Page 453 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

I can’t stop thinking about her. Now that the seed has been planted, I’m convinced she’s in danger. I can’t for the life of me think why. Crime in Cinderhart is a bit of a touchy subject. Everyone knows it happens, but the town as a whole prefers to sweep these things under the rug.

I doubt a girl like Harper could get herself into trouble if she was busy wandering through the town square. Except if she happened to end up in the warehouse district, especially in thoseblind alleys where the people too poor to even live in Jackleg Valley wash up, then she might not make it back home. But Harper isn’t an idiot. She should know how to keep herself safe?—

Like she did at Sean’s party?

Christ. What am I thinking? Of course she can’t look after herself. Not if she’s been drinking. Not if she’s pissed off and depressed and just looking for something—anything—to get her out of her own headspace.

I open my bedroom door and listen. Dad is busy arguing with someone on his phone in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure it’s the sheriff. No surprise. I knew they’d only consider Harper a missing person in a day or two.

But by then she could be dead...or worse.

There’s no way I can sneak past him without being seen. And he still has my Range Rover’s keys in his fucking pocket. If I want to go look for her, I need transport.

I close my bedroom door again, pocket Harper’s phone, and go to my window. When I open it, a gust of brisk air slams into my face. I peer down and study the paving beneath me.Farbeneath me. Christ. I climbed out this window before, but those were in my rebellious days, before I realized football and college were more important than getting drunk or being laid. Back then I obviously didn’t care about injuring myself.

Gritting my teeth, I turn and lower myself out the window. I wedge my sneaker into a gap between the bricks and carefully start climbing down. I drop soundlessly to the patio and stay hidden in the shrubs as I catch my breath. Dad is still hollering at someone on the phone, so I’m hoping he doesn’t decide to look up as I race over the patio and disappear behind the garage.

I wait a few seconds to find out if he’s spotted me, but his harangue continues without a pause. Safe for now. I hurry around the building and stop in front of the motorized door. Thank God I have Harper’s phone. She has the same app I do,the one we can use to control things like the front gate, the garage door, and some of the lights inside the house. I unlock her phone and use the app to open the garage door.

From this side of the house, it’s impossible to see into the kitchen. I don’t know if Dad’s still there or not. But it helpsmea shit load because when I take the spare key for his ‘68 Impala out of its hiding place and freewheel the car out of the sloping drive, there’s no way he can spot me.

I head for Cinderhart Square. It’s the only place Harper really knows except for our school, so it’s the best place I can think to start looking for her.

Until I stop at an intersection close to the center of town and notice the bus stop.

Chapter 57

Harper

Scarstone Lake is many things, but pretty it isn’t. It’s majestic, for sure. Maybe even haunting. But it’s not the kind of lake you splash around in on a summer’s day with your friends. Spanning in all directions as far as the eye can see. Spanning as far as the eye can see, I’m sure it would have looked like an ocean if the opposite bank wasn’t framed by the Littlerock mountain range.

The dark rocks lining the lake turn its waters black and gives a surreal cast to the reflection of the snowy mountains in the distance. Then there’s the smell. Not exactly swampy, but definitely not freshwater. It’s like parts of the lake are stagnant, and that rot is slowly spreading to the rest.

Maybe it’s just the mood I’m in. Fuck, it’s probably because I’m well past buzzed and heading swiftly for stinking drunk.

I regard the two bottles perched beside me on the flat rock that juts out over the bank. There are quite a few of these big, flat rocks, and the ones I passed all have long, shallow gouges in their surfaces. It’s like some ancient monster clawed its way out of the depths of the black lake and its claws left those scars in thestones as it hauled itself out.I’m pretty sure that’s how the lake got its name.

Wow, I really need to sober up if I’m imagining the Loch Ness monster in a place as charmingly dull as Cinderhart.

I tip the whiskey against my lips and don’t even wince as the alcohol burns its way down my throat. In fact, I hardly feel it.

I hardly feel anything anymore.

Is Mom worried about me? Ha. They’re so busy at work, I doubt they even know I’m gone yet.

And Jude?

I snort-giggle and take another swig from the whiskey. I’ve been favoring the Bailey’s most of the afternoon, and I don’t want to finish it just yet. I’m so drunk that this horrible Jim Bean stuff doesn’t taste that bad. In fact, it tastes like?—

Jude’s mouth would have if he’d have kissed me in the screening room yesterday.

I laugh again, louder this time. It’s not like anyone can hear me. I caught the bus here—there’s one that heads down Bug Ash Road twice a day according to the schedule at the bus stop. I think it’s mainly to cater for students at Cinderhart Academy coming and going from town, but it also goes past a bunch of lookout points and picnic spots along Scarstone Lake. If I’m not mistaken, the spires nestled in the forest on the opposite bank might be Cinderhart Academy’s main school building.

It looks so romantic, hidden away like that. Like a secret world. No wonder everyone at Cinderhart High is dying to get in there. From what Marissa told me, the tuition is ridiculously expensive, and the scholarships are almost impossible to get.

Jude got one.

I heard rumors yesterday, and Eliza confirmed it when we passed each other in the hall. I was surprised she was being civil with me. Not even civil—she was downright pleasant. Which is weird, because I thought she’d shun me or something when Icouldn’t get her a seat on the Festival of Ashes committee. She also told me that Talia was looking for me, but I wasn’t in a mood to deal with money transfers right then because, by that time, people had already started staring and whispering.

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