Chapter 7
7
A fter my run-in with Carter, I found Carly waiting anxiously outside the Dancing Goats with my coffee in hand and worry etched all over her face. When she saw me, her relief was palpable enough that it made me think twice about Carter’s ominous warning.
“Oh thank fuck,” she exclaimed, handing over my coffee. “You’re okay? He didn’t…um…hurt you, did he?”
I frowned, squinting at her. “Is that something he would do?” Carter struck me as an entitled rich prick, but I didn’t get violent or rapey vibes. Maybe I was a shit judge of character, if Carly was this worried.
She hesitated, chewing her thumbnail, then sighed. “I don’t totally know. Things have been really weird lately with, um, with some people here at Nevaeh. And Nate has been talking some shit about you…”
I rolled my eyes. “Shocker. The guy literally doesn’t know me from a bar of soap but has formed plenty of fictional opinions. Wait, you’re still talking with Nate?”
Carly quickly shook her head. “No, good god, no. Just rumor mill, you know? Which sort of makes it all worse than hearing it at the source. I just worry about you, Ash.”
With a smile, I shrugged off her concerns. “I can handle myself. Didn’t you see what happened to Jade? Anyway, we better get to class before we’re late. Thanks for coffee.” I gave her a quick hug and cheek kiss, then hauled ass in the direction of Essex Hall.
It irritated me to no end that half my classes were in a building literally named after Nate’s family, but I reminded myself that Nate wasn’t the benefactor. It was likely Max, or even his parents before him.
Immersing myself in the philosophy lecture, I quickly pushed Carter and his big hands out of my head, focusing on the learning. Carly and I didn’t have any more classes together, but we met up for lunch and it was all uneventful. I figured since the guys had their own apartment off campus, they probably never needed to eat with the rest of us commoners. Hell, Nate probably had his own chef on standby so he didn’t need to demean himself into preparing his own food. Such a diva.
On my way out of the last lecture of the week, I saw Heath crossing the lawn with the hot blond guy from Mom’s wedding. Somehow Heath spotted me too and met my eyes with a determined look on his face.
Fuck that. I quickly changed directions and took the scenic route back to my dorm. If everyone was going to this party tonight, it’d be nice and quiet on my floor and a great time to study the day’s notes.
“Hey, Ashley, right?” a guy said, passing me on the stairs as I headed up to my room.
I nodded. “Yeah, uh…?” I recognized him as living on my floor but had no clue what his name was.
“Jack,” he filled in. “Just a word of warning, pets aren’t permitted in dorms. If the faculty find out, you could get kicked out.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Um, okay? I don’t have a pet, though.”
He nodded slowly, like we were sharing a secret. “Sure…got it.” He winked. “No pets. Maybe come up with another excuse for the barking, in that case.”
Confused, I watched him continue down the stairs for a moment, then hurried up the rest of the way to my floor. Sure enough, as I drew closer to the top, distinctive barking could be heard from down the corridor…toward my room.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, hurrying down the hall and fumbling for my key. The barking was definitely coming from my room, that much was obvious, and the second I got the door open, I was hit with the stench.
I gagged, holding the door closed a moment while I blocked my nose and bolstered some bravery before reopening the door.
There, standing in the middle of my bed, was the ugliest dog I’d ever seen. It was growling and tearing my blanket apart, and on the small patch of previously clear floor beside my bed, there were several stinking piles of shit. I had to assume that the animal had pissed on my desk chair if the puddle beneath it was a hint.
On the window, someone had scrawled the word Bitch with what looked like red lipstick.
“Whoa, what the fuck?” Carly exclaimed, startling me somewhat. She peered over my shoulder with ease thanks to her height. “Um, Ash…”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not my dog.”
“I should hope not,” she retorted with a snort of laughter. “Because holy hell. Ew, does it have fleas?”
The mutt itself was now scratching furiously in the middle of my torn-up bed. Fantastic.
“Well, at least that’s something,” I muttered, getting a full view of the canine’s undercarriage as she scratched. “Jade was funny enough to deliver a bitch to complete her joke.”
“Jade,” Carly repeated, sounding ill. “Yeah…that checks out. After you ground her into the dirt, I had a feeling she’d be out for blood. Sorry I dragged you into this, Ash.”
