Page 11 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

Except, my mom tells the seamstress to take it in another inch.

“She’ll lose it by the time of the pageant,” Momma says.

She’s right.

After the laxatives, diet pills, and starvation, my waist shrinks an inch and a half.

When I take third place in the pageant, she blames the weight loss. “You’re too skinny. You look like a sack of bones up there.”

“Get out of my head!” I press my fists into my temples, tempted to yank fistfuls of hair out of my head in hopes some memories will come with them.

Anika isn’t my mom.

Anika was pressuring me to throw a party, not skip a meal.

She won’t punish me for yelling at her or chase me through the house, screaming insults through my closed bedroom door.

So, why do I hear footsteps moving behind me?

Why do I feel a tingle on the back of my neck like someone is chasing me?

Is it Noah?

I shake my head. I’m alone, in the woods. I’m safe. Everything is fine.

Stop being so dramatic. Get up. Now.

It’s Momma’s voice that sends me spiraling, but it’s also Momma’s voice that keeps me moving.

Because if I stop for even a minute, the demons I’m running from will catch up.

I don’t know what they’ll do to me when they find me.

So I get up. And I move, even though I still feel like I’m drowning.

The makeshift parking lot isn’t far ahead. My car will be there. I’ll be safe in my car.

I’m almost there.

One step at a time.

One breath at a time.

Finally, after stumbling my way through the dark woods, I see a glint of moonlight off a car hood up ahead.

I’ve made it.

I pull my keys out of my back pocket and begin hitting the unlock button, looking for the flash of my car’s headlights. They light up, illuminating the trees for a moment.

And something else.

A shadow perched on my hood.

I freeze a few feet from my car, halfway between the dirt lot and the mouth of the woods.

My voice sounds tiny and afraid when it comes out.

“Noah?”

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