Ashes of Treachery (Dyschord University: Chaos #2)

Chapter 1

PANDORA

“Hey, Pandora,” a male voice calls out.

I stop just outside the bio lab and turn to face whoever thinks it’s a good idea to bother me.

I don’t know the guy’s name, but I recognize him as one of my biochemistry classmates. I think he’s actually a chem major. Medium height, medium weight, acne scars on his cheeks, short brown hair. He’s average in every single way.

“I hear you like it rough,” the guy says with a grin.

I keep staring at him, not saying anything, until his grin shrinks and he shifts uncomfortably.

“Y’know. Really rough,” the guy continues. “And with a lot of guys at once. I have some friends who—”

I snort. “You have friends? Are you sure?”

His face turns red. “I do! I mean, more friends than you have, you slut.”

I very pointedly roll my eyes at him. “Oh nooo. I’m a slut! How dare I sleep with a bunch of different men.”

I spot some students shuffling closer to us, clearly eavesdropping. I guess they want to enjoy some drama.

I can give them drama.

I grin and step closer to the guy. “Fine, I’m a slut. I like it rough. What’s your name?”

The guy swallows hard, clearly surprised by this turn of events. “Uh, Pete.”

I trail my hand over his cheek. “Well, uh, Pete, I hope you like it rough too.”

Before he can react, I knee him in the crotch. He cries out and doubles over. While he’s down, I stomp down hard on his hand. He yelps again.

“You—you bitch!”

I sigh loudly. “Come on, at least add ‘crazy.’ Didn’t everybody tell you that part about me?” I glare at the other students. “And unless you all want to join Pete on the floor, I suggest you mind your own fucking business.”

The students quickly scatter. None of them tries to help Pete—but none of them tried to help me, either.

That’s the kind of people who attend this school.

“If you ever get within ten feet of me ever again, Pete, I’m not going to kick you. I’m going to cut you,” I warn him. “Got it?” I add a kick to his side, and he gasps hard.

Steel-toed boots do help with the violent kicking thing.

“You fucking crazy—” Pete wheezes.

Yeah, yeah. Like I haven’t heard every iteration of that before, on a near daily basis for the past week.

You’d think these losers had never seen a bit of violent revenge porn before, with how excited they all are about it. Every single guy who sees the video feels the need to approach me about it.

I leave Pete to suffer on the floor, hefting my backpack over both shoulders. I check my phone again, and I’m happy to see this little diversion didn’t waste too much of my time.

I also have new texts from Papa, but I ignore those.

Not that I want to ignore Papa, but he’s been texting me a lot, and mostly it’s him pretending not to be worried about me while he is completely worried about me.

I’ve typed back the requisite few sentences that I’m fine and he shouldn’t worry.

Now it’s up to him to deal with his feelings on his own.

Just like I am.

I reach into my pocket, but of course my charm isn’t there to soothe me. River still has it. Is he taking good care of it? I’ll never forgive him if he tossed his finger.

I make my way across campus and to the burned ruins of the Kappa Asshole frat house.

There’s caution tape all around and a sign stating that the premises are off limits due to the instability of the building.

I’ve heard they’re going to bulldoze starting next week, which means I need to get off my ass to investigate.

If there are any clues to be had about my roommate Samantha’s disappearance, or about Rachel’s murder, they’ll be gone when the construction begins.

I step under the caution tape and push past the ash-covered front door.

The building still smells of smoke. It’s dark, too, with the holes in the ceiling and roof not doing much to let light in. I pull my flashlight out of my backpack and use it to guide me through the building.

According to poor, departed Zayden, there’s a secret room in the basement. Or there was a secret room. That’s where a lot of secret frat business is stashed. Was stashed? Whatever.

I know Blaze and Asch moved out to that house off campus—taking River with them, for some reason—and Zayden was in no position to remove evidence. If I’m lucky, everything is exactly as it was before the fire.

One of the steps creaks dangerously underneath my feet when I test it, and I decide to skip that step, just in case.

The basement is in better shape than upstairs, but it isn’t without damage.

Parts of the ceiling have collapsed, with several beams of wood and some furniture piled up underneath the holes.

I spot the intact remains of a billiard table and a couch that looks mostly fine except for the ash covering it.

There’s a nice flat screen tv on the opposite side.

Huh, that’s probably still usable.

I move past the rec room and down the hall, stopping at the bookshelf nestled in the nook.

