Page 19 of Lethal Truths

I lift one shoulder in a shrug as I push my soup around the bowl with my spoon. “I can’t run. Not now. Everything is bigger than I could have ever imagined, and I’m the one thing they didn’t account for. They thought I’d be some easy prey to pick off and make vanish. If Fright Night proves anything, it’s how wrong they were about that.” I blow out a steadying breath, eyes flicking down to the pink, angry scars poking out from under the sleeves of my thick gray sweater. “I’m a fighter, and I won’t go down without taking chunks out of them on my way,” I declare.

Annie visibly swallows, finally giving up on her soup for now and setting her spoon down. “And the people who…” trailing off, she sweeps her eyes over the nearly deserted space. The little cafe we’re at on the edge of campus is mostly empty, with a couple of students studying near the fireplace. They pay us no mind and haven’t since the moment Annie and I sat down. “Who want to hurt you, you’re sure they’re behind what happened to your mom?” she whispers.

I’d spent the last hour of our morning telling her just about everything. It was total word vomit, like finally opening up to someone I knew I could trust implicitly had released the floodgates and there was no stopping me. I mean, yeah, there’s Creed, and he now knows everything as well, but our road hasn’t been a smooth one. Opening up to him wasn’t as freeing as spilling it all to Annie.

“I’m sure. I just have to prove it,” I answer, absently rubbing my thumb over an older scar. If you think about it, The Celestials are responsible for every last mark on my body. The crash years ago was their fault, even if indirectly; Mom was frantically trying to meet them somewhere so they could ‘fix’ her. Whether the conversation she’d had that morning was real or not doesn’t really matter. They broke her, and my mom suffered the lasting effects of their torment for years.

And as for the new scars from the forest? The Celestials are at fault for those, too. Even if I can’t prove it, I know it to be true. They’ve hacked away at me, both metaphorically and physically, but I’ve about fucking had it.

I want information. Evidence, testimonies, names, and whatever else I can get my hands on. And as soon as I have irrefutable proof, I’ll release it. Anywhere and everywhere, to whoever the hell will listen. I realize The Celestial’s reach is vast, but they don’t own the entire country. I’ll find someone who’s not in their pocket, no matter how far I have to search. And then I’ll blow their shit up with a smile on my face before skipping off to tell my mom all about it.

Unless Creed and I end up killing them all first.

What a shame that might be… Not.

“Well, so, what’s the plan? Are you staying with Creed indefinitely while you sort all of this out?” Annie asks after a while once we’ve both dove into our meals again.

I snort out a laugh, barely managing not to spit my soup out everywhere. “Uh, no. It’s been nice, but three weeks in his room, sharing a bed and everything, it’s been way too… I don’t know, domestic. Creed and I have only just started dating; living together is not in the cards for us yet,” I explain. Sure, the sexual tension between us has been hotter than hell, and it’s been nice to have a study buddy to sit beside while we caught up on the weeks of homework we missed, but I’m ready for some time away from Creed. As long as he doesn’t think I’m running away from him. “I’m coming back to the A.Chi.O. house tonight after classes, actually. If I still have a bed in our room? Or have you pushed the two together and made a giant mattress for yourself?” I tease Annie.

She laughs, waving her hand through the air as if to dismiss my words. “Please, I’ve been dying to have my roommate back. It’s kind of freaky sleeping alone in there after all the thinly veiled threats Mark sent my way when I left him.”

I hum, nodding. “Has he been bothering you? Creed talked to him after that fiasco in the cafeteria, but did it actually make a damn difference?” I ask, and then softening my voice, I add, “Did I leave you vulnerable when I went AWOL and hid from life?”

Annie offers a soft, sad smile. “It’s not your fault that you were attacked. I was beyond worried after the first few days when you wouldn’t even return my texts, but once Creed told me you were hurt, I understood. You needed that time,” she tells me.

My cheeks heat, but I duck my eyes and pretend I’m totally used to having a friend. Not to mention I had no clue Creed had reached out so Annie wouldn’t worry. Just another way that he’s surprised me. “Thanks,” I murmur, absently picking at a loose thread from the hem of my sweater. “Mark really left you alone, then? Or are you just hiding his harassment so I don’t march over to his room in your honor?” I ask with raised brows.

