Chapter 9
9
Sonny
“ A re you guys okay?” I ask across the ocean of black, already missing the light.
I can hear them moving around and muttering things to each other, but no one answers me right away. When I repeat the question, it’s Ava who responds. “I think everyone is fine. What are you doing here?”
“What are we doing here?” Beatrix questions incredulously.
“Probably those damn journals,” Jonah mutters. “I told you we shouldn’t have touched them.”
“Who is Sonny?” Ava interrogates.
They speak so fast, their questions coming at a rapid-fire that I’m not used to. How long have I been down here that my brain feels this delayed?
Instead of answering the dreaded question, I counter with another, “What day is it?”
Maybe if we can find a way to keep track between the four of us, we won’t be so lost.
“It’s Wednesday,” Ava patiently supplies. “It was morning when they came.”
So, I was right about them being pulled from their beds. Shit. If it’s Wednesday, I’ve only been here for four days.
Three long, torturous days.
“Sonny is me,” I admit through a sigh.“My cousin’s name is Penelope Ellery.”
“Your cousin . . .” Ava drawls doubtfully.
“You lied to us?” Beatrix balks.
“No. No, I never lied about anything that mattered,” I insist. “Everything I said was the truth. I was only using a false name.”
“How are we supposed to believe a word you say?” Beatrix’s tone is sharp, but I can hear the hurt behind all that anger.
I’ve betrayed them. I know that. But this whole semester, we’ve been cultivating a real friendship. I can’t let it slip through my fingers over this stupid lie that has ruined my entire life—and probably ended it. For the first time ever, I’ve made friends with people by relating to them through my own personality; not Poppy’s. I wasn’t just her weird, tagalong cousin who she would have to ensure I was cool just to convince people to keep me around.
I was Sonny—complete with all my flaws. And they accepted me for that.
“Because nothing has changed,” I insist. “I’ve never had friendships like the ones I have with you guys. People I can relate to and be myself. I came to Ravenshurst under Poppy’s legacy, but I’ve been Sonny through and through.”
God, I wish I could see their faces. I wish they could see the authenticity in mine.
Instead, I’m pouring my heart out into this black abyss.
“That’s bullshit,” Beatrix bites back, and Jonah makes a disapproving sound.
“You lied about so much more,” Ava’s soft voice says, interrupting whatever Beatrix was going to say. “What about your parents...hell, your entire family life? And we heard them talking about you and Dr. Whitlock.”
“Dr. Whitlock—” I start to say, but stop myself. Shaking the thought of him away, I decide it’s more important to tackle my parents than whatever fucked-up thing I had with Raze. “He’s nothing. And my mother was expelled from Ravenshurst. She was front page news. It’s not like I could risk having the truth be exposed if I wanted to stand a chance here.”
“You could have trusted us,” Beatrix pipes up angrily. But I know her well enough to hear the hurt in her words, too.
“I do!” I practically yell. Sucking in a breath, I pace a small circle in the open space of my cell to calm myself. Then, I let the truth fall from my lips. “When I was in the woods...whatever Matilda gave me had my gifts go into overdrive. I was seeing visions from the past in rapid-fire—answering questions I didn’t even realize I had. It all connects. Finley, Lewis, Dr. Whitlock, my mother ...”
I pause, squinting in the direction I’ve been hearing their voices to catch even the smallest movement. You’d think that after spending this long down here without light, my eyes would adjust enough to see their silhouettes or the bars that separate us. Instead, I’m met with the same suffocating darkness that’s been driving me insane since Raze and the others walked up the stairs and snuffed all the lights out.
“I woke up on a beach, a few feet away from the ocean, and they were all standing over me. Aunt Divina looked like she wanted to murder me, and Raze—I mean, Dr. Whitlock—looked like he barely knew me. Those other two men are members of the Midnight Syndicate.”
“The Midnight Syndicate?” Ava questions, and I smile at the curiosity in her voice. “They aren’t still around.”
They’re listening. They may not have much of a choice, but at least they aren’t cutting me off or arguing with me still.
“Yes.” I nod at the nothingness. “They admitted it.”
“What else did they admit?” she asks.
I drop my head, squeezing my hands into fists at my side.
This is it. I have to decide now if I fully trust them. If I’m still keeping secrets.
“Dr. Whitlock killed my parents.”
I hear their gasps, and then Ava whispers, “How can that be?”
“I’ve been telling you for years , there’s something off about that guy,” Beatrix shouts, probably to Ava.
“ The psycho teaching psych.” Leni had said. God, I wish I knew back then.
“He’s their weapon,” I supply. “I don’t know the exact reason he was sent after them, but it had something to do with my mom not wanting to stay silent. Matilda mentioned she had come to her shop when I was younger. I bet she knows something.”
“Matilda knows a whole lot more than we’ve realized,” Ava agrees.
“They’ve probably already killed her,” Jonah finally says, and I smile at the sound of his voice, despite his crude words.
“When we talked on the beach, she was still alive,” I supply.
“What else?” Ava prods.
Swallowing past the boulder sitting in my throat, I voice the news I’ve been avoiding since they told me. “Poppy’s dead.”
“They killed her?” Beatrix spits, her tone harsh again.
I shrug, even though they can’t see me. “I have no idea what happened to her. She wasn’t herself the last time we talked.”
“I’m sorry,” Ava whispers gently.
“It’s just another reason to get out of here and kill those bastards with our bare hands,” Beatrix growls.
Jonah scoffs. “We’ve been locked in the darkness and forgotten. We don’t stand a chance against any of them. Especially if they’re a part of the Midnight Syndicate.”
“Who were those men who brought you here?” They acted like they knew me, but I’ve never seen them before.
Ava is the first to answer. “No idea. I woke up to someone shoving a bag over my head and tossing me over their shoulder. They didn’t take it off until we were already in these tunnels. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown onto the floor here.”
“You’d think if these assholes are supposedly the most gifted individuals in the world, they’d have a better way to gather their prisoners,” Jonah derides, and I can practically hear the eye roll he’s likely accompanying his bitter words with. Leave it to Jonah to be unimpressed with his captors’ methods.
“I don’t think most people get a chance to sit in the prisons before Raze takes care of them himself,” I mutter.
I hear the shuffling of someone climbing to their feet, and then uneven footsteps going back and forth across the cement floor. “I don’t get why they would have a Null working as their hitman?” Ava voices the thought out loud.
She’s right. How haven’t I thought of this before?
Why would they bother with Raze if they have people who could likely use their gifts in much more violent ways?
And why would he do anything for them after what happened to his brother?
“There’s something we don’t know,” Beatrix surmises.
“You don’t even know the half of it,” I agree. Then, since there’s nothing better to do, I tell them every detail of what I saw in the woods.