Page 32 of Soulless Rivalry

“Enough with the questions. Now you’re gonna tell me why you didn’t listen. I told you not to roam the halls at night.”

I scoffed. “Fuck you. I wasn’troamingthe halls. I was going to the dorm lounge, looking for a book because I couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh, you can’t sleep?” he smirked, like an evil idea had suddenly formed in his head.

Frowning, I tried taking a step back but was soon reminded by the door behind me that I couldn’t.

“I have something you can do on those nights when sleep seems to… elude you.” I hated that my mind immediately went to sex. I hated the fact that it somewhat thrilled me, even more.

But Konstantin nipped it all in the bud when he said, “From now on, you’re on cleaning duty.”

I sputtered, “Excuse me?”

“I don’t believe I stuttered.”

“Fuck you. I’m not cleaning your nasty room. Aren’t your parents rich enough to hire a maid?”

There were several at the Academy, and even though we were in charge of cleaning our own space, if your parents were rich enough, they could pay to have your dorm cleaned, too.

Konstantin had to audacity to look affronted. “I don’t want you within a mile of my room if I can help it, you seriously think I want youinit, snooping around? No, it’s not my room you’ll be cleaning, little cheater. It’s the Church.”

Chills ran down my back. “Absolutely not. I’m not setting foot in there, it’s probably fucking haunted.”

Not to mention old as fuck and dark, as in there was no electrical installation, meaning no light. I rarely ever wandered through the woods and never in that direction. The only times I had to go in there were when I went into town or to the library.

In my first year here, I had gone to a party at Old Joe’s mill with Mia and the experience of basically crossing the island left me frightened. Never again.

But Konstantin didn’t seem to care.

“Guess you’ll find out soon enough. Tomorrow, midnight. Don’t be late,moshennik.”

ELYSSA

After Konstantin left last night, I barely slept. I stayed dutifully in bed and thought about how I could get myself out of this predicament. Of course, I came up empty-handed.

When my fourth alarm rang that morning, I was bone tired, but I still made it through the day. I missed breakfast because I’d woken up too late and lunch because I had a paper due that afternoon that I needed to finish up.

As it was, I didn’t see any of my friends all day until dinner. I spent all day thinking about whether or not to tell them what happened last night. On one hand, I knew I couldn’t tell them everything because that would involve coming clean about my involvement with Konstantin, but I also knew I simply couldn’t not tell my girls that there was a possible killer on campus.

Today, no one was talking about it, because they didn’t know. Hannah and her boyfriend, Jared, had been sent home last night, and although the school’s gossip mill was running, their information was all wrong. Word was Hannah had gotten pregnant and was sent home alongside her boyfriend.

Others speculated that she didn’t maintain the agreed-upon GPA for scholarship students and since Jared couldn’t live without her, he decided to quit too.

That one was particularly stupid, considering we were barely a month into the semester, but whatever. Word was a new scholarship student would be joining the ranks of the Academy soon.

My stomach rumbled as I finally sat down with my friends for dinner, my first meal of the day.

“Hey, stranger. Where have you been all day?” Sinem smiled at me while helping herself to a piece of lasagna.

I groaned, slouching against the table. “Today was crazy and I didn’t sleep well last night. I think I saw something I shouldn’t have.”

My voice was low, nothing but a whisper, which my friends took as a sign to lean in, their plates forgotten. The cafeteria was busy, people were loud and I knew nobody would hear me.

“They found a body in the woods yesterday.”

Mia’s fork fell out of her hand and clanked against her plate. All three of my friends gaped at me, in shock, until Briar broke the silence at our table.

“What the hell? Ahumanbody?” At my nod, she crossed herself and clutched the little gold pendant around her neck, representing the Virgin Mary.

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