Page 1 of Deceit

Prologue

Welcome to Gallows Hill University.

The history of Salem, Massachusetts is not what we are known for, it is who we are.

Born in the ashes of evil, a society was formed, impassioned to protect the righteous and holy from the vengeance of the sentenced and their descendants.

Prove your loyalty, and you shall be given the world. Betray our trust, our secrets and our sacrifices and you will follow the path of the wicked; charred and beneath the dirt.

We look forward to your membership and cooperation.

Chapter One

Skyla

“I’m taking the airwrap as a sign of protest!” I shout down the hallway.

My aunt Steph shouts back to me as she makes her way down the hall.

“The hell you are! That was my birthday presentfromyou,” she laughs before peeking inside the doorway.

Her blonde hair is only a few shades darker than my own and her eyes aren’t the same as mine or my mom’s. Instead of the deep emerald green I inherited, she got my grandfather’s hazel eyes that look absolutely mesmerizing against her creamy skin.

“What can I say, I have excellent taste,” I tease before my smile slowly dims.

I turn away from her, bending down as I rifle through the bathroom cabinets, knowing I’ve grabbed everything that is mine. I just don’t have it in me to turn around and let her witness me fall apart for the ninth time this morning alone.

She bends down beside me, rubbing a soothing hand up and down my back. It helps a little, balming the hurt from what comes next, the only way a parent should be able to. Aunt Stephis so much more than that, though. She isn’t my biological mom, but she might as well be in every sense of the word.

I was three when my mom passed away. Boating accident, I guess. Though I only have one or two hazy memories of her, Steph tells me stories about her often. Steph was her younger sister and to her, my mom hung the moon.

When it was time for me to start boarding school here in London my father had no qualms about sending me away without a single friend, family or even parting look. Aunt Steph wouldn’t allow it, though. She was somehow able to convince him to allow her to move with me.

From three-years-old to nineteen, I’ve lived in this flat just down the road from my school. All of my friends are here, my memories. Every Christmas and birthday started around this brick fireplace and every batch of diet breaking cookies were baked in this kitchen. The flat was nothing compared to the mansion that awaited me back home in Massachusetts, or what most kids were living in when they were on break here in London, but it was ours and it breaks me that I have to leave it all behind.

“You’ll visit often, it’ll be okay.” Steph smiles through watery tears.

I swallow roughly, shaking my head as I speak.

“Why won’t you just come with me? Please? All you ever do is complain about England anyways, ‘It’s too cold, it’s too busy. The beer is warm, and the food is weird,’” I say, in my best imitation of her whining.

She rolls her eyes but pushes my shoulder to the side with a smirk.

“I do not sound like that.”

“You most certainly do,” I laugh.

Smiling sadly, she shakes her head.

“We’ve talked about this, Sky. I just got that new job at the firm. I’ve worked really hard to get here, I don’t want to throw that away.”

I knew I was being selfish by wanting her to come with me, but who can blame me? It’s like I’m losing a parent all over again, one I actually remember.

A sharp knock comes from the front door, sending my stomach plummeting before we share a look. Without a word, we move into the living room where my half a dozen bags are packed. My entire life being stuffed into a luggage set, destined for its new home at Gallows Hill University.

It was always the plan that once I graduated I would attend there, I just didn’t realize how fast everything would go by. Maybe I’d feel less devastated by it all if my father and I were closer or friendly in any meaning of the word.

He’s not a cruel man, he’s just…aloof. Unbothered by pretty much anything that doesn’t have to do with his precious company or the stock market. It’s how he made his grand fortune, and he loves them like one would love a child, or more so in our case.

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