Page 122 of Make Me Scream

“I’ve gotten calls from the academy’s former donors,” Lane says. “They still want to support the arts and have asked me to take charge in setting up a new school.”

I cozy up against his chest, enjoying the rhythm of his breathing.

“Are you going to do it?” I ask.

He chuckles.

“I told them I’d do it, but it’ll be on my terms. No more militant adherence to accepted doctrines. My school would have to have room for experimentation, without prejudice toward mediums or styles. And they’d have to do so knowing the truth about me.”

I turn around to face him, my jaw hanging open.

“About Alistair Rat? You told them?”

“I did.”

Holy shit!

“And they agreed?”

“They feel pretty bad about donating millions to a murderer, so yeah. You’re looking at the executive director of New York’s next premiere art academy. The only question is what to call it.”

No more hiding our identities as artists — I guess as long as we get permits. But still — I can be Enmity Jane if I want.

“Why not the Alistair Rat Academy?” I suggest. “Mundell would be fuming.”

“That’s true, but it’s too self-serving. You think Anne’s family would want it named after her?”

Oh. That’s a good question. I like the idea. Anne didn’t get to finish art school, but she was already brilliant. Students would be lucky to live up to her legacy.

“We should find out. I think it’s a great idea.”

“I’ll get in touch with them then,” he says.

I take his hand in mine and lie back down, gazing up at the ceiling.

“How are you going to make the announcement?” I ask.

“About Rat?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know,” Lane says. “I’ve thought about it, over the years. Maybe release a statement to the media. Start off short and professional. The in-depth interviews will come later.”

Smiling, I imagine the world getting to know Lane Porter the way I do.

A handsome art teacher at one of the city’s most prestigious schools had a habit of bending the rules, romancing several of his students, but he had a bigger secret still: he was the infamous street artist Alistair Rat. Little did he know a darkness stalked his school’s halls, a horror hidden to all until he helped expose it. In the process, he saved the lives of his paramour and a victim the world left behind.

“You know what I was thinking, Gwen?” he says.

“What’s that?”

“We should do a piece together. Alistair Rat and Enmity Jane.”

If I had thought a year ago that my greatest artistic influence would want to collaborate with me, I’d have laughed it off as a silly fantasy. If I dreamed he’d also be beautiful, brave, heroic and in love with me, I’d have checked myself into a psych ward. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand how I got so lucky.

“I’d love that,” I say.

Lane leans over and kisses me. His hands run down my hips and pull me into his protective embrace.

“I love you, Gwen,” he says. “Whatever the world throws at us, I promise we’ll always be together.”

“I love you too, and I promise I’ll stand with you through it all.”

It’ll be a long time before our lives become something normal, between Mundell’s criminal trials, our impending notoriety and founding a new art academy. Maybe normal will never happen. Maybe our lives will always be complicated and chaotic.

I’m not worried.

We’ll have our voices and we’ll have each other, and no one can ever take that away.