Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
CASSIE
I am so angry, I swear my blood is actually boiling.
I can’t even pace up and down because the bastard kept the handcuffs in place. I am trussed up like a bull at a rodeo and I hate Frankie Majerio more than anyone in my life so far.
If I’m honest though, when I saw the other guys, I was grateful, especially knowing who claimed Kennedy. Amos Sams is the creepiest guy on campus and I bet Frankie had a hand in his name even being on the challenge list. He probably set it all up to anger Kennedy, which reveals exactly how twisted his mind is.
A low whisper diverts my attention as Kennedy hisses from the cell next door, “Fuck this shit.”
I say nothing as she whines, “Amos fucking Sams. I’m in hell—shoot me now.”
“At least he’s not a psychopath.” Autumn sounds upset and I wonder what happened in the tunnel between her and River. Kennedy asks the question, so I don’t have to.
“Why are you complaining? At least River is hot.”
“He is but, well–” She breaks off and Kennedy’s voice lights with interest.
“What did he do?”
Autumn whispers, “He was rather forceful, Kennedy. I swear he was enjoying it a little too much and now I understand how the cave women must have felt when they were dragged into the cave.”
Despite myself, I chuckle softly and Kennedy snaps, “It’s okay for you, Cassie. You’ve scored big tonight. Frankie is a God at Rockwell and you will be the envy of every girl here.”
“It doesn’t feel like that.” I moan, hating every second of his victory.
Autumn adds, “It’s true, Cassie. You just signed your name at the top of the pecking order. You wait and see how life changes for you tomorrow. I would give anything to be you right now.”
“Me too.” Kennedy moans and sighs heavily. “Okay, this is the hand I’ve been dealt and I’ll play along, but if that creep even touches me, I’m reporting him for indecent assault to Principal Constable.”
She sounds so upset I actually feel sorry for her and Autumn says kindly, “It will be fine. We’ll figure it out.”
She sighs. “River is rather gorgeous, though, isn’t he? I mean, I did have my eye on him anyway, so I guess I should be happy.”
Kennedy hisses, “I would trade with you in a heartbeat, but what I’m most annoyed about is that Jack was part of the challenge. Fuck, if I had known, I would have tripped him up myself and chained myself to his ankles, so he had no choice.”
I resist laughing out loud because despite the circumstances, Kennedy James is really starting to grow on me.
* * *
It must be thirty minutes later when our centurions return and as the bolt slides back from the door, my heart quickens. Frankie enters the cell and regards me with interest and as I face him with a frown, he holds out his hand.
“Come, I’ll unlock you. This evening may be longer than we anticipated.”
As he removes the key from his pocket and sets about unlocking the handcuffs, I ask, “Did you find anything?”
“No and neither did Jesse.”
“Jesse?”
He leans in and whispers, “Jesse was waiting on the river bank and reported that Siri and Jack made it across the river. Siri tore a hole in her arm and is currently being patched up in the medical room with Jack in attendance.”
I stare at him anxiously. “Will she be okay?”
“I believe so, but I want to check on her as soon as I can.”
“We can go now.”
He shakes his head.
“Not until we find Abigail.”
“She didn’t make it to the other side?” I stare at him, fearful that she fell into difficulty in the river.
“She never made it out of the tunnel.”
Frankie’s eyes gleam in the darkness and I gasp, “What, you mean she’s still here somewhere?”
“She must be, but we searched all five tunnels and came up with nothing.”
“The door.” I say quickly, “She must have found a way through that locked door. Did you check it?”
“It’s still locked.” Frankie sighs heavily. “If she did open it, she would have needed the key. There is no key. We combed every stone in this dungeon and it simply wasn’t there.”
“But she must be somewhere.”
My fear is growing by the second because this isn’t good. If Abigail isn’t here, where is she and I still can’t shake the assumption she fell into the river.
Kennedy’s loud voice interrupts our conversation as she yells, “Don’t you dare touch me!”
