Chapter 27
CAT
I kept my head high, my expression clear, and hoped Cruelty saw it. I hoped she was clenching her little rat hands in rage.
“This is creepy,” Miz breathed as we entered the dining hall.
It hadn’t changed in the weeks I’d been away from Ford.
The same wainscotting on the walls, the same tureens of food in the corner by the large windows, sunlight spilling over the tables occupied by students.
Unlike last time, a quietude hung over the room.
That was what raised goosebumps on my arms as we crossed the hall, filling plates with various breakfast foods and scoping the place out.
“They’re like robots,” Madde whispered as we found a table by the wall and just watched the students. They didn’t react to our presence, didn’t flinch at our voices, just kept their heads down as they ate, any conversations they held mumbling and low.
The plan was to ask around discreetly for any sightings of Peach here, while Tor, Pain, and Death searched this building from top to bottom.
It would be like Cruelty to have Peach here, right under our noses, where it would hurt us the most when we realised how close she’d been all along.
But we had to be careful, so she or Violence didn’t notice.
If they knew we weren’t playing their perfect, ordinary pupils game, there’d be worse consequences than detention.
When we left the room, the new guards in Ford School of Cruelty uniforms standing outside our room had held out a crisp envelope.
Inside was a summons to detention at 4PM later today.
The last thing I wanted was to spend any time with Cruelty, especially if that bitch wore Honey’s face again, but if it kept her occupied while we searched for Peach, I was resigned to do so.
I looked up from the agave I was stirring into my acai smoothie bowl when four chairs scraped back in unison. Across the room, four girls I vaguely recognised stood in a synchronised motion, pushed their chairs back in, and walked to the exit.
“They look like a synchronised swimming team,” I whispered to Madde and Miz, and sharpened my attention on the doorway when Justin, Wil, and Duncan walked through, barely a foot of space between them, as if they’d been programmed into being besties.
Duncan couldn’t stand anyone at this school, least of all Justin.
I remembered him sitting in the snow by the gates, stressed to breaking point.
Guilt spiked my chest. I’d walked away, safe in the domain, and just left him here.
I’d left Wil, too, and all he’d ever been was kind and accepting.
Both of them, vulnerable to Cruelty and Violence’s manipulations.
I got to my feet, leaving my food untouched, and joined him, Wil, and Justin at the table they sat at, without food, without coffee. They didn’t murmur conversations like some of the other tables. Maybe even Cruelty’s magic couldn’t convince Duncan to play pretend that much.
“Hey,” I said, sitting opposite him, peering into his eyes and searching for something of the guy I knew. When he didn’t react, I leaned closer and whispered, “Duncan. It’s Cat. We’re friends, remember?”
And I had a very short supply of those. I wouldn’t let a single death god take anyone else from me. It was enough. No, it was already too fucking much. Byron. Honey. My brother, made into a supernatural creature. Me, too. No more.
Misery sat on my left, Madde pressing close on my right as I tried to get through to Duncan again, to no avail. Robotic, like Madde said.
“Can we do anything?” I whispered to my men. “Duncan’s a good person; he doesn’t deserve this. Wil doesn’t, either.”
Justin, on the other hand, had acted threateningly towards Honey that day in the garage. I’d never got a bad vibe from him before that, but that day shifted my view of him. Was he one of Nightmare’s minions? Was he still one of Cruelty’s henchmen?
“Let’s see.” Madde rested his elbows on the table, his fingers flicking and swirling in the air. Unlike the cat’s cradle he made with the shadow pyre, this was a net of vibrating death magic.
“Be careful,” I breathed, casting a look around the room. No one was paying attention to us as far as I could tell. “Don’t hurt them. Except Justin. You can hurt him a little.”
“Which one’s Justin?” Madde asked, his tongue poking out as he concentrated on widening his net of magic. “Normcore, Clearly Bisexual, or Oxford Librarian?”
I tried not to laugh. “Normcore?” I would have called him Try Hard, because he threw cash on designer clothes to look messy and slouchy and like he didn’t give a shit.
He could have achieved a more authentic look by walking into any vintage or second-hand shop.
No one went to that much effort to be effortless.
The effect of Madde’s magic was instantaneous. Duncan’s emotionless face twisted into a snarl, and he shoved Justin away from him. “Prick,” he spat.
“You’re one to fucking talk,” Justin snarled back.
Wil just met my eyes with a wide-eyed stare, panic practically bleeding from him.
“Are you okay?” I asked, startled by the contrast between their empty eyes a second ago and the riot of life and emotion in them now.
Wil’s hands shook as he raised them to his face, dragging them through his blonde hair. “I’d love to say I’m okay, babes, but I’m not. I don’t know how the hell I got here.”
I winced. What could we tell them? Miz decided to skip that part altogether. He leaned across the table and grabbed the front of Justin’s baggy hoodie. “Have you seen a prairie dog?”
Justin’s eyes widened, the colour bleaching from his tanned face. “Anne-Marie Evangeline had a Pomeranian but she… oh god. She was murdered last week. How did I forget that? How did I forget that?”
“Focus,” Miz snapped, shaking Justin. “A prairie dog. Small, golden-brown fur, cute as fuck, big dark eyes.”
“I-I’m sorry, man,” Justin stuttered, his eyes wide and distant, as if he was remembering a week’s worth of trauma. Maybe more. “I don’t know what that is.”
“Hey,” Wil snapped, getting to his feet. “Let him go. I know he’s a prick but can’t just grab the guy.”
Miz whipped around to face Wil. “Tell me what you know. Where is she?”
“Miz,” I breathed, reaching out to rest my hand on his back. “I don’t think they know anything.”
“They have to!” he argued.
