Page 37 of Grave Devil
We quietly finish our tacos and order another round of drinks from Duff. I close my fist around the ribbon in my pocket. “I have so much to tell you.”
She nods as she slurps up the remnants of her watermelon margarita through a straw. “Same, girl. Same. Fuck. How did we get here?”
Her skin is still as flawless as ever, but there’s a dimness in her eyes. A melancholy that wasn’t there before. “You first. What’s going on, Lettie? You don’t seem like yourself.”
She chews on the end of the straw. “I never told anyone the real reason why I transferred from Hemlock Prep to Tenebrose Academy. When my parents asked, I said it was because they had a better literature department. My mother was upsetbecause Raven’s Gate is so much farther than Hemlock. But my father was happy. Tenebrose is more expensive and prestigious.”
“I was in Raven’s Gate for a while. All I have are horrible memories of it. Sorry.” It’s a time I don’t even really like to think about anymore. The stint I did in Absentia Asylum still gives me the creeps. Nox kept me asleep through most of it, but I’ve heard stories of what the orderlies do to the patients there.
She shrugs, her eyes lighting up when Duff sets two fresh drinks in front of us. “Compared to what I was dealing with, Raven’s Gate was a walk in the park. I had to get away from them… Fromher.”
“Who?” I can’t contain my excitement. Lettie is one of the warmest people I’ve ever met, but she’s far from an open book. There’s so much I don’t know about her.
“Skyler. My ex.” She takes a big gulp of her frosty pink drink. “Well, all of my exes actually. Sky, Berlin, and Aeloria. We were more than toxic. We were… dangerous. Things got out of hand. Everyone became afraid of us. They called us the poison girls.
I lean forward, whispering, “Like a secret society?”
She deadpans me. “Like a coven.”
I sit back, confused. “You’re a witch?”
She shakes her head. “Not exactly. We just made things happen. Bad things. And I got sick of it. So I left. But now Sky is in town, and she’s trying to guilt me into transferring back to Hemlock.”
I did not have any of this on my bingo card for this year, but I’m here for it. And I’m relieved to know that I’m not the only one in this town with a dark past. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Part of me does feel guilty for leaving them. But I don’t want to get sucked back into their toxicity again. She always promises to change and do better, but it’s a lie.” Lettie slumps back against the cracked leather booth in defeat.
I smear the last little wedge of my street taco into a big dollop of sour cream before popping it into my mouth. I wash it down with a big swig of pineapple margarita. “Do you still love her? I mean, them?”
She fidgets with her straw while she ponders my question. “With Berlin, it’s more lust than anything. We can’t keep our hands off each other. But love isn’t something I let myself think about with her.”
I snort-laugh into my drink. “I can relate. Sometimes I think that’s how I feel about Aries.”
“And I adore Aels,Aeloria,” she continues. “She’s a pushover for those two, but I still have a lot of love for her.”
“And Sky?” I watch as Lettie’s eyes darken when I say that name.
“Sky was my first everything, including heartbreak. But I think I’ll always love her even though she rips my heart out and stomps on it over and over again.” She downs the rest of her drink and winces. “Fuck. Brain freeze.”
We both burst out laughing and summon Duff over so we can order a third round. My head is starting to feel fuzzy, and I’m not mad about it. It feels like it’s been months since I’ve been able to chill out like this.
The bald bar owner side-eyes me. “Maybe slow it down a little, ladies. I don’t want your crazy boyfriends and your psycho brother coming in here and blaming me if they have to hold your hair back later.”
Lettie rolls her eyes at him. “We’re grown women, Duff. We don’t need their permission or yours.”
I nod in agreement. “Trust me, we can be far scarier than they can, so just keep the margaritas coming.”
He shakes his head and mumbles something under his breath before stalking off. Lettie and I erupt into laughter again.We shouldn’t toy with the poor guy, but if he actually did cut us off, we would both be way too embarrassed to tell the guys.
“Okay, chica, your turn. What’s keeping you up at night? Other than my brother and his friends, of course. Although, please spare me the details when it comes to Bones.” She feigns disgust, but her eyes paint a more playful picture.
I spend the next hour telling her everything from the moment the Skelker started speaking in my head to the tour Draven took me on in the woods. I tell her about the poison and the night Bones found me catatonic in his loft. Everything. This next part is scary to say out loud. But I have to tell someone.
“I enjoy what he does to me, Lettie. I get off on it. How fucked up does that make me?” I feel my cheeks heat under her wide-eyed stare.
“Um… like… you are attracted to this Skelker thing?” she asks in a hushed tone.
I nod and pull my jacket over my lap like it’s a blanket. “I feel connected to him. When he’s in my head, I can feel him the same way I used to feel Nox in my nightmares. The Skelker touches me in a way I can’t explain. But I hate myself for it. So I’ve been trying to drown him out. I don’t want to be like this, Lettie.”
