Several guards step into the cell, and I crawl back against the wall, their guns pointed at our faces.
“Out. All of you.”
I can’t let them do this to us.
I have to fight, just like how Blaine taught me. Even if you don’t have a knife, use whatever you can find.
One by one, we move to the door, but when I pass the guard, I lunge at his weapon.
Everyone shrieks as I grasp it.
BANG!
A shot is fired into the floor, making me tiptoe, but I refuse to let go.
“Motherf—”
SLAP!
I’m knocked to the floor, a harsh handprint on my face, and I touch my skin where he hit me.
“You fucking bitch,” the guard growls as he grabs me by the hair and drags me off the floor.
The others cower near the wall in fear of being shot by the other guards.
“You think you can just take my gun?”
“Let. Me. Go,” I say through gritted teeth with the little bit of courage I have.
He laughs in my face. “You’re about to pay a hefty price for that.” He shoves me toward a hallway. “Get up. You go first.”
I only walk because he makes me.
Behind me, the others follow suit, their heads bowed between their shoulders, courage waning with every step.
When we get to the exit, I feel frozen to the floor.
Twenty, if not more, men all stare at me from their chairs in the back of the room. All hiding behind masks, as though they’re afraid I might tell someone what they looked like.
And they’re right.
“The rest of you, wait here,” the guard growls at the people behind me, waiting in line for their turn.
Then he focuses his attention on me. “Don’t speak. Don’t fucking utter a single syllable. Just stand there and listen to what the seller tells you to do.” The guard pushes me toward the stage. “Now get up there.”
I stumble up the stairs and onto the stage, my heart thrumming as their gazes all fixate on me. I don’t know who these men are, but I know they want my flesh as they lick their lips at me like I’m minced meat to devour. The tension is palpable as I walk toward the center and stand still, while the seller, a woman, approaches the microphone in the front.
To both my left and my right are two guards, their guns aimed toward me.
Should I run, they’d put bullets through my legs.
If I tried to grasp the mic, they’d gun that down too along with me.
There’s no point in resisting.
“This one right here is fresh off the streets. Blonde, around twenty years, voluptuous, and her skin is flawless, not a scar in sight.” The woman swings her finger in a circle. “Turn around for us.”
I awkwardly spin around, and the oohs and aahs make me gag.
“See? A perfect specimen. So let’s start the bidding at eighty thousand.”
“Hundred,” someone in the back calls out.
I can’t believe I’m up here. That I can even stand without passing out from pure shock.
“Hundred and twenty.”
Is that the worth of a human life?
“Hundred and fifty,” the next one calls out.
All of it feels like a blur, like I no longer exist and am merely floating around in a vessel.
Maybe that’s for the best.
Suddenly, loud bangs make my ears perk up.
“What was that?” the woman on the stage asks the guards, who shrug in response.
More bangs follow, and all the men in the seats start to chat with each other.
The woman on stage claps her hands. “Now, gentlemen, there’s no need to—”
BANG!
The loudest gunshot makes them duck for cover.
“Get the girls out of here. Don’t lose our precious cargo. Bring them to the other compound,” the woman on the stage commands.
The guard swiftly steps up the stage and grabs me. “Come. Now.”
“Gentlemen, please follow the van to our new location. We’ve got some unforeseen circumstances that are being taken care of. For now, let’s move to our new auction location, shall we?” the woman on the stage says, and she clears her throat. “No need to panic, our men will take swift care of any uprising.”
“Is it safe?” one of the men asks.
“Of course!” the woman on the stage says. “But just to be sure, follow me to the side exit.”
“Move!” the guard growls at me, shoving me back into the hallway with all the other girls and boys. “Line them up. Check them. Make sure they’re ready for transport.”
The guards swiftly take care of any cries for help, punching and kicking those who appear too scared to move. I stand next to the girl that talked to me. A gun pokes into my back, a reminder not to try to rebel. Wherever we’re going can’t be any better than this.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Screams from the hallways behind us make us turn our heads.
What is going on out there that has even these grimy men antsy?
“Walk!” the guard growls in my ear.
I swallow away the lump in my throat and follow the rest back out, my heart beating so fast I feel like it’s about to jump out of my chest.
My clammy hands shake uncontrollably, and I put them in my pocket to find relief.
