Page 180 of House of Pain
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Before Alecto even opened her eyes, she knew there was something wrong.
Her head was splitting, part of her face in pain, lip throbbing. And then there was the smell of damp weed and water wedged—
Alecto’s eyes opened to the dark night sky above her, stars hidden behind heavy clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
She tried getting up, but her limbs weren’t responding, lazy and heavy.Restricted.
“What the fuck?” she muttered, lifting her head just to lean it back because it was too damn hard.
“Rise and shine, bitch.” A familiar voice came from somewhere close.
This time, Alecto managed to lift her head and keep it up long enough to see what was going on around her.
She was in a small boat, perched on the shore of the Blood Lake. Matias and Gabe stood at the foot of the boat.
“I was getting worried you were going to miss all the fun,” Gabe said.
“Yeah,” Matias muttered. “It would have been so upsetting if you’d died in your sleep. After all this trouble.”
Bile rose up to her throat. Memories of being back in the Dean’s building, walking into the bathroom…
She remembered going over to the sink, and then there was a hand over her mouth, and everything went black…
Fuck.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Alecto croaked.
She tried to clear her throat, but it was too painful, and she started coughing.
“What does it look like we’re doing, sweetheart?” Gabe cocked a brow. “It’s time to teach the Snakes a lesson. They won’t rule for much longer.”
“You fucking idiots. Killing me is not going to ruin the Snakes.”
Matias chuckled. “You’re right. It’s not. But it’s just the start, and oh, you better believe we have things much worse than this planned for your House.”
“Fuck you.” She wiggled her arms and legs.
They tied her real good, she couldn’t wrench free, and there was no chance to reach her bones. If she even still had them.
Panic was threatening to take over, so Alecto closed her eyes and breathed through her nose. She could find a way. Shewouldfind a way.
It was dangerous, but some part of her hoped that the Snakes would notice her missing and that they would come for her. She was sure they already knew. Jolene and Blaze must have realized she was gone when she didn’t come back from the bathroom.
Would they come for her? Would they figure out where she was before the Tigers pulled whatever the fuck they had planned?
She needed to buy herself some time.
“You know,” she said, managing to finally scramble into a sitting position, “it’s against the rules of the Game to kill another member of a rival House in such an open way. You won’t win the Game. You will simply win yourself another suspension.”
Gabe and Matias exchanged glances, smirks cracking on their faces.
Right at that moment, Alecto was faced with the terrible truth of how poorly she’d chosen her lovers. Three men she’d had sex with had tried to kill her in one way or another. This was a real wake-up call.
Blaze was right.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you,” Gabe said. “Did you really think last year’s incident with the Rats was not carefully planned? They knew exactly what they were doing when they set those first years up to die. No death on campus is ever a fucking accident. It’s always just a well-calculated and planned execution that makes it look that way.”
