Page 103 of House of Ruin
“You’re welcome.”
Alecto only smiled. One of her cold, mean smiles. “Have you decided how we’re going to find out who’s been poisoning students for Professor Namiad?”
Val’s hands were busy rolling a blunt. She took her time with it, folding the paper carefully to not spill a drop.
“Maybe it wasyou.” Val smirked. She shot Alecto a sideways glance. “After all, you’ve shown in the past that you hold grudges better than anyone else.”
Alecto scoffed. But her heart was thrashing at the sight of Val’s all-knowing smile and her intent gaze focused on Alecto.
“Fuck off, Lang. The past is in the past. Why would I do something like that when you know that my loyalty lies with the Snakes. I don’t gain anything from sabotaging our members.”
Maybe she used too many words, too much eagerness to convince Val to look the other way.
Val narrowed her eyes for a moment but then shrugged. “I know, Black. You might be playing some game of your own, but you wouldn’t try killing Blaze.” Val lit the blunt. “Not like that, anyway.”
Alecto chose to ignore Val’s words.
“And to answer your previous question—yes, I have thought of how to find Professor Namiad’s bitch,” Val said. She passed the blunt to Alecto, and she took it. When the smoke hit her lungs, it burned so badly, Alecto’s eyes started watering. Val smiled, her dark, predatory smile. “We’re going to have a party.”
“Tell me again, why did we agree to do this?” Gael asked.
The way he was looking at the brush in his hand made it seem as if it were his biggest enemy.
“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing,” Blaze murmured, tilting his head to the side. “Out of all the volunteering activities we could choose from, you had to choose working at Darly’s Familiar Shelter?”
Alecto bit her lip to stop herself from chuckling at the expression on Blaze’s face when one of the black bunnies hopped on his feet, its small paws tugging on his jeans.
“Shut up, this is the best shit ever.” Jolene beamed, giggling.
She didn’t waste any time, settling on the ground in one of the cages that held a horde of young white kittens. The little creatures clung to Jolene, climbing into her lap and purring loudly as she tried to scratch every kitten behind their ears.
Val didn’t bother answering them, her eyes scanning the room. Whatever she was looking for wasn’t there because after a moment, Val turned to them and jerked her chin towards Alecto.
“You come with me. We’ll go feed that…thingin the basement.”
“Val, what the fuck are we doing here?” Blaze asked.
He shuffled backwards, awkwardly trying to avoid the bunny who still clung to his leg. The creature wasn’t bothered, only holding on tighter.
“We are here to show how responsible and involved in the local community the House of Snakes is,” Andro explained with a deep sigh. “This is the best PR.”
“The usual yearly monetary donation would have sufficed this year as well, but with the recent murder charges, showing our faces around and beinghumbleprivileged kids seemed like a better PR move,” Val added.
Andro cleared his throat and went straight for the cage next to the one Jolene occupied. He busied himself with brushing the army of black rabbits.
Blaze glared at Val but didn’t say anything else.
“Oh, you already found yourself something to do. Lovely!” Helena Priss, the elderly lady who ran the place, came from the front of the store. She took in Blaze standing without anything to do and smiled at him. “Young man, would you mind giving me a hand at the front? There are a few three-tailed foxes who need to be fed, and it’s a two-person job.”
Skulking silently, Blaze followed the lady to the front of the shelter.
“Let’s go, Black.”
Val didn’t wait for Alecto’s answer before descending the stairs to the basement. Old wooden stairs creaked underneath Alecto’s boots, the air downstairs humid and stuffy.
The basement had bare walls and a concrete floor, and it was empty apart from the massive wrought iron cage in the middle. Inside lay a huge red-feathered griffin, its huge eagle head resting on its clawed feet.
The creature’s white glowing eyes were solemn as it watched them approach.