Instead, I find a half-crumpled rose with missing petals.
And the thought of this tiny semblance of hope puts a small smile on my face.
“What the fuck do you have there?” the guard growls, snatching it away from me. “A rose?” He laughs and chucks it onto the dirty floor covered in blood stains, then stomps on it. “Pathetic.”
Tears well up in my eyes as I glance at the rose.
My last connection to the outside world.
Gone.
Caleb
“Where the fuck is Caleb?”
Who the hell is that?
I hear some ruckus downstairs, so I pick up my bag and head down to see what’s going on. Arlo is being dragged off the floor near the door.
“What the fuck do you want from Caleb?” he yells.
I gaze at the Phantoms—Nathan, Kai, and Milo—as I rush toward the door. “No worries, I’m here.”
What the fuck do they want?
“You …” Nathan turns his attention toward me. “You motherfucking asshole!” He grabs me by the collar. “You stole my pictures, didn’t you?”
What the—
“I didn’t steal shit,” I bark. “Are you accusing me?”
Nathan stares at me like he’s about to rip the skin off my body.
“Nathan,” Kai warns him. “Don’t.”
But he’s here punching my fellow Tartarus guys for a reason, so let him fucking talk. I’d like to fucking know the reason.
“Go on. Ask me what you wanna ask,” I say.
“Did you send my picture of Lana to everyone’s email?” he grits.
“No.”
He balls his fist. “Don’t. Fucking. Lie.”
“It wasn’t me,” I say. “I already tried to tell you that, but you won’t believe me.”
“No shit!” he retorts, fuming. “You were the only one in the library with me.”
Aha. So this is about the laptop.
“There were a ton of other people,” I say.
“Yet you were the one watching my laptop.”
“Was I?” I tilt my head and raise a brow. “Or did you just tell me to?”
I’m not his lapdog he can just order around.
“We weren’t the only ones there,” I say.
“You’re the only one to hate me enough to send that picture to the whole goddamn school.” Nathan raises his fist at me. “You motherf—”
“Enough.”
Blaine’s voice makes even Nathan back off.
Good.
I’m not about to get pummeled in the face for his mistakes.
“I won’t allow you to soil this ground with blood,” Blaine says with a sly smile. “You’re all better than that. C’mon. You were lovers once, right?”
A long time ago, maybe. And I really tried to be friends with him, but he wouldn’t let me.
“True,” Milo muses.
“Shut up,” Nathan quips.
“Your boy Caleb over here decided to put some very private pictures of Lana and us on the group chat,” Kai says to Blaine.
What? That’s bullshit!
“I did not,” I say. “And I keep telling them that, but they refuse to believe me.”
Blaine steps out of the house too.
“Interesting.” He stops right in front of Nathan even though he’s still got his hands on my collar. “Caleb, you’ll fix this.”
My jaw drops. “What? But I didn’t do shi—”
Blaine lifts his finger. “Just do it.”
“How is he gonna fix this?” Nathan barks. “Everyone’s already seen the picture. Fuck knows the entire internet by now.”
“Turn it into a story.” Blaine waves his hand around. “Make her look like a victim.”
“What … you mean turn us into predators?” Kai narrows his eyes and folds his arms. “You think I’m going to agree to that?”
“Your girlfriend must hate you right now, no?” Blaine retorts.
“Then I guess this is the only chance you’ve got to make it right.”
“Um … is everyone forgetting the dead body in the picture?”
Milo pulls out his phone to show us the lewd picture they took of her. It is not something I wanted to see today, but I guess I won’t be able to get that out of my retina.
Great.
Kai snatches the phone out of his hand. “Great job, Milo. Now even more people saw it.”
Milo shrugs. “They already did.”
“Yes, I’m aware of the dead body,” Blaine says. “I’ve seen the picture.”
Who gives a shit about any of this? We’re not responsible for whatever the fuck they’re doing in their free time, and I don’t give a fuck about who they kill.
“People will assume she’s a killer now,” Kai says.
Blaine smirks. “Not if we make people believe the three masked men in the photo were responsible.”
Kai seems intrigued. “Go on.”
“Take your guy off Caleb first.”
Finally, Nathan lets me out of his death grip, and I pat down my shirt. “Asshole.”
