After all the shit that had happened in the last four days, going to class felt like the biggest waste of time, which was why when Becca and the guys banged on my bedroom door at Briar Hall exactly thirty minutes ago to wake my and Rook’s asses up, I’d almost bitten off all their heads.
“Are you sure there’s been nothing from Diesel? Nothing at all?” I asked Corvus for the third time since I’d peeled my eyes open.
Fuck, you’d think after all the sleep he and I had yesterday I’d be raring to go, but somehow, just after two in the morning, I’d sunk into a deep and dreamless sleep next to Rook as he finished sweating out the toxic substance still lingering in his bloodstream.
We hurried down the stairs to the front atrium with only minutes to spare until the bell, Becca breaking off from the rest of us with a blown kiss to rush off to her homeroom class.
“Nothing,” Corvus confirmed. “The Aces are underground, Sparrow. They won’t be poking their heads out anytime soon, not after losing that many men. They’re dead, and if they know what’s good for them, they’ll stay that way.”
I frowned. They weren’t all dead.
Diesel had sent pictures of the deceased to Corvus late last night for Becca to flick through. He wanted to be certain her man was dead. But he wasn’t among their corpses. All the morbid slideshow had accomplished was to make Becca barf up the meager dinner she’d managed to choke down an hour earlier.
I rolled my shoulders back, trying to let the lingering feeling that we should be doing something roll off my back, but it wouldn’t leave. Something wasn’t right. I could fucking feel it.
“Excuse me,” called a man’s voice from the front office, and as one, the four of us turned to find the principal sticking his long neck from the door, indicating toward me. His balding flaxen hair clung to the sides of his head like a bird’s nest befitting of his long thin nose. “Miss Mason, may I have a word please.”
I sighed heavily, turning to retrace my steps to the office as the bell sounded through the halls. At least with my new status as a Saint I wouldn’t be marked tardy.
Unsurprising to me, but very surprising to the principal, the guys followed behind me, flanking me on either side.
“Problem?” Corvus asked before I could speak for myself.
The principal blinked, pushing the door the rest of the way open to stand in its mouth uncomfortably. “Uh, well, I believe it’s a conversation better had in private.”
I didn’t budge.
“Whatever it is, you can say it in front of all of us,” Grey said.
I nodded my agreement, just wanting whatever this was over with so I could nap behind my textbook in homeroom.
The principal’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he patted the front of his pressed slacks. “All right then, if you’re sure.” He cleared his throat, jerky eyes meeting mine. “It seems your aunt has unauthorized all future tuition payments.”
He left the sentence open, hanging with something like a question, waiting for me to fill in the blanks he didn’t have answers for, like who would be taking up those payments going forward for the next term.
I couldn’t say I was surprised. I figured after the other night, the bitch and I were finally through with each other, which was good because I didn’t con or steal from my family. And the things I intended to do to that woman would go a step above either of those.
“I fail to see the problem,” Rook said, slinking between me and Grey to put himself nearer to the principal, his dark gaze fixed to the small man’s face. “Perhaps you can enlighten me?”
The principal recoiled from Rook’s nearness, glancing between Rook and me like I might do something to help. To stop any attack. I wouldn’t.
“Oh, well, you see…”
“Yes?” Rook prodded, his body tightening, coiling like a snake.
The principal fell back a step. “I just wanted to congratulate Miss Mason,” he blurted. “I wanted to, um, personally let her know, uh, that she’s qualified for our scholarship program… and that her final semester of the year will be fully covered, including boarding fees.”
The principal let out a small gasp as Rook slapped a hand down on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Well, isn’t that nice,” Rook said, giving the man a little shake as he turned to face the rest of us. “Isn’t that nice?”
“Very,” I agreed. “Thank you. I’m glad I qualified.”
In all reality, if I’d applied, I probably would’ve qualified for the program. If such a program existed. Though I supposed it did now.
“Yes, yes,” the principal said, dropping his shoulder to get away from Rook and back into the office. “Just wanted to let you know. You’ll get an official letter emailed to your academy address later this week.”
He couldn’t get away fast enough and as the office door closed, the four of us burst out laughing, rushing away from the office and down the hall to homeroom.
