Page 39 of Buried Secret 295

“You seem certain this will be a happy memory for this suit.” I smile and hold back a laugh. “Everything is ready with Simon, right?”

“Simon’s miniscule part in this plan is ready to go.” He looks into the mirror and straightens his tie. “When I get to show up, I want to look terrifying, yet badass. I believe in every part of our plan, and it will be a feather in our metaphorical hat.”

I roll my eyes at him and smile. He also wanted to dress me for the occasion, but I put my foot down. Monica, however, refused to back down, and it was hard for her to say no. Not only because she is terrifying, but she seems to care. Plus, I am pretty confident she believes I am her doll to dress up.

She gets me and my style, even though she sometimes complains it’s not girly enough. I wore black combat boots and tactical pants that they had custom-made. My pants were red and tight with functional zippers. The red color matched Constantine’s pocket square on his suit, and my black top matched the dark black of his suit. Monica wanted us to complement each other.

I pull out my necklace, so it is out for all to see. The center of the pendant reminds me of an eye watching you. The red center appears to glow in the contrast with the blackness around it. It practically vibrates against my skin with a reassuring energy that I appreciate. I sigh and place the pendant against my chest, thinking of the day ahead. Every part of me wanted to do this alone. However, if anyone were to do this with me, I would want it to be Constantine. Trusting in someone is difficult, yet knowing he is my backup is reassuring. People may leave me alone out of fear of getting on Constantine’s shit list. Plus, I am tired of hiding myself away. All of my life before I was captive in that prison, I had to hide anything that made me different.Anything less than perfection had to be hidden, or it would be destroyed as a weakness. As time went on, I often reflected on this with my time living in that prison allowed me. It gave me time to pick apart all the reasons for their rules. How, if I were to get out of here, I wouldn’t follow those rules that others forced upon me. If that time ever happened, I wouldn’t care about what anyone thought anymore. Yet, here I am on the outside, still hiding parts of myself out of fear. Fear of being different is something that was bred into me. Breaking that fear is something I am going to start doing today.

“It’s now or never. See you on the other side.” I wink at him because he will be in the veil watching me. I look over my shoulder as I lock the door, and he is out of sight. With the door shut, I touch the magic locks Constantine insists I have. My shadows happily add their signature, and I hear my lock click in place.

I love living away from other students. The forest behind my back and the campus’ grand buildings ahead help steady my mood. The view helps to calm my system before being overwhelmed by the emotions of others. I long to run back into the woods and let my beast out to play. She has been nagging me to run, but I am not ready to give her the reins again. We disappeared for almost two days last time. Now that people live on campus, it’s not the time to let her out. After all, she is a little unpredictable. She lets out an unamused snort in my head, and I ignore her annoyance, refusing to let it bother me.

The walk to campus is uneventful, yet I can feel the whispers of people as I walk. People point, and I can’t help but crack a smile on my face. Stage one of the plan working perfectly as I know that word will reach where I need to be long before arriving. As I pass by the training field, I see Gage training with swords today. I feel a pull to go to him; forcing my feet to stay on the mission route is hard. My legs feel heavy as I force myself to look away,not allowing my eyes to lock in on him. Guilt is the emotion that I have grown to hate the most. Feeling terrible that I slightly ghosted him. Well, not completely. I only allowed myself to DM him once to inform him I had a family emergency and would be back. Even the lie felt wrong, which is why I refused to open my phone for anyone other than Ember. I did not want to add more lies; I needed to concentrate to keep my focus on the big picture of my life. Gage makes me forget my troubles and myself. I had to keep fighting to get my life back. My eyes must be on 203, the prize at the end of this, and I must have a safe place for him to return with me. Everyone is gunning for me, and I must fight back as if I were playing chess.

When I reach the hub, I can’t help but roll my eyes as the fliers are still hanging. They work perfectly for my plan, so in a way, I am glad they are still hanging. With their help, we will enter phase three of the plan, with phase two depending on whether Lulu will take the bait. The bait in this is me, yet I walk into the hub with my head held high. I am feeling more confident in myself than I ever have been before. I feel like I am projecting that confidence outward because people watch me with their eyes, curious about what will happen next. A smile cracks on my face as my eyes lock with Lulu. She is surrounded by friends, leaning against the wall beside the Academy’s award case. I remind myself that she chose this by not leaving me alone.

