Good vs. Evil High (31 page)

“Me, too—And hey, could you bring me more
clothes so I have something to change into tomorrow—and a clock, so
I can keep up with the days.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Your wish is
my command.”

When he was gone, I sat on the floor and
fished out a few pieces of bacon from the sandwich in the bag,
feeling absolutely disgusted. My skin was crawling. My heart ached.
It was a vile feeling to have Luke’s killer hug me. The terrible
drained feeling was returning, because it took everything in me to
be nice to Roman.

“Okay,” I said to myself, trying to focus.
It’s been eight days. I can’t handle eight more. But getting on
Roman’s good side won’t happen overnight. Five days. That’s how
long I’ll give myself to suck up to him.
Then on the sixth day,
I would wait for him in the bathroom in the morning and put my plan
into action. Maybe with a clock, I could time his arrivals.

Now that that was settled, I set my bacon
down so I could cry for Luke some more.

Chapter
Thirty-Eight

~ Go Day ~

The first day of resolution, I went back and
forth with the idea of washing my shadow suit, since I had no idea
if it would ruin it or not. But in the end, I decided to, because I
was not putting it back on when it smelled like that.

Roman brought me everything I asked for,
including an old battery-powered clock. It was one of the stolen
things they’d pulled out from under Luke’s bed, I realized, which
totally ticked me off. But it helped me figure out that Roman came
every morning at about six-thirty with enough breakfast for both of
us. And it had an alarm. That meant I would be able to get up at
six a.m. and wait for him when the time came.

I hated his visits. They always left me
feeling extra drained and a little sick to my stomach. I felt
dirty, like I’d committed an unforgivable sin in playing friend to
the enemy. But it was necessary.

And the voices. They still came. Once in the
middle of the night two days after I first heard them, and then the
next morning. Twice the next day. Each time was scarier than the
one before. But it was during those times that my commitment to do
whatever it took to get free was strengthened, because it reminded
me that there was no choice. I had to get away.

The night before Go Day, I took the risk of
putting the shadow suit on and having Roman unlock me long enough
to pull the chain out. I was extremely careful with the movement of
my arms, or course. When I tried out the suit later, it still
worked, which meant that I was as ready for the next morning as I
could be. So after Roman left, the last thing I did before I went
to bed was set the alarm for six a.m.

I struggled to fall asleep, because, even
though I was broken and felt like it didn’t matter if I died or
not, I was still pretty nervous about the next morning. I tried to
get myself excited, thinking about seeing my friends and Headmaster
and exposing Roman. But all I could do was be scared.

I really hoped I would be able to go through
with it.

* * * *

The deafeningly shrill alarm woke me up in
the morning. It was loud enough that I wondered if the whole place
could hear it.
That’s one way to get your heart going a mile a
minute when you wake up,
I thought as I sat up, knowing it
wouldn’t be able to slow down until my mission was complete.

I shut the alarm off and went into the
bathroom, leaving the door open about a foot and a half. A splash
of light cut through the darkness of the floor at my feet.

I took the thick chain in both hands and
waited. My arms were tired within minutes, so I squatted down and
rested my hands against the ground, still holding the chain.

As time passed, I began kicking myself for
not putting the clock where I could see it. I had no idea how much
time had gone by, but I was too terrified to move a muscle.

I couldn’t blow this. If Roman came in while
I was moving the clock, everything would be ruined. I couldn’t
handle another day in that room, worrying about the morning when I
would try to get away. Because the waiting was making me as crazy
as everything else was. There were so many uncertainties, so many
things that could go wrong. I had to get it over with.

I knew my mind was clouded by this almost
debilitating fear, but when I heard someone rattle the doorknob, I
was certain it couldn’t be time yet. There was no way half an hour
had passed by.

So he’s early. I’ll just get this thing over
with that much sooner.

Silently, I stood back up and gripped the
powerful links of steel in my trembling hands. My heartbeat thumped
against my ears and fingertips. This was it.

