Page 49 of Wicked Waters

Knox’s parents took several photos of us, and then his mum took a million pictures of Knox and Elena while Knox’s dad brought out a bottle of Scotch for a toast. I was still mostly avoiding alcohol after the lighthouse, but a quick toast wouldn’t hurt. Knox, Tristan, and I gathered in the corner of the expansive living room, glasses in hand. I held up my phone as I raised my glass, the three of us posing for a selfie. I captioned it “the gods” and posted it to my social media, tagging Knox and Tristan.

About two minutes after I’d posted it, I had a DM from my cousin Caiden in reply to the photo.

Caiden:

Nice pose little cousin. We did it better

He’d attached a picture of himself smirking into the camera alongside Weston and their best friends, Cassius and Zayde, all dressed in black suits.

I sent him back a middle-finger emoji.

Caiden:

Disrespecting your elders?

Me:

Seems like you’re jealous of how good we look. No you’re jealous of how good I look right?

Caiden:

*eye-roll emoji* Why would I be jealous of you? We look alike according to most people

Me:

Is this your roundabout way of complimenting me or are you complimenting yourself? I’m confused

Caiden:

Both? Seriously though. Have a good night. Z’s girlfriend Fallon was telling us about the ball. Sounds like a big deal

Me:

Yeah I guess it is to some people

Caiden:

Not to you?

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I thought for a minute and then came to a decision. I needed the opinion of someone on the outside of this situation, and my cousins already knew about the drink spiking.

“Be back in a minute,” I said to Tristan. Not giving him time to reply, I left the room, heading down the hallway to the empty kitchen. Leaning up against the island, I sent another text.

Me:

Are you free to talk?

In response, my phone buzzed in my hand, my cousin’s name flashing up on the screen with a video call. I swiped to answer. “Alright?”

Caiden came into view, a figure in a black hoodie with the hood pulled up. “Alright? What’s up?” He eyed me cautiously through the screen. Behind him, I could see a crumbling stone wall and, beyond that, the blue-grey line of the horizon. The sounds of seagulls and crashing waves sounded faintly through the speaker.

“Where are you?”

“Alstone Castle. Our girls are having a knife-throwing bonding session, so we’re bonding over fire.” Flipping to the back camera, he swung it from left to right to show three other hooded figures a little way from him, seated in what looked like the remains of a courtyard, with a fire in the centre. “We’re testing how flammable—never mind. That’s not important. Tell me what’s up.” The camera switched back to Cade, his face filling the screen.

I gave him a rundown of everything that had happened, sticking to the facts, even though I wanted to fucking rage, remembering how Quinn had been dragged into one shit situation after another since her return to Hatherley Hall. Half of them had been my fault, too, and I felt so fucking helpless in the face of the latest problem she was having to deal with. I told Caiden about our pact to stay quiet, how her parents had threatened her, and how she didn’t want me to be at risk because I was already on my last warning.

When I was done, I placed my phone on the island, propping it up against the fruit bowl, and then slumped forwards, groaning as I lowered my head to my folded arms. Caiden was silent for a while, processing everything I’d told him, and I waited, hoping that somehow, he’d have the answers for me, even though I knew there was no possible way he would.

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