Page 61 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

“Because I’m guessing you don’t know how. And trust me, you need all the help you can get.”

Sister Miriam comes to fetch me sometime later. Reuben never lifted his hands, and he never said another word to me again. I’d slipped into a trance while energy moved between us.

I’m not being new age about it—Ifeltit. My entire body came alive at his touch. Every disastrous thing that happened up to that point had melted away.

I was at peace.

I felt loved.

I’m convinced he actually managed to contact God on my behalf.

That, or he’s some kind of god himself.

When Miriam comes for me, I’m not frightened anymore. Not of him. Not of her.

Not of this place, or my future, or my past.

I’m ready to face whatever she has waiting.

She notices that when I leave the prayer room.

But it doesn’t change anything.

I guess around here nothing ever changes. Rules are rules. I misbehaved and for that I have to be punished.

I just wish it wasn’t her handing out my penance.

Chapter 21

Zach

“This isn’t working is it?” Apollo says as soon as I get within earshot. “Why isn’t it working, Zach?” He was pacing, thumbs hooked into his belt, but as soon as I’m in the crypt’s sunken center, he sinks into a chair and starts jiggling his leg.

He’s not the only agitated one. Reuben is perched on the edge of his seat, meaty hands clasped and dangling between his legs. Cassius is smoking a blunt, but with an intensity that belies his slouched body and deadpan expression.

“I don’t know,” I mutter. I snatch the blunt from Cass’s fingertips just as he’s about to take a drag, and give it a hefty tug. “But she’s fucking testing my patience.”

Apollo snorts.

Between the four of us, I’m the rock. It takes a shit load to piss me off or deter me. Weather-beaten, but still standing.

Because, long before the Brotherhood, there was only me.

Then came Apollo. Then came Reuben. Then came Cassius.

Even back then, we had no notion of revenge. For us it was all about survival. Every day was a silent victory.

Every hour.

Every fucking second.

This girl is getting under my skin. Anyone in her position would have been out that door in ten seconds flat.

“She’s a fucking masochist, that’s what she is,” Cass says. “But you were right. She didn’t say a word about me to anyone.” He sits forward, imitating Reuben. “She didn’t, right?”

“Not to me.” I shake my head and take another drag. Then I have to smile, because it’s fucking rare either of us gets the chance. “That drawing though…”

Cassius’s face lights up with a grin. He leans across and taps Apollo’s chest with the back of his hand. “Bro, you should have seen it.”

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