
No thanks.
I head into the main room, overwhelmed by how many people are here. People dance and bump into each other, grinding away to the music. Booze is flung around and lands on someone’s dress, but no one seems to care. They all cheer, and some guy even starts licking it off her skin.
I turn the other way and head into the room on the left. A kitchen that’s barely recognizable as the entire counter is covered with bottles of liquor. Two girls are making out on the sink, and I don’t want to barge in on their fun, even though the place is filled with people.
I head back into the main room and look around, trying to focus.
That’s when I spot that face I saw in my sister’s diary.
Nathan.
He’s going upstairs.
My eyes home in on him wearing that clear red hoodie that stands out among all the other people here, and I immediately go for the pursuit.
But there’s a whole bunch of people in my way. I struggle to cram between the bumping bodies. The sweaty and hot place makes it hard to breathe as I push my way through the crowd.
By the time I get to the stairs, he’s long disappeared. But he can’t have gone outside, which means he must be in one of the rooms, and I’m going to find him.
I rush up the stairs, barely avoiding some beer spills on the steps. I step aside and pass by a couple making out on the banister. I go into the first room I find, but it’s just some trashed student chamber filled with dancing people.
The next one is a random student’s room, and someone crashed on the bed, vomit dripping down onto the carpet. Gross.
I head farther down the hallway and open the next door, but there’s literally two boys on the bed having sex. Jeremy and Calvin. And I just busted in on them going ham on each other. Fuck.
“Sorry!” I say, blocking my eyes with my hand. “Wrong room.”
“No worries, babe,” Jeremy calls, laughing. “Just close the door, will you? Thanks.”
“Of course,” I reply, embarrassed.
I quickly run off to the last few doors in the hallway, but when I push the door handle, it’s jammed. Locked. Fuck.
“Sorry, taken!”
Must be a bathroom.
I don’t want to lose the opportunity to find Nathan, and there’s a bunch of rooms up here that I haven’t checked yet, so I move on. And the next door I open is the first one that isn’t filled with people dancing or fucking around.
The room is huge, much larger than the other ones I’ve seen, and there’s a lot of expensive-looking furniture. The closet is open, and I can spot the Armani from here. Jesus. Kayla and Crystal weren’t lying when they said the Society guys were rich as fuck.
However, what surprises me more is the number of skulls in the room. Paintings, penholders, wallpaper, carpet—literally everything is decorated with skeletons. Like a literal reminder of death.
I walk farther into the dark room, ignoring the chill in my heart, and look around. I gently call out, “Hello? Anyone here?”
But there’s no response.
There’s another door in the back and a light is on. A private bathroom maybe?
I walk toward it, wondering if Nathan might be showering or taking a piss in there. I don’t fucking care if his ass is hanging out or he’s butt naked, I’m going to confront him about that fucking note, and I’m going to find out if he bullied my sister to death.
I grip the door and open it up.
There’s no one inside.
What the fuck?
Suddenly, the door behind me closes.
The lock is turned.
In shock, I spin on my heels.
But the person standing in the door opening doesn’t look anything like Nathan.
In fact, he isn’t even wearing that red hoodie.
It’s someone in a long black hoodie and a green Purge LED mask that turns the eyes into crosses with a terrifying smile that’s sewed up.
In the dark, it’s almost as if the face comes alive.
“Hello, Penelope.”
Oh God.
That voice. I’d recognize it in a second.
Felix Rivera.
I knew there was a chance I’d bump into him during my search, but this is too much of a coincidence.
“How did you know I was here?” I say through gritted teeth.
He laughs, tilting his head, which makes the mask look super creepy. “I saw you looking into the cameras.”
Shit. I’d forgotten about them.
Of course, he’d be looking through the footage.
“So you creep on your own guests?” I ask.
He steps forward, so I take one back. “I take every precaution …”
Against unwanted guests? What a joke.
“Your buddy Alistair hung those invitations all around school. Not my fault I checked it out.”
“You don’t think that was intentional?”
He laughs again, and it’s a visceral laugh that I can only describe as mania.
Just as chilling as the mask he’s wearing on that stoic face of his.
“Oh, Penelope … you have so much to learn.” He puts his hand over his face, his fingers squeezing the mask, like he’s holding himself back from tearing into me. “But I will fucking teach you.”
A shiver runs up and down my spine.
He walks even closer, and I shudder in place, wondering if I should pull the knife on him. But if I do, things will go south very quickly. I have to time it right.