I sighed, eyeing the dog warily. “It’s not your fault. I would have ended up here with or without your help.” I’d already told her all about Nate’s less than friendly attitude toward me at our parents wedding, but I’d omitted the crap about Heath. No one needed that info, and truthfully, I didn’t trust my own conviction in insisting nothing happened. Not after I’d spent a month wishing something more had .
“Still…” Carly pinched her nose. “I’ll help you clean up, but what are we going to do with the dog?”
I pursed my lips, eyeing the furiously scratching canine. I had no idea where Jade lived, to return the favor, but I did know where Carter lived…
“I can handle the clean-up, if you can deliver the dog somewhere?” I arched a brow at her in question. She’d seemed almost scared of Carter earlier, but he’d be an idiot to shoot the messenger.
Carly shrugged. “Sure, I’ll grab something to use as a leash. Want me to take her to the pound?”
I smiled wickedly. “Something like that.”
She gave me a puzzled look but ducked back to her room to find a temporary leash for the mutt. Not wanting to risk getting bitten, I just stood there watching the canine shed fleas all over my bed until Carly returned, then we spent way too long trying to wrestle the feral creature into a diamanté collar-style necklace attached to a silk dress tie.
Once we had her secured, I pulled up Nate’s apartment info on my phone—Max had given it to me just in case —and wrote it down on a scrap of paper for Carly. Then I scribbled another note for Carter, informing him that his good friend Jade seemed to have misplaced her mutt.
I made sure to sign it with my name, so he would know perfectly well that it was me—not Carly—taking action.
“Here.” I handed both notes to Carly. She raised her brows at me in question, then read them and groaned. “Ash…this is a bad idea.”
“I’m sure it is, but bullies don’t learn from their mistakes if we just roll over and show our bellies. I’m sure Carter will see that the mangy mutt gets sorted out and will drop the dog to the pound too.”
Carly scoffed a laugh, then ran a hand through her hair. “Fine. But if this goes pear-shaped?—”
“I’ll tell them I blackmailed you and you had no choice but to be complicit in my petty affairs,” I assured her confidently.
She frowned. “Fuck that, I was going to say if it all goes pear-shaped, we will at least have each other when we get run out of town.”
I laughed, not expecting her to become a ride-or-die so quick. I didn’t hate it, though. Carly grinned back, then clicked her tongue to the ratty-looking canine, tugging her out of my room with the bedazzled homemade collar and leash.
Once she was gone, I reassessed the mess of my room. It smelled atrocious, so the first thing I did was open the windows for fresh air. Then cleaned up the pile of poo and disposed of it in the trash chute.
With that taken care of, I tackled the rest of the room. Far too much stuff ended up getting tossed into the trash, including my bedding and—to my dismay—two of the model cars I’d built with my dad.
Carly returned an hour later and insisted on helping me clean, so it went fairly quickly, and soon we had the whole room stripped and smelling like lemon disinfectant.
“Thanks for your help,” I told her with a yawn as we sat on the now-clean floor. “I have to admit, I thought this kind of prank shit was left behind in high school.”
“You didn’t have the bitchy mean girls who think they’re untouchable at Valley State?” Carly wrinkled her nose with confusion. “I’m jealous. Maybe I should have gone there instead.”
I snickered. “As if that was an option for you.” She’d already told me about her music industry family and how she’d attended the Grammys with her uncle when she was only sixteen.
“New linen delivery is half an hour away,” she informed me, checking her phone. She’d insisted on replacing my destroyed bedding, and I’d accepted because I really didn’t want to sleep on a bare mattress tonight and the nearest Walmart had already closed.
“You’re the best, Carly,” I told her. “But I thought you were planning on attending this party at the lake tonight?”
She nodded. “I am, and I think you should too. The whole reason Jade did this today was to stop you going to the party—you know that, right? She is desperate for Carter’s attention and after that whole scene this morning, she probably thinks you’re a threat.”
The snort that I let out was far from elegant, but Jesus fucking Christ, I’d rather sleep with that fleabag stray dog than Carter Bassington Junior.
Okay. That wasn’t totally true—he was sexy as hell and if he weren’t evil and didn’t have such a shit personality, I’d go for him in a heartbeat.
“Wouldn’t it have already started?” It was after nine already. “Or is it one of those after midnight situations?” Which I was pretty sure didn’t actually happen in real life because surely people needed to sleep?