Lulu’s glare hardens on me as she stands straighter, her guard going up. Her nostrils flair in annoyance as she pushes herself off the stone wall. People begin walking closer, trying to see what is about to happen; it feels like we are about to go into a showdown in the town square. Everyone loves a bit of drama with their morning coffee, after all. I feel prepared this time, knowing that I have the upper hand. By the feeling of rage I feel coming from her, I know that it’s only a matter of seconds before she will start phase two. Lulu’s aqua eyes narrow as they meetmine, and I can’t help but smile. A scowl forms on her face as she takes me in before pushing herself off the wall. “I don’t know how you pulled off a family emergency. We both know you don’t have a family to have an emergency.”

I don’t react, only tilting my head and taking in my sister’s appearance. I walk slowly towards her as I access her. She is beautiful. Everything about her reminds me of a Porcelain Doll. She’s precisely what Marcus wants his children to be: dolls and playthings to pose for the cameras and look good for him. They are more of an accessory than anything else. “I hear you are already on strike two. This should make it three.” Her eyes get bright, and she smiles as if she has won.

I make a clicking sound and tilt my head, continuing to look at her. For the amount she claims to hate someone, she has been putting too much time and energy into me. I mean, technically, pot meets kettle, but I am on the defense. That’s what I keep telling myself. I scoff before I give her a ghost of a smile on my lips. “Why do you care? For your information, I do have a family, and I was with them.” The crowd around us pulls their phones out, pointing them at us, giving me a larger audience than I thought I would.

“I am going to prove you don’t, and when I do, expect to be expelled.” She throws her perfect blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Oh, did daddy dearest not tell you?” Her face gives nothing away, yet I know I have probably struck a nerve. I give her my best pity look as I pout my lips. My eyes softened on her before locking my eyes on one of the many cameras, wanting to play this up for the audience. I know how to work a crowd. My fights with the beasts have prepared me for this moment. This is a different type of fight now that we are in the civilized world again. I had to adjust to learn the civilized way of fighting, which takes careful planning as we fight with our wits. “Awe, poor little lamb. Someone doesn’t get to sit at the adults’ table. Your fathertried hard not to let the paperwork go through.” The papers on the wall flutter. The sound is almost overwhelming as the papers crinkle before unfolding themselves again. “Ah, yes, it’s now been updated. Why don’t you take a look?”

When I said “paperwork,” the words around my picture changed. Simon programmed it to respond to only a few keywords I could utter. The man is gifted. It worked out almost too perfectly. The crowd’s mood suddenly changed from hate to shock and disbelief. My necklace, along with my skin, seems to almost vibrate from the feel of it seeming to energize me. It has me almost swaying as it feels like a current flowing into me, making me feel like I will stumble with my next step. I plant my feet, letting the energy flow into me as it strengthens me.

“What are you talking about?” She looks so confused, and it’s beautiful. I can’t control the smile that overtakes my face. I throw my head back slightly and laugh dramatically. The gasps from the crowd were practically music to my ears as they read the papers. It’s beautiful; I feel like the conductor leading and directing my orchestra. The crowd reacted exactly how I wanted it to. You can see Lulu’s posture change from confident to unsure. You can hear the continued gasps as more people read the words.

“Must suck to be the last to know. It might have saved you a little embarrassment. I walk over to the wall, pull one flier off, and smile at Simon, who adds his flair. Over the marked-out Tempest, it says in red, ‘Blackthorne—Salem Blackthorne accused of being a liar, but did anyone ask for her side? Of course not. Why would they?’ “Ah, wow. This.” I hold up the poster and hand it to her. She doesn’t take it, and I let it fall to the ground. Once again, I pout, “Awe, here I thought we were playing arts and crafts together. I must say, I think it’s quite an improvement. I always had a knack for it. Maybe try harder next time.”

She can’t stand not knowing as she stomps and pulls one off the wall. Her face turns pink to red as she spins around, pointing at me. “There is no way you’re a Blackthorne! Which one of them would claim a freak like you?”

