Chapter 29
SAGE
Juliet isn’t in school, and when I text her to ask where she is, she responds that she’s sick, which sucks for me, because she’s the only person I interact with here.
I manage to avoid the Hallows Boys all day, dodging them in the hallways and ignoring them in classes. I’m too preoccupied to give them an ounce of my attention anyway, the name Megan Gallagher on a constant replay inside my head like a bad song.
Megan Gallagher, Megan Gallagher, Megan Gallagher.
The name feels familiar in a way, but the more I repeat it in my head, the more distant it feels. Who is she? Where is she? If I have any chance of figuring out what happened with my parents before they left Blackmore, I need to find Megan.
I walk slowly through town after school, my mind drifting far away as it becomes consumed by all the different scenarios.
When I finally get home, there’s a note on the fridge that says my grandmother is across the street at the neighbor’s.
I don’t bother going over there to say hello, I just head upstairs to play FBI agent.
When I’m finally closed inside my bedroom, I go to my desk and sit down in front of my laptop. While it powers up, I tap my fingers on top of the keys lightly, trying to think of the best approach to take to gather information.
I enter the password once my laptop is on the login screen, then click on Safari and go to Google. I type Megan Gallagher into the search bar and wait for the results.
A few different links pop up, LinkedIn profiles, and different social media accounts, so I change my search to include the word Blackmore.
This one brings up a lot more, the first an article from a Georgia news outlet with the title MISSING UNIVERSITY STUDENT FOUND IN CEMETERY.
My heart races when I click on it, and once the webpage has loaded, a photo of Megan sits right at the top.
“Oh my god…” I breathe, sitting closer to the screen to read the words.
Laura Kenney Channel 8, December 2
A local missing woman has been found by federal agents after a month-long search party led by residents and sheriffs in the town of Blackmore, Georgia. Her body was located just on the outskirts of Blackmore’s historic cemetery, buried within a shallow grave.
The town of Blackmore is shaken by the loss of local woman, Megan Gallagher, as evidence collected at the crime scene by agents is hinting toward homicide.
No further details are available as of today but follow along with Channel 8 News as we continue to report on this.
I swallow heavily as I click on the next link, this one dated a few weeks later.
Laura Kenney Channel 8, December 27
The town of Blackmore is resting easy and safely tonight as local man, Benjamin Gilmore, was taken into custody on charges of aggravated manslaughter, rape, and first-degree murder of a local university student, Megan Gallagher.
Gilmore, 21, is a student at Blackmore University, and is accused of raping and murdering his classmate after an autopsy found his DNA on the victim.
If convicted, Gilmore is facing life in prison or even the death penalty.
More on Channel 8 as this story unfolds.
I feel sick to my stomach. One of the founding fathers of the Hallows Games, presumably my father’s best friend, is the attacker in the Blackmore Tragedy. And the following January, my father and uncle, the two remaining founding fathers, fled town without a trace.
“I thought I told you not to go digging.”
Kaiden’s voice startles me, and when his large hand grips the back of my neck tightly, I yelp. My back goes ramrod straight, and his fingers flex against my flesh as he tightens the hold.
I suck oxygen into my lungs, eager to calm the panic snaking its way through my torso.
Shaking my head to get Kaiden’s hand off the back of my neck, I spin to look at the three Hallows Boys standing behind me.
Kai’s firm grip stays on me, though, finding its home around the column of my throat with my sudden movement.
I focus my attention on him, The King, my nostrils flaring as I refuse to blink before he does. But he’s better at this than me, and after a minute, my eyes are stinging, making me break away from his gaze.
“I told you that you wouldn’t like what you found, princess,” Vinny says, ending the silence and pulling my attention to him. He’s grinning, propped against the edge of my bed like he’s right at home.
“Talk, then,” I snap, and Kaiden’s hand tightens around my throat.
“Mind your fucking tone,” Kai growls, making my lips tip up at the sides as I tilt my head back to look at him. “You’re hardly in a position to be making demands, Sage.”
“I want to know”—I swallow against his palm—“what the fuck happened”—a sneer snakes across my face—“to Megan Gallagher.”
