Page 64 of Creatures of Chaos

Ensley joins our group at the tail end of my sentence. “You saw Becks last night?” she asks, tucking a strand of her purple-streaked hair behind her ear.

My cheeks heat. Ensley tried to take me to get my hand looked at, but I turned her down. She has to think it’s strange that I saw her brother last night after she dropped me off.

“Ah, yeah,” I say, choosing not to elaborate. I’m not ready for her questions just yet.

I haven’t seen Becks yet today, and I’m both looking forward to and also dreading our first interaction post-kiss.

What if he has doubts like before? What if he wants to ignore the whole thing happened?

Her eyes narrow and I can practically see the wheels turning in her head.

“Did you guys hear about Tenn?” Owen asks, unknowingly coming to my rescue.

We all shake our heads and Owen blows out a breath of air, his face somber. “It’s bad. They found him on the edge of Woodwinds Forest. It looks like he’d been beaten.”

Ensley gasps. “Is he okay?”

Owen shakes his head. “He’s in a coma.”

Tenn is a Chaos competitor. In fact, now that I think about it, he wasn’t at the trial last night and he should have been. He made it through the last round of cage fights.

“That’s not all,” Owen says. “One of his buddies claims that Tenn wanted out of Chaos. That he wasn’t planning on attending the trial. He left his house just before midnight last night and wouldn’t have had enough time to get to Jagged Mountain in time to participate.”

My eyes widen as the game master’s words echo in my mind.Once you enter Chaos, there’s no way to self-eliminate.

“Does anyone know what happened?” I ask, a sick feeling settling in my gut.

“No, but the timing is suspicious. Students are saying something happened to him because he tried to pull out of Chaos.”

I let that sink in.

“This Chaos stuff is getting serious,” Shayla says. “I heard from Freya that Jules actually lost her eye, and her parents are pulling her out of school because she won’t tell them what happened.”

“Like, for the day?” I ask.

Shayla shakes her head. “No, like for good. They’re going to send her to some shifter school up north to finish out the year.”

Surprisingly, I don’t really get any pleasure out of hearing Jules is transferring when a month ago that would have completely made my day.

The first bell rings, letting us know we have fifteen minutes to get to class.

“Oh shoot,” Shayla says. “I have to grab a book out of my locker before class. Catch you guys at lunch?”

“I’ll come with,” Owen says, and with a wave they’re both gone.

Ensley and I turn in the other direction, my mind swirling around Tenn and what happened to him. Was it truly because he didn’t show up to Chaos last night? I’d assumed the game master’s warning was hollow, but what if it wasn’t? What if there are real consequences to missing a trial and Tenn just paid?

But then again it could have been something else altogether. A fluke attack of some sort and the timing is just coincidental.

“Something’s up with you,” Ensley says, shaking me from my thoughts about Tenn and Chaos.

“What? Nothing’s up,” I say, and glance away. I can’t look at Ensley without thinking about Becks right now, and it feels like what happened last night is written clearly across my face.

“Hmm. No, something is definitely going on with you. My best friend radar is pinging. Do you care to share with me now, or are you going to make me pull it out of you?”

When I look over at her, Ensley regards me with slitted eyes, watching my face carefully. I muster the most innocent look I can, but she’s not buying it. I’m saved from having to answer when we turn the corner, and someone calls my name. When I glance back, Becks is jogging toward us. My heart starts to pound so hard I worry it’s going to burst from my chest.

When he reaches us, he makes a move like he’s going to pull me into his arms, but then stops himself and takes a stilted step away.

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