“You’re coming with me.” Amos hisses and as they pass by the cell, I witness a furious Kennedy being led like a dog by her centurion, who appears to be ecstatic about how the evening ended for him.
I follow Frankie into the chamber and this time the guys are without their centurion costumes. I note their worried faces as Frankie says to Autumn and Kennedy, “Did either of you meet Abigail in the tunnels?”
“Of course.” Kennedy chews on her bottom lip.
“We were together for most of the time before we decided to split up. We each took one tunnel, and I was the first to be caught.”
There is a hint of pride in her voice that soon changes when she sighs. “To be honest, I didn’t put up much of a fight. I mean, seriously, this place is rank and this outfit cost too much to be ruined in some stupid game.”
Frankie rolls his eyes and turns to Autumn. “What about you?”
She glances nervously at River, who maintains a blank expression before saying softly, “It was like Kennedy said. I took the middle tunnel, at least I think it was. I couldn’t see a thing and, well, I’m scared of spiders and imagined they were everywhere. I heard nothing but my own racing heart and when River caught hold of my ankle, I couldn’t think about anything else.”
There is something not quite right with Autumn. She won’t look at River and appears to be shaking and I wonder about that. Frankie is thoughtful and his eyes drag between them before he turns to me.
“What about you and Siri, Cassie? Did you see Abigail in the tunnel?”
“Only when we chose which one to crawl through. I told the others the correct one, and they chose to select different ones.”
“Why? You knew it was the way out?”
Frankie stares at the other girls in surprise and Kennedy fires back. “The entire point of the exercise was to be claimed, duh. Why would we sign up in the first place if we wanted our freedom? That’s pretty dumb if you ask me and so we chose to remain in the game. Mind you–” She glares at Amos. “I would have been straight in that tunnel to freedom if I had known how it would end up. Nothing would have got in my way either.”
Frankie stifles a grin as Amos shrugs, obviously unbothered by his girl’s obvious hatred of him.
Autumn nods. “It’s true and I can speak for Abigail as well. We all wanted to experience The Claiming, which is why I doubt she tried to escape.”
“But she did.” Santi sighs as he peers into the gloom of the tunnels.
“We should check them one last time before admitting defeat. If she’s not here, she must have escaped somehow.”
“Not past me.”
Ali enters the chamber and says with a sigh. “I haven’t moved from my post and it’s getting kind of cold out there.”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
I stare at Frankie in frustration and Kennedy huffs. “Well, if you think I’m crawling back in there, think again. I’m heading back to the house and I’m taking Autumn with me. I’m guessing Abi is there now, tucked up in bed and celebrating that she’s not saddled with any of this.”
She glances at Ben, who is mightily pissed right now because of everyone he is still minus a victory, Jack aside.
“Well, it’s impossible for her to just disappear.”
Frankie addresses Ben. “Did you see her at all?”
“No.” He shrugs. “When we were released, I followed you and when the tunnels appeared, we all took one, except for you and Jack, who couldn’t figure out who was going in first.”
I stare at Frankie with interest, and he merely shrugs and sighs.
“Then we’ll check once again before calling it a night. Kennedy’s probably right and Abigail is already back at the house and laughing at us.”
Kennedy nods and turns to Autumn. “Come on honey, let’s leave them to their game. I need a hot shower.”
“Not so fast.”
River’s commanding tone rings out in the chamber and he grasps Autumn’s hand. “There are rules to run through first, and I’m not leaving Autumn to wander through the dark woods without my protection.”
Amos nods. “I agree. We don’t know if anyone else is involved, so we will escort you back to check it’s safe.”
The girls appear stunned butI don’t miss the spark of happiness in their eyes as they share a look and then Kennedy nods and sighs heavily. “Come on. I can’t get out of this place soon enough?”
As they leave, she casts one last longing glance at Frankie and sighs, before offering me a watery smile. “Good luck guys. If Abi is back at the house, we’ll let you know.”
As they leave as a group, my heart twists in agony for Kennedy James. Despite everything, I do quite like the girl and she didn’t deserve her fate in the slightest.