“You’ll probably have to pose for another kill with those masks on for it to work, though,” Blaine says.
“Caleb can help with that,” Nathan says, glaring at me. “I can turn you into a corpse in no time.”
“Fine. I don’t care how. Just make it happen,” Kai says. “We have to make the school believe she’s innocent.”
Suddenly, Nathan’s distracted by his phone, and he pulls it out. Hopefully, this’ll get those boys off our fucking property. Though, I’m not looking forward to helping any of them.
But then he sinks to the ground, eyes nearly bulging out of his head, and part of me really wants to know what he just saw.
“What the fuck happened?” Milo asks him.
“Nathan?” Kai tries to touch him, but Nathan grabs him and yells, “Romeo took Lana!”
Oh boy.
One minute, I’m nearly being pummeled into the ground by Nathan Reed, and then those Phantom fuckers force me to come help them save their precious Lana from Romeo’s claws, who is apparently in the fucking Bones Brotherhood.
They even brought Felix, Dylan, Alistair from the Skull & Serpent Society, as well as their fucking girlfriend Penelope to help save her.
I really don’t want to be on any of these fuckers’ bad sides, so I’ll play along nicely. Even though they accused me of something I didn’t even fucking do.
Man, the things a guy does for a friendship that’s already sailed long ago.
When the car finally stops, we’re near a grimy looking building downtown. I’m surprised these Skull & Serpent Society fuckers know exactly where one of their hangouts is. But whatever.
I just want to get in, get out, and stay alive.
We fetch our weapons and prepare, and I can already feel myself getting fired up because I’m about to put some bullets in Bonesmen heads. When it’s finally time to move inside the compound, I grin and pull out my gun, taking off the safety. “Okay, guess it’s time for our little showdown.”
Present
I pull out my knife and stab one of the fuckers in the chest, pulling it out before I move on to the next. It’s a game of cat and mouse with these Bonesmen and a delicious way to let go of all the rage I’ve kept bottled up.
I take a glance at Nathan while we knife down these fuckers left and right, trying to see who has the biggest body count. Halfway through the compound, we get separated from the main group, but at least I have Nathan. He might be an ass for making me his enemy, but at least he knows how to kill.
“I’m gonna go back to Kai and Milo and see if they found Lana yet,” Nathan yells at me after we’ve taken down a dozen more men.
“Fine, I’ll secure the entrance,” I reply.
“Felix and the others are there too,” Nathan replies before leaving.
The Skull & Serpent Society guys are with me, shooting Bonesmen left and right to clear a path for everyone so we can make our way out again after they’ve found Lana.
What’s taking them so long?
“I’m going back in,” I tell them. “Guard the exit.”
I run back into the hallway where Kai, Milo, and Nathan are, and lock eyes with a girl with long, black hair, covered in blood.
One of the Bonesmen comes out of nowhere, aiming at Kai, so I shoot him down. “I have you covered. Don’t worry.”
“Who is that?” the girl with the long black hair asks.
“Caleb. Long story,” Milo says. “We should run.”
Suddenly, more shots go off, and Nathan jumps in front of Lana, shielding her from the fire, and the bullet lodges in his body.
“Nathan!” she screams.
Kai and I fight off the Bonesmen with everything we have, and I chuck around knives like a madman while Milo and Lana focus on stopping Nathan’s wounds from bleeding out.
Suddenly, the girl with the long black hair pulls out her own knives and starts chopping up all the men in front of us like a butcher, cutting away at them with expert slices like she’s never done anything but kill since she was pushed out of her mother’s womb, and for a moment, I’m too flabbergasted to even fight.
My God, that woman’s got skills.
She kills the Bonesmen one by one, until only their leader, Romeo, is left and on his knees, blood pouring from a wound in his abdomen. He whimpers as she pushes a knife straight into his eye, and I wince from how disgusting it looks.
Jesus.
In the big open space behind Romeo, rows and rows of chairs are all thrown about as though the people who were here left in a hurry, and I look beyond at a stage.
What the … was this an auction?
To the left of the stage is a big door that’s wide open.
And two burly guards manhandle people into the van. Boys. Girls.
But one particular blond-haired girl with pink lips and rosy cheeks makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Crystal?” I yell in disbelief.