So why wasn’t the door opening? There was a
long groan of metal twisting and scraping. And then there was a
crash loud enough that I jumped, clanking the chains together. My
heart raced faster as I fought to quiet them down, sure I would
faint at any moment.

What if it wasn’t him? Whoever was out there
was early, and it sounded like the whole door might have just come
down.

It didn’t matter. I couldn’t afford to hold
back until I knew if it was Roman or not.
Strangle first, ask
questions later. I sound like a Cinder
, I thought with a
shudder, forcing my mind back to the crisis at hand.

“Kristine?” someone whispered. It could have
been Roman. It could have been anyone. I stood ready with the
chain.

Footsteps came closer. My mouth became
sandpaper and my eyes became saucers. “Kristine, are you in
here?”

With fear and vengeance leading the way, I
reached out when I saw him walk past the door. I threw the chain
around his neck in a blur of dark silver and pulled.

But one massive hand dropped the crowbar it
held to grab my suit at the pants and pick me up like a ragdoll,
shifting my center of gravity and slamming my head against the
ground on the way up. He swung me over his head and through the
air. I barely had time to process what was happening before my back
was slamming against the mattress so hard it felt like it wasn’t
even there.

I couldn’t breathe. My ankle hurt from being
yanked so hard by the impenetrable iron that was holding it fast.
My chest contracted in its failing attempt to draw breath. I
reached up and feebly hit my attacker twice before he crouched down
beside me.

“Kristine?” Luke choked out, his voice full
of emotion.

“Luke—” I finally got out. I felt like I was
drowning. Wretched coughing tore at my throat as my first agonizing
breaths came. “Luke.” I sat up and leaned away, afraid my
schizophrenic episodes were getting worse.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he began to
cry.

“You’re dead. Roman killed you. I can’t—”

He grabbed me and forced me to kiss him. I
only fought it for a second, and then I felt myself melting against
him, pulling him closer, running my fingers through his dark hair,
and crying with him.

He was alive. It was all a cruel lie. Luke
was alive, and he was there—my rescuer—holding me in his arms
again.

“Luke,” I sobbed into his shoulder as he took
his lips away from mine to pick me up, cradling me as he stood.

“I can’t believe I finally found you,” he
said. “I’ve been looking for days. When he was carrying you
away...I was afraid you were dead.” He leaned over to kiss the top
of my head twice and then hold me even tighter. “I love you so
much, Kristine.”

“I love you, too.”

I clung to him for dear life as I cried over
how relieved and overwhelmed I was. His noisy gasping breaths told
me that he was doing exactly the same thing.

“Luke—” I said, lifting my head suddenly.
“Roman will be here any minute.”

“How do you know?”

“He always comes at six-thirty. That’s why I
was trying to strangle you. I thought you were him. You have to
leave before he gets here.”

“Why?” He set me down in annoyance. “Why
should I leave you with him?”

“Because,” I sobbed. “I can’t lose you again.
I spent the last thirteen days wishing I was dead because it hurt
so bad.”

“Well so did I,” he said, raising his voice.
“I’m not leaving this room without you.”

“But I can’t get away. He chained me to the
wall and he has the key.”

“Then I’ll wait here for him.”

“But he has a gun—”

Luke shut me up by kissing me and holding me
where I couldn’t move. I was scared enough for him that I would
have pushed him out the door if I could have. Anything to keep him
alive.

“Get away from her,” Roman said, standing on
the door that was lying flat on the floor. My worst fear became a
reality as I saw the gun Roman held pointed at Luke.

“No,” I tried to move in front of Luke, but
he turned boldly to face Roman and kept me back with one arm. “Why
did you tell me he was dead?” I asked Roman, giving up on my fight
to guard Luke.

“Because it was the only way to make you love
me.”

“I told you, I’ll never love you. Luke’s the
only man I love.”

“Don’t say that,” he hissed, his face
twisting with fury. “You love me.”

