Page 27 of The Hallows Boys

Every year calls for fresh blood, no one female may be selected more than once.

The Hallows Boys must not speak of the Hallows Games, past or present, with anyone outside of the group of Hallows.

The chosen female must attend Blackmore High School and must be over the age of sixteen, but no older than nineteen.

The games may be played anywhere within the town’s limits.

You may not commit murder, arson, or rape.

Outside of these rules, you may act as you please within the hours of All Hallows’ Eve.

Signed,

The Founders

ChapterFifteen

SAGE

Sitting at the table with my grandmother, I inhale the authentic southern food she’s made for dinner like it’s my last meal. I guess the rumors are true: there’s no better home cooked meal than grandma’s.

I’m going to expand and explode soon with how well she feeds me, and I’m definitely feeling more at home since I’ve taken such a liking to cornbread and fried chicken.

“How have you been liking Blackmore High, Sage?” my grandmother asks as I down my glass of sweet tea.

I lick my lips once I’ve put the empty glass down. “Eh, it’s fine.”

“Fine?” she questions, grabbing her own glass.

“Most of the kids just ignore me, probably because I’m the new girl.” I wipe my hands on a napkin before throwing it on top of my empty plate.

She swallows down some sweet tea. “Blackmore has always been skeptical of outsiders comin’ in. Very tight-knit community we have here, but we take care of our own, and you’re one of us, Sage.”

I watch her as she stands up and walks to the counter to grab the peach cobbler she made for dessert, wondering how to approach the subject of my parents without being snippy. I can’t help the gnawing inside of me whenever I think of them living here – they seemed so…L.A.Definitely nothing like the country bumpkin parents in Blackmore.

“If it’s so tight-knit, why did my parents leave?”

She slices a piece of cobbler, plopping it down onto a plate before she walks back to the table and puts it down before me. “Your mama always wanted bigger things in life, things she couldn’t find here in Blackmore.”

“Gran, why wouldn’t they tell me about this place?” I pick up my fork and start picking at the slice of pie.

“Listen, baby, whatever reasons your mama and daddy had for not tellin’ ya about Blackmore died with ’em. I can’t give you answers I don’t have.”

“I know, gran, but – ”

“Oh!” she cuts me off as she sits down in her chair. “Your uncle called to check on ya. I told him you would give him a ring later tonight.”

I huff a laugh, putting my fork down on the edge of the plate even though I haven’t even taken a bite. “No thanks.”

Gran clicks her tongue. “Now, honey – ”

I cut her off this time. “No, gran. They totally cast me out and refused to help me when I needed it. I don’t owe them a damn thing.”

She sighs, pulling my plate toward her to take a bite.

I can feel myself getting angry at my aunt and uncle all over again at the mention, my mind telling me that it’s all their fault that I’m in the situation I’m in now. If they had just let me move in with them for the rest of the year, I would still be in California. I would have never found out about this town or the fact my parents lied to me for my entire life.

Not to mention, I wouldn’t be in this weird four-way bullshit with the Hallows Boys.

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