My eyes flick to the door. There’s a keyhole. He must have the key in his pocket somewhere, and there’s no way I’m going to unlock it without it.
“What are you doing here, Penelope?” he asks.
I suck in a breath. “Why do you care?”
“Because this is my room.”
His room? Whoa. That only makes this skeleton room a whole lot scarier.
“And you’re trespassing,” he adds.
“I’m looking for someone,” I say.
“Who and why?”
“Some guy called Nathan. And none of your business.”
“Lesson number one …”
His voice is dark. Heavy. Too heavy.
And I don’t like the tone.
“Everything that happens in this house is my business.”
Fine. I’ll play along.
“Someone in your fucked-up Society bullied my sister,” I spit. “And I’m going to find out who. Because they’re responsible for her death.”
His body tenses. “You accusing people of murder?”
I tilt my head, defiantly standing my ground. “Maybe I am.”
He walks closer. Too close to my liking.
I clutch my bag tightly, but freeze when he gets up close and in my face until I can see his eyes behind that mask. His cologne penetrates my nostrils, reminding me of that time I was on my knees with him deep in my throat.
The mere memory sparks another flicker of pleasure, which I quickly tuck away, never to be spoken of out loud.
But in his eyes is that same glimmer, the same kind of wicked need I saw before.
And it makes my whole body erupt into goose bumps.
His hand suddenly anchors around my throat in a heartbeat.
I gasp, but the air refuses to escape.
Panic floods my veins, and he leans in to whisper into my ear, “Do you think I killed her?”
I don’t know how to answer. I don’t know the truth.
But I want to know. Desperately.
His grip slowly tightens around my neck. “Say it.”
“Yes,” I say.
He lets out a small snort. “I like it when you squeak.”
His hand slowly moves toward my chin, and he grips it so tightly I can’t escape. I’ve never feared for my life, but I do now.
What if he’s the one who chased my sister off the cliff?
What if Nathan was just a ruse, a mailboy sent by Felix?
“Good girls don’t get what they want,” he groans, pushing down on my chin until my lips part. “Bad girls get what they deserve.”
He sticks two fingers into my mouth, slowly sliding them across my tongue. I’m overtaken by confusion and the sudden surge of lust coursing through my body that I don’t know how to even respond, let alone act.
With his fingers alone, he manages to subdue me. “Perfect,” he groans. “Just needs a little training …” He goes in so deep that I gag. “But you want to be a good little slut for me, don’t you?”
Fuck. I can’t let him do this again.
In a moment of clarity, I bite down.
He pulls out his fingers, grating against my teeth.
His blood drips down onto my tongue, and I spit it out.
“Such a fucking spitter … it’s about time someone taught you how to swallow,” he growls.
“Fuck you,” I say. And I rip open my bag and take out my knife, stepping away so he can’t touch me. “Don’t you fucking try.”
He snorts. “You think I’m scared of a little cut?”
The fear coiling its way through my body turns me into a vicious girl. “I’ll fucking slice off your balls.”
“I’d love to see you try.”
Suddenly, he lunges at me, and I jump aside, rushing to the window. I pick up a wooden chair and chuck it at the window, but it does nothing. Fuck.
“You think you can escape me?” Felix taunts. “Oh no, the fun is only just getting started.”
“I’m not playing games with you,” I say, and I run to a different window in the bathroom, where I stick my knife into the lock and crack it open by force.
The mechanism budges, and I slide it up, then jump out right as his hand wraps around my cape, hanging me.
Choking, I cough and heave, frantically tugging at the wire around my neck. Finally, it comes loose, and I fall down onto the emergency escape stairs. Above me, Felix clutches my cape tightly, roaring out loud.
“You’re not getting away, Pen. Not this time.”
I run down the shoddy metal staircase as fast as possible while Felix’s head disappears from the window.
But I know it won’t be the last time I see him.
Adrenaline races through my body as I rush down the last few steps and jump off into the garden beyond the house. But the back door slams open loudly. And it isn’t only Felix casting a shadow in the bright lights behind him. Two others, one dressed in an all-black robe kept together by a rope with an eerie skull mask on, and another one wearing a black suit with a red tie and an Anubis wolf half-mask, the filthy grin underneath definitely belonging to Dylan.
It’s them.
“You’d better run fast,” Felix growls.
I don’t hesitate before I run like hell.