“My dad is Constantine Blackthorne, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I wanted to keep that down low, but you can’t seem to leave me alone.” My hands move, and I pull my shadows out and have them grab onto the shadows around the room. They bleed down the walls together before pulling me into the veil and back out. To everyone else, it probably looked like I disappeared for a second before reappearing. “Do you need further proof?”

Her eyes widen, and the crowd gasps. I turn and smile as I shake my head, seeing Constantine making his way towards me. He is all smiles, and I swear his teeth almost glint in the light, making him look slightly terrifying. I should have known he couldn’t resist a good performance. I must admit, he helped add the flair needed to hammer my point home. “Salem, I wanted to take you up on that breakfast offer.”

My shadows run to him, excited for him to join the fun. When he approaches, they circle us, and in a low voice, I say, “You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” My words have no bite to them from my inability to control the smile on my face. Maybe it’s the fact that someone wanted to show up for me. For the first time, someone is proud to be seen with me. The fact that it’s the man who is my father. The man who has jumped into this life with me, jumping in feet first because he wants to be my dad, makes it better.

The crowd parts for us to go into the cafeteria. You could hear a pin drop. No voices seemed to want to speak other than an angry scream from Lulu.

Chapter twenty-nine

My body relaxes whenmy body slips into the veil to listen for secrets and all the whispers to greet my ears. I like it more in the veil than in the ordinary world. Here, everything is simple, and I understand it along with my purpose. It almost feels like all the fucked up feelings the real world leaves you as you pull yourself into the plane that exists in the outer part of this world. Everything gets dulled here, which causes a sigh of relief to leave my lips in relief from the feeling. Today, as I enter, the whispers say only one name.Salem. Something pulls me towards the hub. Despite the veil watering down my feelings, my heart speeds up with thoughts of seeing her. Somehow, Salem causes me excitement. This week has been rather dull without her on campus to watch. It made me feel terrible about my stalking skills not being able to find her in this realm. I can’t help butwonder where she has been. Maybe she was out of range, where my ability doesn’t work. It’s not as if I can walk up and ask her.

My mission for Gage has kept me occupied as I have been hunting for Leo. Gage has me on edge. When I told him what I heard at his parent’s house, he seemed somehow different from the person I know. He seems to have mentally and physically pushed himself past normal this week. Gage hasn’t been sleeping. It was written over his face, unable to stop the dark circles under his eyes. When he isn’t in class, he is out looking for Leo. We all are looking for him, but where do you go to find someone you haven’t seen in years?

I’ve mostly been watching from his parents’ house. I am listening to see if they have heard anything or if he will end up going back. So far, it’s led me down a path with more questions than answers. Gage claims that his family says everything is business as usual when he calls. Yet, they are scrambling. Last night, a team of men arrived with dogs. When they left, they said, “The dogs will be ready in three days.”

From the looks of Gage, I don’t know if he can handle half-truths. It’s not a lie if I can’t get the whole story. They keep giving me crumbs and nuggets of truth. His parents are careful, though. I can only gather so much from their comings and goings. The dark circles under Gage’s eyes tell me to hold back until I have the entire picture. Tonight, I will tell him about the dogs and the men. I have to give him something to keep him from going off on the deep end. We are all supposed to meet after classes to discuss the plan, and I want him to focus on his studies today. Maybe it will give him a few hours of normalcy before his world further implodes.

As I reach the hub, I watch the excitement fill the air. The crowd is hoping for a fight, and if it’s trouble for Salem, Lulu is behind it. Lulu’s obsession with her sister is almost unhinged. Something isn’t right with Lulu, and I’ve thought about it for along time. The way she likes to touch anyone that is around her makes my skin crawl. Men seem to obsess over her. I stay off her radar since I am only out of the veil for class and meetings with the guys, so thankfully, I have had no run-ins with her.

The name Blackthorne is being murmured throughout the place. That gets my attention since the Prince of Sloth has been making waves. I am shocked when I see him standing beside Salem, smiling at her like she is precious. Oh, please tell me she isn’t dating Constantine Blackthorne.

Whose eyes lock on mine as soon as I think of his name. Constantine raises one eyebrow at me. He points his finger upwards in front of his eye and then towards me, sending one of his shadows popping into the veil before me.Watch yourself, incubus.The dark shadow sneers at me.

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