“Dylan!”
Without thinking, I run to The Edge, ignoring Dylan’s warning, ignoring everything I know would keep me safe.
He’s barely holding on with a single hand clutching a bunch of roots from a nearby tree. I throw myself to the ground and slide to him, reaching out my hand.
“Take my hand!”
But Dylan can barely reach for me with the arm that’s still bleeding profusely from the wound his own father created. And the man is hanging onto his ankle, pulling him down farther.
The rocks slip, and more dust and dirt fly down into the gaping abyss below.
“Don’t let go!” I yell.
“You take me with you, you hear me?” his father growls. “If you let me fall …” He pulls up the gun and points it right at Dylan. “I’ll take him with me.”
I gulp.
Fuck. What do I do? I’m not nearly strong enough to pull up both.
Dylan shakes his feet around. “Let go of me!”
Suddenly, Dean Caruso points the gun at me. “Stop moving, or I’ll put a bullet in your fucking friend instead.”
Has he lost his mind? Or was he always this insane?
“Felix!” I call over my shoulder, but he’s already much closer than I anticipated, and he kneels in front of us, grasping Dylan’s wrist too. Penelope runs up to us too, shaking with terror as she peers over the edge.
“He’s alive,” she says in shock.
“Not for long if you don’t pull us both up,” his father rasps.
“Fucking die, you son of a bitch!” Dylan shakes his feet some more.
“What?” Penelope gasps, and she leans in to look over The Edge to witness Dylan’s father holding on like a fucking parasite.
“I’ll kill all of you if you don’t pull me up,” his father says, pointing the gun at Penelope this time.
She freezes in place at the sight of the barrel pointed at her head.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Felix growls at him, keeping a tight hold on Dylan. “If so much as a single drop of blood rolls down her skin, I will rip every one of your fucking limbs off your body.”
The dean’s eyes widen and narrow in a split second. “I’ll fucking kill her in front of you before you even have a chance.”
Dylan’s fingers slowly unravel from the piece of rock he’s holding on to. But it’s the look in his eyes that scares me the most. The only time I’ve ever seen it is the day Eve died.
Remorse and defeat.
Like he’s about to give up.
Surrender his life … to save hers.
“No, don’t you dare,” I tell him. “Dylan, don’t you dare let go, you hear me?”
“I can’t let him win,” he says.
“Dylan,” Penelope mutters, crying her eyes out. “Please, don’t do this.”
“All of this is because of me and my father,” he says. “All of this misery … it could end so easily.”
“Dylan!” she yells, making a fist. “I won’t fucking forgive you.”
His pupils dilate, and his jaw tenses in response.
All of us are looking up at Penelope.
“You die now, and I will never, ever forgive you.”
“Pen—”
“No! You wanted to be forgiven?” She swallows in the face of a loaded gun. “Then fucking earn it.”
Dylan swallows, and his resolve suddenly strengthens as he clutches the caving rocks tighter, fighting for the right to stay alive.
In a split second, he flicks open the zipper that holds his pocket together and out slithers Nessie.
Felix frowns. “Nessie?”
She crawls down Dylan’s leg all the way to his father, who begins to panic.
“No, no, stay away,” he says with a jittery voice. “Get away from me!”
He tries to shoot but misses.
Nessie wriggles her way across his hand and down his arm, her tail still curled firmly around Dylan’s leg as if she’s adamant to hold on.
“Get off!” the dean shrieks, wriggling to get her to fall, but the more he moves, the more he loses his grip on Dylan’s ankle.
And all of us watch in awe as Nessie opens her jaws and bites him right in the face.
“Arghh!” he yells, slamming himself in the face with his gun, which tumbles down into the void.
But Nessie swiftly strikes again, this time in his eye.
“AHHH!” he screams, and in his panic, his hand loses its grip. “No, no, no!”
Too late.
The last thing we hear are his deathly screams as he plunges toward his end.
And all we can do is stare.
Penelope
What are they all waiting for? There’s no time to lose.
I bend my knees and extend a hand to Dylan too. “Grab my hand!”
Felix and Ali are spurred back into action, tugging at his wrist while Dylan finally reaches for my hand with his bloody arm. Together, we pull him up from the land of the dead and back onto the actual ground. I breathe a sigh of relief as he lands on top of me, groaning in pain.
“Motherfucker …” Felix grumbles. “Don’t you ever pull that shit again.”
Dylan laughs but then grunts in pain again, and he rolls off me and onto the grass to catch his breath. “God, I could really use a cig right now.”
Ali rolls over and hands him one from his pocket.
“Wow, that was quick,” Dylan says.
“I keep this one for a rainy day,” he muses.
Dylan snorts as he stuffs it into his mouth. “Oddly appropriate.” He lights it, despite the rain almost dousing the flame, but he doesn’t care as he takes a long drag and blows out the smoke.