It’s time to see if getting his hand sawed off made Zayden an honest person. None of the books look particularly interesting, but I find the one Zayden had told me about. When I pull it away, a doorknob is revealed.

A doorknob with a keyhole.

I twist the knob, but it’s locked.

God dammit.

“Couldn’t make anything easy, could you,” I mutter under my breath. Zayden’s dead, and he’s still making my life difficult.

I pull my lockpicks out of my backpack and awkwardly maneuver the picks and the flashlight. The poor light and cramped space makes it harder to pick the lock, so I end up sitting there for a good ten minutes trying to get it unlocked.

When the lock clicks and I can finally pull the door open, I’m surprised by the cool air on the other side. I’d expected it to have the same ash smell as the rest of the burned building, but apparently this secret room was spared.

I flip the light switch, but of course I’m not that lucky. All power to the place has been cut.

My flashlight shows me a desk, a couch, and several chairs. One corner has a camera sitting atop a tripod, aimed at one of the chairs up against the wall.

Were they taking profile pictures?

I move over to the desk and pull at the drawers. All locked, of course, but my lockpicks make short work of that too.

I find several folders filled with papers. At first glance, I can’t make sense of them. I’ll need to spend more time analyzing them later. I place them into my backpack then keep searching.

I find a trick bottom on one of the drawers, and on the other side of that… an external drive, completely pristine.

Well, well, well.

I guess whatever they were doing here, they liked the convenience of digital storage after all. There are several memory sticks in there too, and I stuff all of that into my backpack as well.

I close all the drawers, and for good measure I relock them. No need to make it easy for anyone to see that I’ve been snooping.

I turn the flashlight toward the filing cabinet in the corner. I guess that’s my next stop.

Then I hear footsteps and low whispering.

“This is the only other place she could be,” someone is saying.

Asch.

I smile to myself. Asch is looking for me! I was letting him stew in anticipation, but if he wants to move the schedule up a bit, that’s fine by me.

I position myself directly next to the door and turn the flashlight off. I reach into my zip-up hoodie pocket and grip the knife. It’s new, not the karambit Uncle Slayer had given me. It doesn’t feel as familiar in my hand, but a sharp blade is a sharp blade.

“I don’t see her,” River’s voice says. “You sure she’s here?”

Oh, Asch and River?

I bite my lip, my body buzzing with anticipation. Maybe that means—

“Yeah. I’ve got a camera on the building. Look, see? She walked in about half an hour ago,” Blaze responds.

All three of them? Maybe I’m lucky after all.

I wonder if I should let them find me in here. Maybe it would be smarter to stay hidden, so they don’t get suspicious about my snooping.

On the other hand, how much more suspicious of me can they get? I did deliver a head to them. If they don’t already suspect me of something, they’re extremely naive.

Their footsteps go past the door.

“Maybe she left already,” Asch says.

“No, there’s no footage of her leaving,” Blaze says. “She has to be here…”

He trails off. There’s a long pause, and I wonder what he sees.

“She’s not in the bathroom either,” River calls out. “We’ve checked everywhere, Blaze.”

Everywhere, except in here.

Asch and River don’t know about this room… but I think Blaze does.

Blaze knows, and he obviously isn’t sure if he wants to tell them about it. If he says something, he has to reveal that he’s in on whatever shady shit this frat is doing.

What will you do, Blaze? I ask silently. Either way, the result is good for me.

Something slams on the other side of the wall.

“Asch. The bookshelf. Check the… fuck. Look,” Blaze says, like he only just discovered it.

There’s a brief hesitation.

“Where’s that door lead to?” Asch asks. A second later, the doorknob turns, and the door pushes open. “What the fuck?”

“What does Kappa Alpha need a hidden room for?” River chimes in.

“What does anyone need a hidden room for?” Blaze counters. “River, you go in first.”

I suppress a laugh. Sending River in as the sacrifice? Smooth, Blaze.

Not that it matters to me which of them enters the room first.

“Dick,” I hear River mutter, but he takes a cautious step inside.

The only light is from somebody’s phone on the other side of the doorway.

“Pandora?” I can’t tell if River’s seen me or if he’s only calling out for me. “If you stab me, I’ll stab you right back.”

I stay quiet, and River walks farther into the room. He must spot the camera in the corner, because he goes over to it stops in front of it.

Asch and Blaze follow inside. Blaze’s phone flashlight stays pointed at River. In the dark, none of them notice me.

“Is she under the desk?” Blaze asks, moving over to the desk.