“Fuck,” I said, shaking my head. “You guys didn’t have to do that. I could’ve just paid for it.”
How expensive could it possibly be? I had about five grand sitting in my secret cubby upstairs in my room.
Grey raised a brow at me. “You have thirty-five grand?”
“What?”
“The price of privilege,” Corvus said with a twist to his lips and then, “Don’t worry, Sparrow, we didn’t pay either. Diesel’s contribution to the school wasn’t a monetary one. He offered not to expose their century of corruption, racial and sexual preferences—”
“Don’t forget that one priest they had before the church shut down,” Grey added.
Corvus nodded. “Yeah, and that. Anyway, we had acceptance letters the next day and the school’s motto was changed by the end of the following week. There are things in this world worth a lot more than money, Sparrow. Never forget it.”
“Shit.”
“Shit, indeed.”
I had to admit, it felt oddly liberating to be free of my aunt’s promises. To break away from the future I should’ve wanted for the one I actually did want. The one where I belonged.
Homeroom went by in a half-dozed blur, and math was more of the same. I couldn’t bring myself to focus on any of the problems we were solving in class, but it didn’t matter. Thanks to past Ava Jade, I was still pretty far ahead of the class. That was going to change fast though if I couldn’t get my ass in gear and focus.
My mind kept wandering though.
And not just to the Aces.
To the faceless enemy targeting not just me, but me and my guys now.
I had a feeling he was the one to blame for outing Rook’s thing with the vice principal.
He’d admitted to watching us through the academy’s security system the day I’d burned all the hair from Brianna Moore’s pretty little head.
He had to be CrowKiller321. The fucker who’d exposed Corvus’ identity as The Bone Man. Grey hadn’t managed to reverse trace his IP. No surprise there. This guy, whoever he was, was fucking good.
And I knew he was far from finished.
Who would he target next?
What was he hoping to accomplish, playing these twisted games with us?
The itch to do something was so strong I found myself leaving AP Math with a whispered excuse of using the bathroom to Grey, needing to move. To think.
Halfway there, I pulled my phone out, bringing up the email from the stalker that day in the academy kitchens. My thumb hovered over the reply button, pulse picking up speed as my vision began to tint crimson.
I clenched my teeth, stopping near a long window in the hall of the upper floor, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
It was me he wanted.
What if I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse? Would he leave the others alone?
I didn’t know every skeleton in their closets, but I knew there were plenty to be dug up if you knew where to look. How deeply could he bury them if I didn’t do something to stop him?
There was apparently nothing to be done about the Aces until they resurfaced, but this…this I might be able to put a stop to. I just needed a few minutes with this fucker and a freshly sharpened blade.
Swallowing, I clicked reply.
From: Ava Jade Mason
Subject: RE: Miss me?
Why don’t you come out of the shadows and play? Or are you too much of a coward? It’s me you want. Come and get me, motherfucker.
I hit send before I could change my mind, reassured by the heaviness of the four sharpened pieces of steel strapped to my limbs. By the fact that I knew any of the guys would have sent the same message if our roles were reversed. They couldn’t be angry with me for this. Especially not if it got me the result I wanted.
This fucker’s head on a spike proudly displayed at the entrance to the Crow’s Nest as a warning to any others who might try to raise a weapon against my guys.
Feeling much better, I pushed into the bathroom, going to splash some water over my fury flushed neck and cheeks.
I pocketed my phone, on edge as the sound of shuffling feet beneath a stall alerted me to someone else in the bathroom.
The room fell silent.
My brows drew. “Hello?”
I bent to peer beneath the stalls, finding the small floor spaces all empty. But I’d definitely heard someone.
The fury came rushing back at the realization that the stalker would still want to keep tabs on us here even though Grey now had complete control over every form of surveillance on the property and was certain there was no outside access anymore. What if he were here? Watching in the flesh.
My upper lip curled back as I reached for a blade and kicked the first stall door open.
A girlish squeal from the stall next door made me hesitate, but only for a second before I kicked that one open, too.
The girl cowered in a ball, hugging her knees to her chest atop the toilet seat, her long brown hair hanging like a curtain to cover most of her face. Though it didn’t cover enough to hide the fact that she’d been crying. By the look of it, she’d been crying in here for a while. Her eyes were puffy and red, mascara streaked down to her chin.
