Page 31 of Hell House
“I’ll see you later.” I say to Graham turning to leave. I will myself not to look behind me, but I feel more than one pair of eyes on me as I exit the room. So much for not getting involved in any guys this year. It looks like I’m neck deep and its only day one of living here.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Pierce
The headmaster summoned me first thing this morning. My arms can still feel the pressure of Salem’s lithe body snuggled against them. I rub at one arm with a frown. I don’t even know what compelled me to go up to her room last night. Or even what made me stay. I was supposed to be following the headmaster’s orders when it came to her, or my brothers and I would pay the price. But I’d felt the unwelcome sting of guilt when I saw how cold she was.
Because of me.
I was the reason she was here, and I hoped she never found out. If she was mad this morning, then she really would be pissed if she found out the truth. Find out what I did. Who I was.
She’d never talk to me again, and I wasn’t entirely sure why that thought bothered me as much as it did. I was Pierce Mother-fucking Ledger. I didn’t need anyone, and could get any girl I fucking wanted. I didn’t need Salem and her bewitching eyes, and her pillowy lips that I wanted to sink my teeth into.
My body let out an involuntary shudder remembering how I’d been so close to shoving my cock into her this morning. I let out a frustrated groan finding my cock ramrod straight pushing against my pants.
I needed to get laid. I should have taken Katie up on her offer. But the thought of Katie had my erection deflating faster than a balloon being poked with a needle. The fuck was wrong with me? Maybe I was getting sick with something.
I hurry down the path, the sun barely a sliver over the water, the ever-present fog surprisingly less dense this morning. Maybe we’d get a lucky break in the weather and be able to head down to the beach this weekend. I pick up my already fast pace to get this meeting over with, dread gnawing at my stomach with each step closer.
When I arrive, Headmaster Hayden is already waiting for me, his pronounced jowls looking even more droopy today- like his face was attempting to melt right off of him. I hoped I never looked like that when I was older. Maybe some light plastic surgery would save my face from looking like a melted wax candle that was precariously attached to a skull.
“You took your time getting here this morning.” He growls.
The sweat dripping down my back disagrees, but instead of arguing I know the old fucker wants nothing more than a good ass kissing, so I respond, “Sorry, sir.” I didn’t want a repeat of last time’s antics. Who knows when he would have stopped drowning me in that inky goo if it wasn’t for Emmet?
He assesses me for a moment before sinking into his chair, gesturing at me to do the same. I brace myself for the pins and needles that are about to assault my backside from sitting in his guest chair. I wince as I lower myself down, then wait for him to continue.
He clears his throat with a wet crackling that sounds more like he’s about to hawk a loogie instead of have a conversation with me.
“Now that we have the girl where we want her, I need you to get closer. Make her trust you. Use your proximity. We don’t have much time until we can open the veil at Samhain and reunite the souls with this world.”
“And if I do that, you’ll free us from the seven’s possession?”
Anger flares in his eyes, and then is gone in a flash, his face working hard to contain his rage.
“Of course. That goes without saying, and you know what will happen if you fail.” He says it as a statement, not a question. Like I need reminding that we would be stuck like this forever if I didn’t help him succeed. I was reminded of it every time Pride rose in my chest, making me fall more and more into someone I didn’t recognize. I push the memory of me standing over Salem with a match as I tossed it in the corner out of my head. The way the flames blazed so suddenly on the gasoline I’d poured per the headmaster’s instruction. I could have killed her. The thought strangles my mind, before I’m reminded that she got out alright. That I shook her awake before barreling out of the room, her scream reverberating against my eardrums as I fled the building. Each step reminding me what a fucking coward I was. Reminding me of just how far from myself I’d become because of this curse.
I rub at my chest, like that will make it go away, as the headmaster prattles on about prying information from Salem.
She was in for a rough Freshman year with the headmaster determined to break down the gate that separated us from the souls trapped in purgatory. They used to run amok on this island until Salem’s ancestors created a spell that would keep them contained. Only, they missed one. They missed a big one, and he’d been biding his time for years, hiding in unsuspecting people until the time was right.
The headmaster was his latest puppet, but there seemed to be no distinction from the demon and the man. I wondered if that would happen to the seven of us if we didn’t extricate ourselves from the sins the headmaster had bound us to on initiation night. God, how I wish I didn’t drink from that fucking challis.
How many people would have to pay for my choice? How many was I willing to let suffer to get what I wanted? And worst of all, how much of this was me deciding for myself and not the demon that lived in me?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Salem
All day, people I didn’t even know before, have been coming up to me and asking about the fire. It’s exhausting. I don’t like to people on my good days and today isn’t one of those. I’ve been displaced, frozen, tired, woken up by a nightmare, turned on by the most annoying person in the world, and I was stuck going to classes in an outfit that was far too tight for my liking. Add on not being able to buy anything new and pelt me with incessant questions I didn’t know the answer to, you just guaranteed I was being an absolute peach.
I chug down a watery tepid cappuccino because of course it is, but at this point I need the caffeine. I don’t need to add caffeine withdrawal to my list of ever-growing complaints.
Someone more positive minded might say to look on the bright side, and thankfully that person wasn’t here, or I might just accidentally throat punch them. Well not really, but I’d glare and imagine it in my head. After everything that I’d been through within the last 24 hours, it was okay to fucking wallow for a minute.
I finally am able to break away from a crowd of people who’d heard that I received 3rddegree burns from the fire and catch up with Javelynn and Skye for lunch.
“Oh my God, hide me from the mob please.”