Her name slithers through me like a bad dream, everything I’ve imagined about her weighing on my chest—and that’s why I force myself to speak, even if each word squeezes out through the hold he has on my windpipe, voice scratchy.
When I try to swallow, he loosens his grip a little, and I clear my throat before I continue.
“I want to know the truth, and I want to know it now.”
“You’re getting so bossy.” Beckham laughs from where he’s positioned next to Vinny, his perfect face splitting into a humored smile that, even when I’m trying to stand my ground, makes me feel warm. “It’s fucking hot.”
Crossing my legs, I commit to being the bossy version of myself that wants answers. “Well, being nice to you three has never gotten me anywhere, so maybe I should play your Games after all.”
“Our Games?” Kaiden questions, his eyebrow kicking up in amusement. “Oh, Sage, you could never lead a game like the ones we play.”
“Oh?” I bite out. “What about the game where you treat me like shit to get whatever you want from me, use me and lie to me? I bet I’d be good at that, too.”
All three of the boys before me laugh in unison, and Kaiden’s hand finally drops from my neck so he can cross his arms over his chest.
“Hey.” Vinny raises his hands. “I never did any of those things.”
“No, you just ignore me and fuck my cheer captain.” Tipping my head to the side, I look at him, expression taunting.
He grins that wicked, sexy smile that makes the dimples in his cheeks stand out. “Oooh, you sound jealous.”
I match his grin for one of my own. “Jealous? Nah. Why be jealous when your friends keep my bed so nice and warm.”
He booms with laughter, shaking his head. “Because you miss the way my dick feels slamming against your guts.”
I roll my eyes, dismissing Vinny as I turn back to Kai. “Tell me everything.”
He sighs, his lips curling downward with malicious thought as he steps backwards so he can sit down. I read the expression for exactly what it is. He’s concocting a story in his head, one that’s laced with lies to deceive me once more.
Beckham joins Vinny as he takes a seat, crossing his legs and watching Kai steadily breathe across the room.
Kaiden stares at me, and every few seconds his lips twitch, like he’s having an internal battle with whatever shit is breezing through his twisted mind.
“Talk!” I shout, my frustration at its peak. So much so, I feel my face go hot.
Kaiden sucks his teeth, glaring at me from across the room as his hands ball into fists at his sides. Part of me is aware that I’m pushing my luck with Mr. Controlling, that if I keep getting loud with him, he’ll retaliate, but I don’t fucking care.
“Fine,” Kaiden finally says, surprising me. But when his lips press together again, and silence washes over the room once more, I start to lose hope he’ll actually tell me anything.
As tension fills the little space of my bedroom, all the muscles in my body clench up in anticipation.
Beckham groans, rubbing a hand down his face. “Jesus, just tell her, Kai.”
Kaiden licks his lips as he glances over at Beckham with a warning. “Careful.”
I sigh, feeling desperate. “Please, Kaiden.”
Kaiden spends another heartbeat without moving a muscle or uttering a word, but then he sits back and crosses his arms over his chest. Then, he begins, seeming to concede, and my heart races in response.
“Your family history is long, Sage. It’d take me a week to go down your family tree and explain every crevice of fuckery, so let me just skip ahead to your father.
” He takes a breath. “When your father created the Games, it was because he was so fucking tired of the restrictions the Blackmore name had on him. On him and your uncle. Twin brothers who wanted to sin in the darkness, but couldn’t because they were town royalty.
They were observed by everyone in town, and everything they did trickled back down to their father, your grandfather. ”
His eyes stroke over my face like a caress, trying to gauge how I’m responding, but I keep my features neutral. Even if my insides are going haywire.
“The Hallows Games were the one night they could be reckless. They could live out their darkest desires and be free. Benjamin was their best friend; they were close like brothers, but it was something so much deeper. Like what Vinny, Beckham, and I have. Family by choice is thicker than blood that fucks you up.”
“How do you know all of this?” I question, picking at my nail beds.