I thought I recognized her as a freshman who usually sat near the front of the cafeteria. Usually alone, or as a fifth wheel to another group of kids who mostly ignored her. I couldn’t remember her name, though.
She stared at me like I was the grim fucking reaper come to inhale her soul. Jesus.
My stomach tightened, and I backed up a step, the fire in my veins spluttering. “Um…”
Fuck. I wasn’t good at this.
“Are… are you okay?”
The girl burst into sobs at my question, pressing her face into her knees.
Oh god.
I stepped into the stall, awkwardly patting the girl’s shoulder. “There, there.”
That’s what you were supposed to say, right?
“I’ll, uh, I’ll go get the nurse, okay?”
Her hand shot out, grabbing me by the wrist to stop me. “No!”
Something about the fear in her voice stopped me, and the hairs on the back of my neck pricked.
“Why not?”
“Please,” she sobbed, wiping snot across the back of her hand. “Please just f-f-forget you saw me.”
My phone chimed in my pocket, but I barely heard it over the rush of blood in my ears. Something bad happened to this girl.
This girl who looked like she couldn’t be more than fifteen. This girl, who, under the running makeup and red eyes, looked sweet and innocent despite attending school at a place like this.
“What happened to you?” I found myself asking, sinking down to her eye level.
She spied the knife in my hand and gasped, prompting me to put it away. I lifted my empty hands to show her I meant no harm. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Her tears slowed as she considered me, clearly scared, but there was something else there too. A thing I recognized. A spiteful sort of anger, hidden beneath layers of pain.
“But that’s what you do, isn’t it?”
I cocked my head at her, not understanding.
She swallowed, her hair falling forward to shadow her eyes. “You hurt people. You and those other guys. The Crows. I’ve heard about you.”
“Then you know that this town belongs to them. And that they take care of the people in it.”
A twitch in her upper lip told me I might be on the right track. “Tell me what happened. Maybe I can help.”
Fuck, how much I’d love to pummel one of the cocky, baby-faced jocks into the ground right about now. I shuddered just to think of the release. Maybe I’d even let Rook help me.
I couldn’t get justice for me and the guys. Not yet. But maybe I could get some for this girl.
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “If you want, I won’t even tell them it was you who told me.”
She frowned, looking at me suspiciously. I could tell she was wondering how I knew it was a someone and not a something she was crying about.
“I can’t,” she decided.
“Then whatever happened will probably happen again.”
Her lower lip quivered.
“His life would be ruined.”
So it was a him. We were getting somewhere.
“Did he hurt you?”
She looked away.
Motherfucker.
I could feel my cheeks flushing with a renewed heat, and I struggled to keep my voice even. “If someone hurt you, you can’t let them get away with it.”
Her hands clenched to fists against her thighs. “You won’t tell him it was me who told you?”
I shook my head, a sick feeling in my stomach at the look she was giving me.
A minute ago, I was sure what this was, but now I didn’t think I was prepared for what she was about to tell me.
“I already called the hotline,” she said. “You know that one for reporting crimes anonymously, but nothing happened. No one even called me back.”
What?
I needed to get her back on track. I could examine that little tidbit later.
“Tell me what happened.”
She squirmed against the toilet seat, her brown eyes looking everywhere but at me. “He offered me a better grade. It was just supposed to be that one time,” she finally said and the force with which my rage intensified was like a bomb detonating in my stomach. I’d be shocked if there wasn’t smoke coming out of my ears.
I managed to maintain a calm front, but my next words came out strained. “Go on.”
The girl, whose name I learned was Layla, told me as much as she could before her face turned green and she couldn’t talk anymore. Until she was shoving me out of the way so she could crawl down off the toilet, lift the lid, and vomit into the porcelain bowl.
I felt like joining her by the time she was finished.
She sat back heavily against the toilet, breathless from being sick as I rose to my feet, every inch of my skin vibrating.
“I’m going to take care of this,” I told her. “You don’t have to worry about Mr. Williams anymore.”
“What are you going to do?” she hollered after me as I left the bathroom, but I didn’t reply. She didn’t want to know.
