Tommy
“Where are we going, dude?” Bax asks as we walk into the forest like Coach told us to. I told them I’d drive us to the park entrance. I ditched my car, knowing we were going to get pissed drunk and didn’t want to have the temptation of crashing it.
Remy pulls at the collar of his leather jacket, takes a swig of the bottle, and hands it to me.
“A little farther,” he answers and keeps trudging forward.
Bax takes the bottle I hand him. “Good,” he says. “This place is tripping me out, man.”
Remy changed back into his dark ripped jeans and heavy boots. Bax and I are in our letterman jackets. It feels weird wearing the jacket around Remy, like that’s part of the reason he won’t be friends with me anymore. Like he’s above it or something.
Our eyes meet briefly, and at least his eyes aren’t full of disdain this time. They just seem haunted and sad. “What are we doing this far out?” I ask him.
“I want to check something out,” he says and keeps walking. I want to ask what, but I bite my tongue. All that’s out this way are the creepy haunted caves, but this is a breakthrough for us, and I don’t want to mess it up by talking too much.
This was where Shadowface lives—Kinsmen’s own version of the boogeyman. Of course, that’s what they say. But Shadowface isn’t just a story; he’s real, or at least, he was. And he really did kill people.
We finally arrive at a cave. It’s dusk now, and we’ll have to find our way back in the darkness.
We enter the lip of the cave, which opens to a larger cavern below. There are a series of caves out here, but this is the only one accessible from the ground and with a cavern tall enough to stand in.
Remy sits on the ground and lays his feet out in front of him. I join him, and so does Bax, who places the flashlight in the middle of us, and we form a circle.
“Dude, it’s cold out here, man,” Bax says, taking a swig, then lights a joint.
Remy tilts his head, his dark hair resting over his shadowed eyes. “Make a fire, then. We’re going to be here awhile.”
Bax wastes no time ditching us with his flashlight to look for wood while Remy and I sit in silence.
We slowly pass the bottle back and forth between us, each taking long swigs as the darkness of the cave presses upon us.
After a few minutes, a fire roars to life from Bax’s impressive skills.
The warmth of the flames hits my face and the cavern quickly fills with heat.
Bax joins us, and finally, I dare to ask, “What the hell is going on with you, Remy?”
He takes a deep breath.
“Tell us, man. We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what the hell is going on. Did you kill Daniel?”
His dark eyes flick up at me, and he grabs something out of his pocket. A vial of white powder.
“No.”
I cross my arms. “Dude, where did you get that? If Coach finds out you’re doing drugs, you could get kicked off the team.”
He sniffs it and grins at me, as if daring me to do something about it. “You don’t understand yet, do you? I’m not getting kicked off anything. We’re going to win the State, regardless. I’m going to get into college and do whatever the hell I want when I want, and so are you.”
He hands me the powder, and I shake my head. I’ve never touched the stuff, and don’t plan to.
“Don’t be such a pussy,” he says to me. “This is why I quit being friends with you. You can’t handle the shit that’s coming at you.”
I rip the powder out of his hands. I’m a lot of things, but a pussy isn’t one of them.
I copy what he did, and place some on the space between my index finger and thumb, sniff it, and chase it with the bottle. I wipe my nose when I’m done. “There…happy?”
Ping…Damn…this shit goes straight to my head. My heart starts going a mile a minute.
Remy grins and leans back. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Bax, not one to be left out, grabs it from me and does the same.
After a few seconds it hits my heart, then my vision, which was blurry from the whiskey and is now sharp as a knife. For a few seconds, everything feels…. euphoric.
I slap Bax on the shoulder as he starts digging for more. “Hand it back.”
“One second, man.”
Remy rips it from Bax before I can get my hands on it. “Give it a few minutes, both of you. This shit is potent.”
I get up and start pacing. I don’t know what to do with my hands. “Where did you get it?”
“My sister. Don’t ask any more questions about it.”
The cocaine surges through me. “Well, I like it,” I admit.
He leans back and grins. “Yeah, I figured you would.”
I need more of it.
A few long seconds go by, and Bax ruffles around saying nothing. I hear him stumble, mutter, and curse. I figure he’s drunk and stoned, and high because we are all at this point.
