Page 34 of Feel Free to Scream

I frankly don’t know if the board meeting clothing choices are appropriate for a student council meeting. I guess Lily was trying to help me look like a good girl for whatever old guy sat on the board. She likely didn’t picture a near-perfect Henry Cavill lookalike. I may not be the best at fashion advice, but my personal experience says the good girl vibe doesn’t tend to work on people my age.

After the longest shower I’ve ever taken, which does little to soothe my nerves, although I cry twice, I slowly blow dry my hair, a painstaking yet completely useless endeavor as it’s raining tonight. It’s all about wasting time. Then I braid my hair. It’s only eight thirty when I’m done, so I apply some makeup. I don’t even try to do the sort of magic Lily worked on me, sticking to my usual pale, boring shades. Then, I get dressed in a pink skirt and white blouse. A little less formal than my earlier clothing, but nothing like yesterday’s outfit.

It’s finally time to head off to the tower. The footpath gate of the private drive swings open before I buzz the ringer, which feels ominous. My walk seems a lot longer tonight than it was yesterday, either because I’m alone, or because there’s so much at stake. I have to convince the council, at any cost.

What will they demand of me?

Does it matter?

I get the sense of eyes following me. When I glance around, there’s no one except a few security guards patrolling. They don’t pay me any mind.

When I reach the gate, a few yards away from the Wyvern House, my feet pause of their own volition, my heart thundering in my chest. What’s going to happen to me here?

The door swings open, and I’m shocked to see someone I recognize in the entrance.

There’s no mistaking it; the beautiful dark curls, the smooth russet skin, and that big, soft mouth. I’d recognize her any day. The girl will likely haunt my nightmares for the next decade. Last time I saw her, she was almost a corpse.

I didn’t see those striking pale jade eyes last night, even when she finally coughed up the pool water in her lungs.

“Hey, Claire. I’m Charlotte. I heard I owe you my life.”

She smiles like it’s amusing. When people say “I owe you my life” they probably mean “thank you thank you thank you, how could I possibly repay you?” But we both know she jumped.

I’m so startled by how casual she looks. Shouldn’t she be at the hospital? Surrounded by doctors and shrinks? What is she doing here? Is she part of the council?

“How are you doing?” is all I manage to ask.

At least it’s not as rude aswhat the fuck are you doing here?

“Not any worse than yesterday. Except I have babysitters twenty-four seven to ensure I don’t nope out of existence like I want to.” She just rolls her eyes. “Come on in.”

I do.

Thinking on it, it’s good she was the one to greet me. I’m not at ease, exactly, but I’m considerably less freaked out about my situation, in light of all my curiosity about her. She’s suicidal. Yesterday made that plain, and the way she speaks now reinforces it. And yet she seems…fun? Funny, cracking jokes at her own expense. Alive.

“I’m glad you’re all right, Charlotte. Truly.” I want to tell her the world’s a better place with her in it, but it sounds like a platitude from a stranger. “And having you here stresses me out a hell of a lot less.”

“Oh, they weren’t kidding. You areso sweet,” she tells me. Before I can ask who she means by “they,” she adds, “And unbearably naive. I have no more power than you do here, darling. Don’t think I’m any kind of a shield.”

The warning sends shivers down my spine. “Still. I’m glad to see you.”

“Ditto, sweet cheeks. First door on the right—the study,” she tells me, pointing to a large wooden double sliding door that evokes castles and alcoves and secrets. “I’ll be downstairs once you get there, okay? And keep your chin up. It’ll be over before you know it.”

I turn, but before I can ask her what she means she’s hopping down a flight of stairs at the end of the room.

Fuck. I’m all alone.

Rather than sliding the doors open, I opt to knock.

Both doors glide apart, and at my first glance of what waits for me inside, I am glad I skipped dinner. It would have made a reappearance immediately.

The room, a vast university-style library, can hardly be called a study. It’s mostly plunged in darkness, except for dim, low lights along the many book stacks on the wall. All that would have been worth plenty of observation, had my eyes immediately not converged to the center of the room, where seven masked, cloaked shadows stand in a semicircle.

Seven. One for each of the houses.

“Welcome to the council, little snitch. Come in.”

I resist the instinct to do the opposite, to turn on my heels and run in the opposite direction. They’re…terrifying. Everything about their appearance is meant to intimidate, and it works. The masks. God, the masks.

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