Page 39 of Brutal Kingdom

In the bell tower, I’d be exposed, but downstairs the rooms were pitch black. I could hide out there. Going on my gut, I turn off the ringer on my phone and walk as quietly as I can in the direction I think the stairs are in. It takes forever to reach the other side of the room, my body tight on alert for the smallest movement. The voice gets to one hundred, just as my hand touches a cool stone wall. The stairs are completely dark. If this is the right passageway, the lights on the scones are out. I keep one hand against the wall, feeling my way as I descend.

“Forty-nine.” The voice counts over the intercom.

I hurry, tripping a few times, until I finally come to an opening, stepping through it. I flick my phone briefly, illuminating the screen. There are two doors here, both locked. I turn the phone off again and go back the way I came, taking a few more stairs. A draft of air hits my left arm. I go towards it and light my phone again. One door. It’s also locked. Back on the stairs, I take a chance, and leave my phone on, trying to gauge how many more stairs I have. They seem endless. Did I go down this far before?

The count hits ten, and I have a choice to make. Do I go back up or continue down?

“Three, two, one. Ready or not, here they come.”

The same howling I heard in the woods comes from above and below. It combines with laughing and shrieking. How many people are here? I can’t go up, my only choice is to go down further and hope I find an unlocked door. The next opening is to my right again. I go through it. This hallway is longer and deeper than the others. I think I hear a noise behind me. Muffling a scream I run, stumbling as I realize there’s another stairwell.

The flashing of my phone with the new text startles me.

I know where you are, and I want what belongs to me

It’s a joke. Nobody knows where I am. I’m telling myself that when a picture of me standing in the middle of the main floor comes across the screen.

Shit. Whoever is texting me ishere.

I grab the knobs, going door to door, finally finding one that’s unlocked. I fling it open and rush inside, closing it behind me.

Someone grabs me, pulling a cloth bag over my head and drags me out of the room. Then suddenly, I’m being lifted and tied to something. My arms positioned above my head, my legs spread apart.

A voice says, “Ready to give me what I want?”

It’s him. It’s the guy who’s been texting me. God, what do I have? I’d gladly give it if I knew what it was. Or even if I still have it.

“Whoever you are, you don’t have to do this. You weren’t the target of my investigation. I don’t even know who you are, or what you think I have.”

“Just because you accidentally gained this information doesn’t make you less dangerous to me.”

I sense movement on my left by my head, then my feet. He must be circling me.

“I gave you every opportunity to resolve this issue peacefully, but like every other spoiled brat at this school, you refused. Now you’ll see what I do to people who make an enemy out of me.”

“I’m nothing like the people at this school.” I snarl. Pissed that he lumped me in with them.

“You go here, don’t you?”

“That doesn’t make me like them.”

“Your pictures and the files you have are for blackmailing them. Isn’t that so?”

I keep silent because that’s exactly what they were for.

“You say you’re different, but how can I believe that when you resort to the same tactics they do to get power and status, and wealth?”

“I didn’t want any of those things. I just needed an insurance policy.”

“And now I’ll have the same. How do I access these files?”

I shake my head. Something cool and pointy presses against my arm. Does this psycho have a knife? He’s not really gonna cut me, is he?

His gruff voice says, “Tell me again how you’re nothing like them. You still won’t give up your security.”

“You don’t understand. I can’t give you what you want.”

“And why is that? Already sold them to a higher bidder? Trying to destroy me?”

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