Carly just laughed like I was making a joke. “You’re funny. All right, I’m gonna go shower and change. Wear sensible shoes, okay? Too many dumb girls twist their ankle trying to wear heels on sand and grass.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “I’ll need to shower too and wait for my sheets to arrive. Can I meet you there?”
Carly narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Nice try. Get ready, I’ll let you know when the linen arrives.”
She disappeared before I could come up with any more excuses, and I sighed. A cool breeze blew in from the open window and I shivered, remembering that I needed to close it before leaving the room. Just in case.
We’d already dragged my bed away from the window while cleaning, so I wiggled into the gap to reach over and close the heavy old window. Another strong breeze caught it as I started to close it, and the damn thing slammed hard enough to make my teeth clench.
Thankfully, it didn’t break, and I flicked the old metal latch to lock it, but as I did so, my toe bumped a loose section of the skirting board.
“Shit,” I muttered, leaning down in the tight space to try and push the board back into place. When I couldn’t reach, I gave my bed a shove to create more space, then discovered the skirting board wasn’t loose after all. It was cut. Intentionally.
Someone had created a hiding space. How cool.
Dropping to my knees, excitement and intrigue filled my chest. Would anything be in there? I grasped the cut edges of the board with my fingernails and carefully wiggled it free, then tentatively put my hand inside.
Two weeks after I was initiated into the Devil’s Backbone Society, another student went missing. She—like me—was a “randomly” selected initiate. I think she’s dead, just like Sarah Black, but there’s no evidence. No proof. Everyone is saying she ran off with a boyfriend, but I’m not buying it.
I told one of the other Society members that I wanted out, and he threatened me. That confirmed my fears about the latest disappearance…if I’m not careful, I’ll be next. So I decided to start this diary to record all the awful things they’re doing. If I’m wrong, I’ll destroy it. But if I’m right…
I told one of the other DBs about my plan. About how I was going to keep a record of all the shady shit and piece together the murders that I was sure they were responsible for. I never should have trusted him, but he had a way about him…his eyes were so trustworthy, which sounds weird now that I think about it because they’re the oddest shade of dark blue. Or maybe it was his accent that fooled me?
Either way, I told him…and now I regret it. But that won’t stop me from writing this diary, not a damn chance. If anything, it’s more important now than ever.
The last week or so—since telling one of the DB initiates about my diary—has been really weird. Nothing has happened. Nothing sinister, anyway. The weekly meeting on Sunday night was so normal, it has my nerves on edge. Did he tell the leaders I was keeping a record? Were they trying to gaslight me into thinking I’d imagined the danger? I never should have said anything…
Someone ransacked my room tonight. The Devil’s Backbone had an event that required everyone attend—just a dumb gala thing—but when I got home my whole room was trashed. Even the mattress was ripped open, like whoever had done it was searching for something.
They didn’t find this diary, though. Now I know my hiding place is secure and I also know not to trust any of the other DBs.
Something really weird is going on with the DB Society. Everyone acts really chill and calm, pretending like they’re doing nothing wrong, but I know what I saw. I know they were responsible for the chapel burning down last night because I saw them do it. Sure, they were in their robes and creepy metal masks so I don’t know who exactly lit the match, but it was the DBs for sure.
One of the groundskeepers got badly burned while trying to put out the blaze, yet no one is fessing up. They’re all so fake, it makes me sick. I need to report them.
I know I should report the DBS. Another student went missing yesterday. They aren’t calling it missing though. No, the student withdrew in the middle of the night and moved all their things out without a word. I’m not buying it, but Delaney was different. Delaney had asked me about the DBS. I played dumb but now he’s just gone.
I’ve gone to the administration building three times. My courage always fails. There’s always a DB there, one I know. It’s someone different each time. Do they know what I want to do? Are they making sure I don’t? Break is coming.
Maybe I leave and don’t come back.
My induction into the Devil’s Backbone Society was utterly terrifying. I was snatched off the street at night, a bag pulled over my head and my hands bound. They threw me into a van and drove us up to Cat’s Peak. Then one by one, we had to jump, blindfolded, from the ledge.
Most of us survived. Most…but not all.
Devil’s Backbone Society like to pretend they’re just a bunch of rich kids doing dumb rich kid things…because they’re bored. They like to pretend they’re not all psychopaths and murderers playing god with the petty mortal lives. Everyone in the Society has enough money to make anything disappear. Anything at all. Even the awful shit that happened at the Founders’ Gala. If people knew what they did that night…I wish I had proof that I could share with the world.