Page 95 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

Ofdisposingof us.

Cass won’t be feeling frisky for a while. He’ll start acting out like he always does when he’s forced to recall his past. But he drew the short straw, just like Apollo.

We try to be fair to each other. As fair as we can be without turning into complete and utter pussies.

“The Guardian. He wasn’t a Ghost?” Trinity asks.

The cigarette, having traveled all the way around our circle, comes back to me. I tug at it before killing it in the ashtray.

“Not to our knowl?—”

“Of course he is!” Apollo cuts in. Trinity jumps at the sound of his voice and turns wide eyes to him. “Just because he never touched us, doesn’t mean he didn’t…” He throws up his hands.

I wait him out to make sure he’s finished. “To our knowledge, no.”

“So how do you know he’s involved?” Trinity’s voice rises an octave higher.

“Because everything always leads back to him,” I tell her. Then I sigh and sit back, running my hands through my hair. “The four of us—” I swing out a hand to encompass my brothers “—we lived together in that basement for years. Boys would come and go, but we’d stay behind. Some of the Ghosts started talking to us. We started piecing things together.”

“Then we escaped,” Reuben says.

I point at him. “Then we escaped.” I exhale into the silence as Trinity leans forward with an expectant frown.

“And then?”

Traces of smoke from deep in my lungs wreathe my words. “And then everything went to shit.”

Chapter 33

Trinity

It’s inappropriate to laugh after what Zachary said, but I have a hysterical need to giggle.

Thenit went to shit?

“I don’t understand,” I say, carefully swallowing down any mirth that dares to bubble up. “I mean, did they catch the Ghosts? How does that lead to Gabriel? None of this makes sense!”

Zachary shakes his head. “None of the men who molested us were ever arrested by the FBI or the police. Not. One.”

I hug myself, and burrow deeper into my blanket. “Why? Didn’t you have enough evidence?”

“Oh, we had evidence—” Apollo begins, but he cuts off when Zachary throws a hard stare his way. I guess his turn to talk is over.

I haven’t heard Zachary’s story yet, or Reuben’s, but I’m already at the point where I want to tell them they’re making this up.

And even if they’re not, there’s no way Gabriel could be involved in something like this.

Nofuckingway.

“Two arrests were made,” Zachary says calmly.

“That’s it?”

He nods once. “There was a trial. The suspects were sentenced to death.”

My eyes go wide. The blanket creaks in my hand as I tighten my grip. “As in…the death penalty?”

Another nod. “They’ll be executed next month.” There’s that tick again. He clenches his jaw as if he’s suddenly aware of it, and swallows. “The investigation was closed a long, long time ago. According to the feds, they found everyone involved.”

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