Chapter 14
APOLLO
Daphne didn’t have any friends.
I stormed down Redwood Academy’s hallways, hoping to find someone who might know more about Mark Sesta because I was sure that he had taken her. She wouldn’t have just left her car like that in the middle of a fucking snowstorm.
Yet nobody knew anything about her.
She usually likes to be left alone. She doesn’t really talk to anyone.
She’s kind of… quiet, you know? The comments ran through my head, but one replayed over and over from one of the cheerleaders who had started this whole mess on social media.
I thought she was a challenge to you. What do you care about what happens to her?
When those words left her mouth, I nearly hit her.
“Excuse me,” I said to a couple girls, lingering by their lockers. “Do you know Daphne?”
“Daphne? Who’s that?”
“Daphne Laurel.”
They both looked at each other and shrugged. I flared my nostrils and continued through the hallways. Daphne wasn’t just stubborn or guarded; she didn’t let anyone in. Not here at school. Probably not at home either. Not anywhere.
My chest tightened. She didn’t have any friends.
I didn’t know why I cared so much. She actively tried to push me away whenever she got the chance, had stolen my clothes, and had driven in a snowstorm. I should’ve been pissed at her, but I was worried.
More than just worried. I was terrified that she was dead.
I ran a hand through my hair. Someone had to know something.
“Hey, Apollo?” someone shouted behind me. With her glasses nearly falling down her face, she hurried up to me, breathing heavily. She readjusted herself as she approached. “You’re Apollo DeLuca, right?”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Allie Hall,” she said. “I heard you were looking for Daphne.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“I used to live next to her before my mom moved me in with my stepbrother,” she said. “I don’t know much about her, but I do have her number. I texted her earlier today when I first heard you were looking for her, but she hasn’t responded to me.”
“Fuck,” I mumbled, pacing the floor. “Do you know where she’d be?”
“No.”
“What about Mark Sesta? Do you know him?”
Allie froze. “Mark? He’d hang around the neighborhood a lot. Why?”
“Because I think he took her. Do you know where he is?”
“I don’t, but I know someone who might.”
I snapped my head in her direction. “Who?”
“Jo?o Rocha,” she said. “Leader of Poison.”
“Poison?”
She widened her eyes. “Poison, the gang. You haven’t heard of them?”
“No. Should I have?”
“They cut off the principal’s head last semester and threw it onto the football field,” she said. “You sure you haven’t heard of them?”
“That Poison?” I asked. “They know him?”
She shrugged, worry still etched onto her face. “They might, and if they don’t, then they will find the information for you. But they have a price. Jo?o Rocha and Poison always have a price.”
“I don’t care. Where can I find him?”
“Two hallways down to the left. You’ll probably find him by his locker.”
“Thanks, Allie,” I said, hurrying in that direction.
While I didn’t want to work with Poison, if Jo?o could help me find Daphne, I didn’t care.