Page 48 of Virgin Sacrifice

Hope surged in my heart as I lunged toward the keypad, never taking my eyes off the sheep. They watched me with what felt like cool detachment as I slammed the card against the pad, their head ominously tilting to the side as I let out a strangled cry of victory when the light finally turned green and the distinctive clank of the door unlocking followed.

I finally tore my eyes from the creep in the mask as I ran forward to open the doors, albeit more cautiously this time.

I had just started to swing the tall outer glass door inward when someone stepped out from around the corner in the lobby and stood in front of the doors on the other side of the vestibule.

This time I couldn’t stifle my scream.

Chapter twenty-two

Luz

Standing inside, behind the glass doors, was the very thing I had been running from.

This close, the hooded figure loomed tall and dark, the flickering light of the only adding to the malevolent atmosphere. But it was that creepy plastic child’s sheep mask peering out at me emotionlessly from under that black hoodie that sent a shudder through me.

Confusion had me whirling around stupidly, exposing my back to them, only to be stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that the first sheep was still in fact outside and was now creeping up the avenue toward the dorm.

“Mira stupida,” I could hear my mother hissing at me.

There were two of them.

The sound of the lock unlatching seemed to echo behind me, and my heart convulsed as real fear gripped me and left me nearly frozen in place.

My moment of foolishness cost me.

I stood there, halfway in and halfway out of the vestibule, unable to make the choice to save myself, as the sheep from inside the building swung the door open with a flourish and began stalking toward me with much more intensity than their companion outside.

For a second, I was there again, in my childhood bedroom, watching in terror as a monster—not of my nightmares but very much of my reality—sprang toward me, eyes lit with violence and cruelty. The only choice I’d been able to make back then was how much I wanted to fight back. Which was really a matter of how much more violence I wanted to suffer at the hands of my father, because he always hurt me more when I fought back. Although sometimes, when I did nothing at all, that also seemed to spur him on and make him madder. Truthfully, there had been no choice at all . . .

But now there was, and while I could fight back if I had to, I had also taken enough self-defense classes to know that my first choice should always be to run away, that fighting a larger, unknown opponent was a last resort.

I turned around, doing my best to wrench the glass door shut behind me, before taking off running as fast as I could around the side of Jackson College House.

The hedges that decorated the avenue leading up to the dorm wrapped around the sides of the building, obscuring the rest of the campus from view. I kicked off my slippers, knowing they would only slow me down, and swung around the corner, glancing behind me to see both sheep at my rear, the one still chasing after me aggressively with the other following in their wake, slower but just as dogged in their pursuit.

Who are they? What will they do if they catch me?

Questions I didn’t have time to answer.

I needed to focus. I needed a plan. Running in circles, hoping they got tired and gave up, wasn’t one.

My lungs burned and my feet hurt from the gravel that filled the path that wound around the building, leading to the back where the heating and cooling units stood along with a massive garbage dump. The smell was overpowering and choked the air from my already-struggling lungs.

I ran on, spotting the gap in the hedges that connected to one of the smaller trails that wove through the back of campus before heading out to the woods. It was dark out, and I could only hope that I knew the forest better than whoever was hunting me.

I raced toward the gap as quickly as I could in my socked feet. The bushes were just an arm’s length away. Fast, heavy footsteps came up behind me, and the larger of the sheep rounded the corner, now running flat-out.

Without a moment to lose, I pulled myself through the gap in the hedge, ignoring the way the rough branches of the too narrow passage scratched my skin. It didn’t matter, and as I broke free out the other side, I could hear the footsteps behind the hedge coming to a pause.

The moon had made an appearance out from behind clouds, and I could see the trail that led to the woods clearly. Which meant my pursuers would be able to see me just as well.

Not wanting to waste my lead, I took off as quickly as I could, constantly scanning the area around me, hoping to see someone else, anyone else, other than the wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing behind me.

As the tree line drew near, I nearly stumbled.

Autumn.

The second sheep had come from inside our dormitory. She was still there. What if they had done something to her?

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