“So, are you going to finally tell us what made you bug out?” I ask Remy, my gaze moving to the powder in his hand. “And what you meant earlier about dealing with all the shit coming at us?”
Remy shakes his head. “Your old man hasn’t told you jack shit, has he?”
“He’s told me enough,” I fire back, not wanting to seem too eager, even though I’m clueless as to what he’s talking about.
“What’s up with you and Diana?” Remy asks instead, and my skin prickles. In fact, it more than prickles; hearing him say her name makes my insides turn into razor blades.
I shrug it off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He gives me that cocky grin. “Don’t lie. Everyone saw you hiding under those bleachers last week.”
“I was just checking her out. This school’s small, man; it’s not every day we get fresh faces. Don’t pretend you weren’t looking, too.”
The fire flickers in his eyes and right now he reminds me of Talia. Not in the physical way, but their mannerisms. “Yeah. I’ve been looking at her.”
My blood sears beneath my skin. “Yeah. Whatever. I don’t give a shit.”
He doesn’t believe me, he gives me a sardonic grin. “You catching feelings, Tommy? Have you forgotten about Talia already?”
“Did you screw her in the library?” I fire back. Two can play this game. The two of them were seen talking in the library multiple times. I wonder if that’s where she’s been all week… With him.
He smirks. “Are you jealous?”
I want to knock his brains out. He’s jabbin’ me. He’s good at getting a rise out of me, and I can’t let him. I grab the powder out of his hand and give myself more as Bax sits down, passing me a joint. My hangover tomorrow is gonna be bad.
I grab the joint and hold it in my lips. “Whatever, dude. I don’t care about that chick. She’s nothing.”
“You should,” he says darkly.
My eyesight is completely distorted as I blink at him. “I should what?”
He takes another swig, then adds another bump, wiping his nose clean when he’s done. “You should fall in love with her…it would make your life easier.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Stone silence.
“Remy, man, what the hell are you going on about? Why would falling in love with Diana make my life easier?”
He curses under his breath. “Because no one would miss a girl like that. She the perfect one.”
My insides curdle. “You’ve lost your damn mind.”
“You ever wonder why our parents are so messed up? Or why people die here all the time and have for years and no one seems to care?”
What the hell is he going on about?
I sit down beside him. “I think about that all the damn time. This town has been messed up for as long as I can remember. You’d have to be blind not to see that.”
He runs his hand along his beard and the shadows dance along his dark eyes. “Have you ever heard of the Order of the Shadows?”
I pause for a moment before answering, “Who hasn’t…” Then it clicks…everything clicks. Shadowface…
The truth smacks me right in the face. “Our families are part of it.” Not a question, but a bold statement I never thought I’d say out loud.
We’re not just part of it; it’s in our blood. We’ve been a part of this for hundreds of years, Tommy. All the money in town, all the greed, evil and death stems from us. It’s ours…all of it. Open your eyes for once Tommy. All the evidence is there. It always has been.”
I knew this…the signs were all there. My old man’s first love he never spoke about, the brotherhood among our families, the endless wealth, and power. My father’s testing me, waiting for me to face it. I’m such a goddamn joke.
Remy continues. “There are only four rules you need to follow. Talia calls them the creeds. Embrace the chaos, don’t run your mouth about it to anyone, and you can only enter with your bloodline.”
I jerk my head toward Bax who is very messed up in the corner, not listening to us. “What about Bax, is he involved?”
Remy shakes his head. “No. Just our families. There is another bloodline in town, but we aren’t sure who it is. For now, it’s just us.”
I stare at the fire which is now red embers. “How long have you known all this?” I ask darkly.
He flicks his gaze up. “Longer than I should have. Since I was a kid.”
I stare at the embers and my stomach sinks. He’s held this in for a long time. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted you to have more time, before it turned you dark too, so I carried the burden for both of us for as long as I could.”
Damn…how could I be mad at him for that?
“What’s the fourth rule? You said there were four.”
His jaw flexes. “You know what it is, Tommy. Don’t make me say it.”
“Screw that, man. You need to say it.”
He brings the bottle of Whiskey to his lips and takes a long pull.
“We each need to make a sacrifice to Him. That is the most important rule non-negotiable in the eyes of the dark god we now serve. He demands the blood of the one we love. From my vantage point, there is a sexy new girl that has caught both our attention, who would fit that role perfectly.”