Page 35 of Pretty Secrets

Jarvis reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of keys. He inserts one into the lock and swings the door open.

Well, that’s interesting…

A muffled cry comes from within. I push past the two in front of me and hurl myself into the house. “Eden?” Another cry comes, louder now. I follow it into a sitting room, and I sigh in relief when I spot Eden’s blonde head over top of a chair facing a fireplace.

Barclay and I reach her at the same time. He goes for her gag while I start untying the knots around her wrists and ankles. As soon as he pulls the cloth free, she growls, “What took you guys so long?”

She doesn’t fool me though. Her voice is strained, and when I finally meet her gaze, there’s an odd look in her eyes.

Behind us, Leo walks up to the mantle and leans down. As I fumble with the last ankle knot, he grins into a camera. “Found her. What else you got for us?” Casually, he picks up the piece of technology and throws it into the flames.

Eden watches him as I pull her to her feet. He stalks out of the room afterward, and Barclay tells us to leave him be for a moment.

“Jesus, are you okay?” I ask Edie, massaging her wrists where the rope rubbed. It’s clear she’d tried to save herself but couldn’t manage it.

“Wonderful. I love being tied up for hours. How’d you know where to find me?”

“Jarvis,” Barclay admits. “I’m not exactly sure how, and I wouldn’t ask him because he probably won’t tell you.”

“Did they hurt you?” I ask, still looking her over.

“I’m fine,” she says tersely, but I think it’s just for show in front of Barclay. When we’re alone, I’ll get her to tell me everything. “What was all that about, though?”

“If I had to guess,” Barclay starts. “A few things. One, they’re always watching. They knew at that exact moment that you were vulnerable. Two, they can pull us along like puppets on a string. Three, they’re testing our relationship already. Four, teamwork. If you know anything about the Knights, you know the whole foundation is built on relationships. You don’t have to like each other to help your fellow Knight. The greater good is better than one person.”

“I take it we failed?” Eden asks Barclay, fire in her eyes.

If we don’t make it into the Knights, it’ll be damn near impossible to find out what happened to Delilah. All of that fear is displayed in the fierceness of her gaze.

“Yes, we did. We can only hope others failed worse than us.”

16

Eden

Ihold the strange sensations clawing at me until we’re back at Jarvis Hall. Oliver tried to get close while we were in the backseat, but I cringed away, unable to stand the thought of anyone touching me right now.

Panic flutters in my chest as I remember their rough grips and the nothingness. The horror of those few hours tied up God knows where, the future like a death knell clanging above my head, still tears at my bones like it can break me apart from the inside.

All the while, I held it in. All the fear, the anxiety spiking every sense I had. I couldn’t let it show for fear of them seeing me as weak. In the moments when it was me in the darkness and the faint sound of a clock ticking away the drawn-out seconds, I wondered if this was more than just a Trial. If they’d taken me like Dee, wanting me to suffer like her. Still, I held tight to those emotions, not letting them spill out because I’ll die before I ever give them the satisfaction that they’ve broken me.

As soon as Leo parks the car, I’m the first to exit. I walk as steadily as I can to the big building in front of me. Even though everything else is in a haze, Jarvis Hall stretches like a black abyss toward the sky, surrounded in tangled webs that I didn’t realize I was caught in since setting foot on this campus that first night.

Oliver calls my name behind me, but I don’t stop. I need to be alone with my thoughts, so I can dissect my reaction to the last few hours. So I can prove to myself I’m safe, even though my body is still on high-alert, searching out a threat.

I guess I am afraid of something after all. Ending up like my poor, murdered sister.

My feet thud up the staircase, and I turn into Dee’s old room, locking it from the inside. Sure, that bastard has a key, but I doubt he’ll bother me. He never even glanced my way on the way back from that house. While Oliver and Alaric dug for information, he was a stony, silent bastard.

It was about the Trials. It was a game, I tell myself. But it felt much more real than that. When they threw me in the car; when they tied me up; when they led me into that place blindfolded, leaving the outside world a shroud of mystery…

I didn’t know if I was walking into a place to get beheaded or being led off a dock to drown…

It hit too fucking close to home.

I knew they’d do something like this to get to me. There were no doubts.

Distracted, I trip on one of Dee’s boxes, landing ungracefully in the middle of the room, the wood floors digging into my knees with a sharp pain. A strangled cry wrestles free from my throat, and I kick out, sending a box with her name on it sliding across the room. Right now, her things aren’t a beacon of hope. They’re more like a coffin.

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