Justin’s eyes shifted away from us, then back. He got unsteadily to his feet.
I narrowed my eyes, reminded of my suspicion of this fucker. “What did you say to Honey that day in the garage?”
“Nothing,” Justin replied too quickly.
I didn’t look away from him when I said, “Madde, darling.”
My husband took no further encouragement. He flicked a glimmer of dark magic at Justin, and the remaining colour bleached from his face. His breathing came quicker, a glint of insanity in his eyes. He grabbed at his head, ripping at his hair until a chunk came out.
“Answer me,” I said coldly. “My best friends are both dead, and you know something about Honey. Tell me.”
“Jesus, Cat,” Duncan breathed, still sitting at the table across from me, watching as if he’d never seen me before.
“I-I—” Justin spluttered, shaking so hard his hands blurred.
“Tell her,” Miz commanded in a voice of steel and ice. “Now!”
Justin flinched hard, tears lining his eyes with silver. He blurted, “I found her nudes, alright! Nightmare threatened to tell my mum about my habit unless I got Honey on board, too.”
“Your habit,” I echoed.
“Coke, alright. Fuck!” He tore at his hair, the words forced from him against his will.
His eyes bulged as he fought the magic and failed.
“I couldn’t have my mum find out, she’d fucking kill me, okay?
She’d cut off my allowance and ban me from the jet.
The last time I fucked up, I had to stay home while everyone else went to Aruba, and Alyssa cheated on me with Tony fucking Moreno. And both of them are fucking dead now!”
I ignored the entitled whining. “What do you mean Nightmare wanted her on board?”
“She wanted her doing little jobs like the rest of us. Blackmail, threats, fucking fucked up shit, man.”
“Eloquent,” Miz drawled. He tilted his head, and Justin screamed. “So you had a hand in Honey’s death.”
“No, fuck, I swear I didn’t touch her! I just threatened to send those pictures to her mum.” Her mum, the vicar. “Anything that happened after, I wasn’t there.”
“Jesus,” Duncan said again, this time in disbelief. “You’re a piece of shit.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I hissed.
“You don’t know where Peach is,” Misery checked, watching Justin like he was a worm on a hook.
“No. God. I swear, I’d tell you if I knew.”
“He’s spineless,” I remarked. “I believe him.”
“So do I,” Miz agreed, but darkness flickered around him and within his golden eyes as his power surged.
Justin’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, seized with a fit that lasted only seconds before he went still.
“Unfortunately for Justin, I have no use for him, and no reason to keep him alive.”
“Holy shit.” Duncan jumped out of his seat and backed up. “Cat, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I am not a fucking part of it.”
“I haven’t seen a prairie dog either,” Wil added breathlessly, his fear obvious. Because Justin lay on the floor, dead, and he had no guarantee he wouldn’t be next. “But I’ll tell Cat the minute I see one, okay?”
“Fine,” Miz sighed, dismissive. There were no clues to be found here, but there was a whole room full of other people, and I watched him realise that, too. His back straightened, purpose filling his eyes.
“Catch you later, Cat,” Wil said and made a hasty exit. I wondered how long he’d keep his own mind, and how soon Cruelty’s manipulation would settle its fog over him again.
“You can’t trust him!” an unwelcome female voice blurted, and I spun to see Miz had woken four more students from the fog.
One of which was an Asian girl with sleek brown hair, an eyebrow piercing, and an outfit of matching bubblegum pink Alo athleticwear.
We locked eyes and heat shot through me, my temper like a flame.
“Cat, you can’t trust him! I know you hate me, but please listen. ”
“You,” Misery said in a deep voice, full of enough foreboding to send shivers through me. I could have said something, could have moved towards him, or have reached across the bond, but I did nothing to stop him killing Phil.
She hit the polished floor with a thud, and while I flinched, while sympathy and regret tried to creep into my heart, I reminded myself of her betrayal.
Honey died that night, in her room, waiting for us to go back to tell her all was safe.
Instead, Cruelty murdered her and stole her likeness. And Phil made it possible.
I was done with sympathy, done with compassion for people who had wronged me. Maybe Phil was like the rest of us, and maybe Cruelty had fucked with her head and found a pressure point to exploit, but I didn’t care. She took my best friend. Miz took her life. Balance.
Mostly, I was wondering about who polished the floor she’d splayed against. Who kept Ford sparkling clean now it had been taken over by Cruelty and Violence?
Cat, you can’t trust him! I know you hate me, but please listen.
I shook my head. Fuck her mind games. I already had enough games to play with Cruelty; I didn’t need any more.
“Can’t trust who?” Madde mused, following my line of thought. “One of these bastards? Him?” He extended his finger at Duncan who hovered, close but at a safe distance from my husbands.
I shook my head. Shut out even the idea of that. I didn’t have many friends left, and only one I trusted not to stab me in the back. I wouldn’t start doubting him now.
Are you okay? Duncan mouthed when he caught my eye. When I nodded, he watched a moment longer to ensure I was sure, then backed towards the door.
“That’s sketchy,” Madde said, wrapping both arms around me and resting his chin atop my head. “Hovering and watching you is very sketchy.”
“He wanted to check I was alright. Probably because Miz is going around killing people,” I sighed, watching my psychotic husband move onto the next group. I knew them from classes we’d shared even if I’d never exchanged more than a handful of words with them. Nadia, Cataraina, Annabelle, and Leah.
“Miz!” I lunged towards him when a wordless scream of frustration left his throat, darkness pooling around him, his legs disappearing, arms next, until he was a cloak and nothing more. “Don’t—”
“Ah, shit,” Madde sighed as all four girls dropped their faces to the table, expressions slack, eyes vacant. “There’s going to be so much clean-up after this. So much for the psycho siblings not finding out.”