Annie shakes her head, but her smile quickly droops into a frown. “Actually, it’s the weirdest thing,” she starts to explain, chewing on her lip. “I haven’t heard a peep from him since Fright Night. He hasn’t tried to talk or corner me and demand I crawl back to him. In fact… It’s probably nothing, but he’s been spending a lot of time with Heather since then. I just figured he’d finally given up on chasing me and went to the next available hole he could find, but what if—“

“He and Heather are working together,” I finish for my friend, tapping my fingers against the worn wood of the small table we’re sitting at. “What if,” I murmur, more to myself as I think this through. “I mean, Asher and Heather were screwing long term, so it’s really not that big a stretch to assume Heather is definitely part of this secret, fucked up, society, right? And if these people are targeting me, then Heather would be trying to cut me down, too. What better way to do so than legitimate torture in the woods in the middle of the fucking night?” I blink a few times, staring at our food, but not really seeing anything. “But Heather would never do it herself. She’d get someone else to attack me, someone strong, angry, and fucking stupid enough to go through with it. Someone she wouldn’t care about if the plan went tits up and he got caught.”

“Someone like Mark,” Annie whispers in horror, her face pale and getting worse by the second. “I’d like to reassure you that he’s not capable—“ I snort, making Annie wince. “Yeah, we both know he is. After years of his abuse, I know that all too well… It’s really not that big of a jump to assume he was the man with the knife.”

A violent shudder wracks my damn bones, thinking of his beady eyes and the threatening glares Mark has sent my way since the day I met him. I knew he was bad. I knew he was the nastiest kind of scumbag. But is he a murderer?

I guess we’ll have to see. One thing’s for sure, though. I won’t feel an ounce of guilt when I tell Creed that Mark is suspect number one.

After lunch and that chilling conversation with Annie, we part ways to head off to our classes. She’s headed to Spanish and I’m on my way to math, but how either of us will be able to focus on school when her ex is most likely some twisted almost-killer, I’m really not sure.

With an uneasy weight in my gut, I set off toward the heart of campus; Lunar Hall. Creed still walks me from class to class when our schedules align, but on Fridays we can’t make that work, so today I’m on my own. Nothing has happened since Fright Night, Mark or whoever else hasn’t approached me. I haven’t been attacked again. And yet, I feel the exact opposite of safe as I pass students and faculty.

I feel exposed. Vulnerable. Like I’m being watched.

Is this how Mom felt when she was a student here? Fuck, it’s almost enough to drive me mad, so I would understand her condition.

My head is down, eyes focused on my rapid steps as I try to push my body faster. Just get inside. Get to class. You’re fine. But no matter how loudly I think that, I don’t feel any better.

Knowing that one of my attackers is most likely Mark has me reliving Fright Night all over again, picturing his face hovering above mine, his eyes scoring down my body, his hands touching and hitting and cutting and—

A hand on my shoulder cuts off my rising panic, and I gasp as I turn around. I half expect it to be Mark, ready to drag me back into the woods now that I know his secret. But when I look up into glacial blue eyes instead, I’m shocked into silence.

Griffin lets me go just as quickly as he had grabbed me, his expression painfully neutral. I’m walking with you, he explains with his hands. He nods toward Lunar Hall and then just starts walking, seemingly with or without me.

I blink a few times to make sure he’s really here before I finally get my feet to move and follow him. “I don’t need a babysitter,” I grind out, even though having his giant body beside me makes me feel exponentially better. I’d never admit it out loud, though. Griffin’s betrayal has cut me the deepest, and I hate that his presence is still a comfort to me. It’s as if my mind and body have disconnected and both are on completely different pages regarding him.

He throws this look over his shoulder at me, with an arched eyebrow and a seriously unimpressed gleam in his eyes. I don’t need him to sign anything for me to understand him loud and fucking clear.

Rolling my eyes right back, I finally get to his side, struggling to match his long strides. “Let me rephrase that. I don’t need you. Not to babysit me, not to walk me to class, not to wipe my fucking tears, or anything else, alright?“ I snap, frustrated to have him beside me, invading my space as if it doesn’t hurt him.

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