Page 27 of Gothikana

‘Oh yeah,’ one of the new boys chimed in. ‘The Slayers are just a freaky legend told to students to scare ’em off anyway.’

‘Slayers?’ Corvina asked, remembering the word the boy had told her in the library, her hand drifting over the hard, rough bark of a tree.

‘Yeah,’ Troy explained. ‘It’s a stupid name. But that’s what everyone calls the students all those years ago who kidnapped and murdered the villagers.’

Goosebumps erupted over her arms. What the hell? What had the boy in the library meant with his message? Who the hell had he been? Clearly, he had just been messing with her.

‘You wanna know something even freakier?’ Troy continued, not realising anything was amiss in her mind.

Corvina nodded, the unsettling twist in her gut winding uptighter.

‘The students who finished the Slayers?’ Troy grinned. ‘Legend says after ending them, they disappeared off the face of the earth after leaving Verenmore. Every single one of them.’

A chill wracked her frame as Jade punched Troy in the side. ‘Stop scaring us!’

‘The woods are a place for scary stories, Jadie-girl.’ He ruffled her hair.

The incline steepened as they walked, and Jax gave her his hand to help her as she grabbed her skirt. It was the first time in her life Corvina realised that hands held different sensations. Mr Deverell holding her hand had been an entirely different experience than Jax holding her hand. Both their grips were firm and large, but where Mr Deverell’s warm grip had penetrated her skin and sunk in to ignite something deep, deep inside her, Jax’s just was. It didn’t make her have even an iota of the same physiological or psychological response.

‘How do you know so much?’ Corvina asked Troy to distract herself from the thought of the mercury-eyed man.

Troy slid her a serious look. ‘I work for the university part-time, taking packages to town twice a month, sending them out. The people in town, while drowning in rumours, also have some very interesting info about this place. Especially the old woman at the post office.’

Corvina felt her brows furrow, surprised at this fact about Troy. ‘What about her?’

‘Oh, this’ll be good,’ one of the boys laughed from the back.

Troy remained quiet as he helped Jade over a fallen log. ‘Her father’s younger sister was one of the girls who’d been taken. The old woman was born a few years after everything allegedly happened, but she learned all about it from her parents.’

‘Why are you even investigating all this?’ Jade demanded, shaking her head.

‘You’re not interested in knowing what happened here?’ Troy demanded back. ‘This is our home, and you don’t want to know why they keep all this shit hidden from us?’

‘Actually, no, I don’t,’ Jade responded. ‘I’m happy with my life here, and I don’t want to unsettle that. Simple.’

‘Not even after what happened with Alissa?’

‘Especially after what happened with Alissa.’

Alissa, who had been hiding something from Jade.

‘Please help me.’

The voice came out of nowhere, echoing in her head, bringing with it that ugly coating on her tongue. Corvina bit her lip to keep from reacting, gripping the trunk of a tree at her side, keeping her eyes to the ground, to the rich, dark soil and thick grass around the folds of her skirt.

‘The fuck!’ Ethan exclaimed and everyone turned to see him standing at the back, toward the left, his eyes on something. Corvina followed his gaze to see what he was looking at and blinked.

A shack. Brick and wood. Not quite dilapidated. Unbroken windows.

And a long silhouette moving inside.

Her heart stopped.

‘Fuck, let’s go.’ Jade tugged on Troy’s arm, her eyes frantically connecting with Corvina’s.

One of the guys stumbled back. ‘Man, let’s get outta here.’

Pulse racing, Corvina squinted, but the shadow didn’t move again. It stayed still. Could it be someone who needed help?

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