“Here,” he says, and he hands it to Ali, who also takes a drag.
“Thanks,” Ali says after taking another whiff, and he pushes it through to Felix. “Take it.”
Felix doesn’t protest and takes a drag too. “Fuck. What a night.”
“What about you, Pen?” Ali asks. “Wanna try too?”
But all I can do is look at them smoking out here in the wet grass, soaked and covered in the blood and guts of their enemies, completely unaware of the magnitude of their actions.
A weird laugh escapes my mouth from the absurdity of it all, which slowly turns into a cry that won’t end. All the emotions are pouring out of me like a faucet left open. As though everything that’s been cooped up in my heart has finally found a way to bleed out and fade.
My sister is finally avenged.
“Are you crying?” Ali asks.
Dylan crawls closer, despite the pain, and says, “No, no, don’t cry.”
“Aw shit,” Felix growls, pushing the bud into the grass.
“You almost died,” I say.
“I’m alive,” Dylan says, and he rolls over sideways to rub the tears off my cheeks with his thumb. “Thanks to you.”
“Hey now, we deserve a little credit too,” Ali protests.
“I’m alive thanks to all of you guys, of course,” Dylan says with a smile.
Felix gives him a soft slap on his good shoulder. “You really thought about giving up there. Fuck you.”
“Knowing you, you would’ve chased me down into hell itself,” Dylan jokes.
“You bet your ass I would,” Felix responds.
“Well, lucky we don’t have to,” Ali says, reaching for the snake curled around Dylan’s leg. “Thanks to sweet little Nessie here.”
He grabs and pets her while Dylan slowly sits in the grass.
Rain pitter-patters down onto us, and Dylan raises his face toward the sky. Despite the cold, despite the wounds on his shoulder and waist, despite just losing his father, there’s still a smile on his face.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
“Even if he was a bastard, he was still your father,” I say.
He swallows and closes his eyes as the rain falls down on him. “I thought I’d be angry. Scared. Bitter.” There’s a pause. “But all I feel is peace.”
Felix and Alistair look at him, and Ali reaches for his hand. “You had to make a tough choice.”
“I don’t regret it,” Dylan says. “Not even one second.” He turns his head and looks at me. “Because he hurt you and Eve. I’ll never be able to forgive him for that.” He licks a droplet of water off his top lip. “And instead of rotting in jail … he can rot in hell.”
Suddenly, a bunch of cars pull up and out step a bunch of my father’s men, carrying guns like they’re about to go to war. But we’re just sitting here in the grass trying to catch our breath, and the contrast is huge.
“Where is he?” my father asks as he gets out of the car.
Dylan makes a face and points at The Edge. “He went flying like a meatball. I think you’ll find his guts splattered on the ground down below. A fun twist on spaghetti.”
My father’s face contorts, and he frowns, confused. “What?”
“He jumped,” Felix says.
“Jumped?” My father’s face darkens. “I highly doubt that. Did you kill him?”
“No,” I interject. “He threatened to kill us.”
“So you threw him overboard.”
“He dragged me with him,” Dylan says, petting the snake. “And Nessie took care of him.”
“Nessie …” my father repeats like it’s all one horrible joke, but it isn’t. “The snake?”
Dylan sports a smirk. “Nessie’s the real hero here.”
My father snorts and shakes his head. “I can’t believe this …”
“It’s the truth, though,” I say, but I’m not sure he’s gonna believe it.
“We took care of the threat. No one asked you to come to Pen’s rescue,” Felix says.
My father clutches his gun tighter. “Watch your mouth, or I’ll put a bullet through those shiny teeth of yours.”
“Felix, Dad,” I interject as I get up from the ground. I block his view with my body. “Enough blood has been spilled tonight.”
My father just stares at me like he’s wondering whether or not to go behind my back and kill these boys too for good measure, but I won’t let him.
They might deserve it, but I can’t live knowing they won’t.
I simply couldn’t exist.
I take a breath and glance at the boys over my shoulder. These boys who protected me with their lives, who wanted to take a bullet for me, who killed the sole person responsible for my sister’s misery, despite the fact that it would cost them everything.
All because they cared so much about my sister they wanted to find out who hurt her just as much as I wanted to know.
I once thought they were bullies. Bad guys. Villains.
But they really are heroes.
Anti-heroes.
And they deserve far more than the hardship they received.
“You realize that Caruso’s death is not going to come without cost,” my father says. “There’s going to—”
“Be a huge shake-up,” I muse. “I know.”
He gives me a judgmental look for saying that word out loud. “You know we don’t—”
“Call ourselves that,” I fill in. “Know that too.”
Now he’s sighing. Out loud.
“But we know the truth now,” I say. “Which is exactly what I told you I would do when I came here.” A gentle smile forms on my lips. “Aren’t you proud of me, Dad?”
His face softens, and he lowers his gun, then opens his arms. “Come here.”