“They cataloged it, in journals and diaries of sorts that are locked away in the crypt. Every generation of Hallows Boys must follow that tradition as well, writing the story of their generation.”
“So, you wrote about me?” I snap.
Kaiden smiles, answering in a noncommittal way that has my blood boiling. “Don’t get touchy already. Let me continue.”
My gut churns with nausea, thinking about everything we did together on Halloween being documented in some book somewhere, but I just bite down on my lip and keep my thoughts to myself.
“It didn’t start with a tradition. They thought they’d keep the Game to themselves and let the time they had trapped in Blackmore pass by a little more freely.
Even if just for one night a year. But after that first year, others heard rumors of the boys who went into the old crypts, and rumors spread.
More and more people were heading into the cemetery to party, and they realized it wasn’t just them who felt leashed and trapped in this town.
It was everyone. They wrote the rules, and then they started scouting for who would replace them as the Hallows Boys when they graduated, writing everything down.
I think they liked the superiority it gave them, creating a tradition that would outlive them in the town that suffocated them. ”
“Where does my mom fit into this?” I ask, even though I’m not sure I want the answer.
“She was their first Hallows Girl,” Kaiden says, looking at me for a reaction.
I just nod and wait for him to continue. I’d already guessed that my mother was a Hallows Girl, so it isn’t some big revelation.
“But she was more than that.” Kaiden continues. “Your dad fell in love with her; they all did.”
“What?” I gasp, all breath leaving my lungs. “Wait…”
I swallow down the thick saliva that’s coating my mouth, and they let me process the information. After a few heartbeats, I blink and look back up at Kaiden. “She loved them all?”
“No, Sage. She didn’t.” He smiles. “But they loved her.”
My eyebrows pinch in confusion, and then Vinny’s voice pulls my attention. “There was only one for her. Your father.”
All three boys stare at me, waiting for me to say something, almost like his words have a deeper meaning, like he’s hinting that I’m following in my mother’s footsteps at picking only one Hallows Boy.
I lick my lips, returning my gaze to Kaiden. “What about Megan?”
“Megan,” Kaiden says, sighing. “Megan was your mother’s best friend.”
“And Benjamin killed her?” I breathe, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.
“That’s what it says in the newspaper,” Kaiden answers, but a look crosses his face that tells me he’s forgoing some information.
“Tell me more about Megan.”
“Megan was the second Hallows Girl, the final Hallows Girl for the founders, since they only played two years. Your mother selected her for the Games.”
“My mother?”
“She played with them their final year, too. They didn’t want to play without her, especially your father,” he reveals, his legs kicking out so he can get comfortable.
“Megan hated the Hallows Boys, and even though she was your mother’s best friend, she held resentment toward her for hating the three boys she’d grown to see as family. ”
“So, my mother chose her to, what, punish her?”
“Yes and no,” Kaiden answers, but I ignore his vagueness.
“And she died.” I shake my head.
Kaiden sighs, then stands up abruptly and rubs his hands down his face. “I think that’s enough.”
I stand too, following him to my bedroom door. “No!”
Grabbing him by the arms, I try to hold him in place so he can’t pull my bedroom door open, and he goes stiff. “I’m trying to protect you, Sage. You aren’t ready for the truth. You’ll be better off if you just let this go.”
“I don’t need you to protect me! I’m not some fragile little girl,” I snip, though I feel like I’m pleading more than anything. “I can handle it.”
“It’s her family, Kai,” Beckham says, holding an arm toward me, his brow furrowed. Despite myself, my heart warms.
Kaiden’s head snaps to the side so he can look at Beckham, but he doesn’t speak, just stares at his friends sitting on my bed before he shakes my hands off and returns to his seat at the vanity. I stay by the door, scared he’ll bolt again, and wait for someone to say something.
Silence ghosts along my skin like it’s about to swallow me up, but then Kaiden finally speaks quietly, his voice grating against his throat like he’s protesting the words. “Tell her the rest.”
My lungs quickly fill and empty, and I glance between Beckham and Vinny just as they look at me, gazes searching mine.
“Sit down, Sage,” Vinny says, waving toward my desk.