Page 81 of Vile Boys

Oh God. There are two of them.

That’s why he said we.

My phone buzzes again, and I hold it up, rain pitter-pattering down on the screen, which I swipe away to read the text.

Prick: Run … hide … wherever you go, we’ll find you.

My whole body begins to shake.

I dash to the right, away from the guy in the hoodie and run all the way across campus through the pouring rain, my clothes soaking wet when I finally get to the big doors of the main building. They’re closed off, and when I try to pull them open, they refuse to budge.

Everything’s closed. It’s midnight.

No one’s still here except maybe a guard just to shoo away any unwanted guests.

Shit. What do I do now?

When I look over my shoulder, my breath falters.

There are two of them now, staring me down from the far end of the main campus grounds, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re smiling behind those damn masks.

I run away as fast as I can in the only direction that’s still safe; the Spine Ridge gardens. My heart’s going a million miles an hour, and it almost feels like they can hear it. Like it fuels their desire to chase me even faster.

Every time I glance over my shoulder, at least one of them is right behind me, slowly catching up with me.

Shit.

Rain trickles down across my cheeks, and I brush my hair out of my face to see better in the darkness. There has to be somewhere I can go where they can’t find me. But before I know it, I’ve run all the way to the rose gardens.

My phone buzzes, and I take a quick glance.

Prick: Tick tock, little rose. What will you do? Run and hide? Or face your demons?

My feet almost tumble over themselves when I spot a guy in a gold demon mask with horns standing mere feet away from me,casually tossing a lighter up and down, the suit he’s wearing completely soaked through.

But none of it seems to matter.

Not when their mission is to destroy me.

I gulp and turn around, but I almost drop my phone when I see the other one standing right there, equal feet away as the other, his hoodie hanging over the mask as he pushes the tip of the knife into his index finger, looking like he’s wondering what I’ll do. Which arms I’ll run into and meet my inevitable fate.

I shudder in place and look to my right.

The entrance to the maze.

I gulp.

I will definitely get lost in there, but I have no other choice if I want to have even a shot at escaping their grasp.

So I tuck my phone into my pocket and bolt inside.

I don’t know which way to go—left, right, right, left, two further, another left, then a long way ahead, and another right. I have no clue where I am or if I’m going in the right direction, but as long as it’s far away from them, I’ll be fine.

I run through the maze until my feet can barely take it anymore. But their laughter in the background makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“We know where you are … We can hear your steps, Crystal.”

Is that … Caleb? It has to be. His voice sounds the same.

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