I run into his hug, melting away against the safety of his warmth and love.
Something I’ll never take for granted, ever again.
“You got revenge for your sister. You took care of the person responsible.”
“And she even set the school on fire,” Dylan adds with a grin, like he’s proud of me or something, and it makes me chuckle.
My father focuses his gaze on me and says, “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I say, and I hug him tight.
“Let’s go home,” he says, and he tries to tug me along.
“Not yet,” I say. “We need to make sure they’re taken care of first.” I look at the boys, who are all bloodied up from the big fight in the Skull & Serpent Society building, and especially Dylan.
“Right.” My father snaps his fingers, and some of his men step forward with a first-aid kit. They immediately go to work on their wounds, fixing up Dylan first since he’s the most injured.
“Don’t touch me,” Felix barks, and he snatches the tape and gauze right out of one guy’s hands. However, he’s having trouble applying it to his cut. Smiling, I walk toward him and go to my knees to help him out.
I grab the gauze from his hands and he watches me with a leery eye while I put it around his wound. But he doesn’t try to stop me.
I know the kind of pain he’s been through would make anyone apprehensive of touch. So to be able to do this for him—that he lets me help him—is a big compliment.
His lips part. “You don’t have to—”
“Shut up.”
He tilts his head at me and gives me that same daring look I’ve grown so used to that it brings flutters to my stomach. “After all you’ve seen me do … you still think it’s wise to provoke me?”
“Yes,” I reply, applying the bandage. “Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be the girl you’d give your life for.”
His hollowed eyes flash with an obsession so strong it forces me to pause and gaze into the depth of his soul, a chasm I could dive in without ever finding the bottom.
His hand rises to caress my cheek. “I would’ve taken that bullet for you.”
My lips quiver as his thumb brushes them. “I’m glad you didn’t have to.”
A small but still visible smile forms on his face.
Someone clears their throat. “Are you done? You’re grossing me out.”
We all look in the same direction. Lana just jumped off her own motorcycle, her helmet still in her hands. I didn’t even hear her arrive, that’s how preoccupied I was.
“So what happened?” she asks.
“Dean’s dead,” Ali says. “He … jumped.”
“Jumped?” She narrows her eyes. “Now why do I find that hard to believe?”
Dylan averts his eyes. It’s obviously too hard for him to talk about.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “The point is, he’s the reason my sister died and why the Alpha Psi house was burned down.”
“Wow,” she says, making a face. “And then he attacked the Skull & Serpent Society?”
I nod. “Him and … well, my father’s men.” I point at them and my dad, and they all wave at her like it’s normal.
“Hi,” she says, with a casual smile, and she looks at one guy who can’t even stand on one of his legs. “I’m that girl who shot your foot.”
I guess that’s one way to break the tension after a fight like that.
“Let’s not start another war,” I say.
“The threat has been dealt with,” my father says. “My men are only here to protect me and you.”
He eyes me down and then throws a stern look at Lana as though he wants to tell her not to try anything or else, and it makes me snort.
“I don’t want to rain on your little death parade here,” Lana says, flicking her long black hair back, the ends of the red ribbon dangling down.
“I’m surprised you got off without a single scratch,” Felix says.
“I know how to shoot,” she says, raising a brow. “Unlike you.”
“Ooooh.” Dylan makes a cringy face. “Harsh.”
Alistair slaps his hand in front of his mouth. “Don’t. Unless you want to be Felix’s next victim.”
Felix gets up, fists balled. “Give me one good reason not to chuck you down that fucking ravine so you can join the dean.”
She smirks and approaches him. “Because I’m your sister?” She pats him on the shoulder. “Proud of you, bro.”
Felix’s fists relax again and he rolls his eyes at her.
“You know, I’d love to chat about a dead dean and all, but I’ve got worse news for you all,” she says, folding her arms. “Dad’s on campus.”
“Dad?” I ask. “You mean yours?”
She nods and Felix’s face turns sour. “Fuck.”
I help Dylan up from the ground and support him together with Ali while we walk.
“Exactly,” she says. “So let’s go back before he puts a bullet in our heads himself.”
“Don’t you need to go to the hospital first?” I ask Dylan.
He coughs. “Nah, I’ll be fine. I can handle a little bit of pain. Besides, the school’s got an excellent in-house clinic.”
“I doubt they’ve dealt with stab wounds and gunshots,” I reply.
A smirk forms on his face. “Wanna bet?”
But as I help him walk away from the cliff, Lana says, “Hey, Pen.”
I pause and turn my head. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for protecting my brother back there at the Skull & Serpent Society.” She adds a smile. “You’re not half as bad for him as I thought you were.”
“Is that a compliment?” I muse.
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Thanks,” I reply and when she smiles I do too.
“Are you two bonding over murder?” Dylan muses. “Aww, cute.”
She rolls her eyes. “Shut it before I put a bullet in you too.”