“Get over it, Armstrong,” Luke said. “She
loves me.”

Roman fixed his dangerous eyes on Luke. He
cocked the gun and began moving closer. “She can’t love you if
you’re dead.”

“NO!” I screamed, struggling in vain to get
around Luke. “Please don’t hurt him, Roman! Please! I’ll do
anything you want. I’ll run away with you. I’ll stay with you
forever. Just please, don’t hurt Luke,” I pleaded, crying harder
than I had all day.

“No, Kristine,” Luke said, his eyes blazing.
“I’d rather die than see you end up with him.”

“I can’t lose you again.”

“I’ll let him live,” Roman said, “if you say
you love me and tell your ex-boyfriend goodbye.” He was close to us
now. He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out
the blackened key that would release me.

I took it from him when he held it out and
sat down to unlock the band around my ankle.

Luke watched me, waiting for something to
happen. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I would spend the rest of my
life miserable with Roman if it meant his life were spared.

“Don’t try anything or Knight’s dead,” Roman
said as the shackle fell to the floor.

I looked up at him anxiously. “I won’t. Just
don’t hurt him.”

Roman held out a hand to me. I took it and
went to stand beside him.

“Kristine,” Luke said heartbreakingly.

“You shut up,” Roman said. Then he glanced at
me. “Say it.”

“No,” Luke begged me.

I locked eyes with Roman and spoke with
trembling and fear. “I love you, Roman.”

He smiled and let out a sigh of pleasure.
“I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that. You’ll say it to me
every day forever, or I come back and kill him.”

I nodded as Luke took a step forward.

Roman pressed the gun against his forehead.
“She’s coming with me whether I kill you or not. I prefer you dead,
so you should think twice before you take another step.”

Luke’s eyes were truly blazing now, as he
lifted his arms slowly in surrender. “She’s mine,” he said darkly.
“You can’t have her.”

“Try and stop me.”

Luke’s arm struck Roman’s like lightning.
There was a flash and an explosion. I screamed and fell back,
realizing the gun had just gone off.

Chapter
Thirty-Nine

~ Indebted ~

“LUKE!” I screamed, looking around.

He lunged for the gun on the ground,
seemingly unharmed. Roman, on the other hand, was holding his arm,
which bent back at the elbow where Luke had broken it. He kicked
the gun when he saw Luke going for it. Even with the torture I saw
in his face, Roman went after it too. They both reached for the gun
and grabbed onto it at the same time. Yanking and grunting, they
fought for control.

My ankle throbbed when I tried to go help
Luke, but still, I dragged myself halfway across the room before
the gun went off again. The bright flash forced me to close my
eyes. I hardly heard it this time, because my ears were still
mostly deaf from before. When I looked up, Luke was lying flat on
his back, holding his side with a bloody hand. “LUKE!” I screamed,
running toward them.

Roman was struggling to cock it back again
with his good arm. My course set for Luke veered to Roman. I
stomped on his broken arm repeatedly and took the gun from him as
he howled in pain.

Once I had it, I picked my foot up to focus
on pulling the top of the gun back. It was a lot harder than I’d
expected. It clicked back and into place as Roman stood up and ran
for the door. I aimed and fired chaotically. He disappeared into
the hallway.

Luke took off after him with his hand still
on his wounded side.

“Luke, no,” I called after him. “You need a
doctor.”

He ignored me and kept going.

I struggled to cock back the gun again, and
then hurried after them. Running on my ankle was excruciating, but
I had to help Luke. “Luke!” I shouted in the hallway, seeing him
turn to the left up ahead. “Take this gun!”

He was trailing blood behind him.

“Errr,” I grunted. The one time I really
wanted to be able to run, I couldn’t.

By the time I turned after them, Roman was
turning right. “Luke!” I called out again. He ignored me and turned
right too.

Not being able to shoot at Roman was
maddening. I’d never shot a gun in my life before that, so I knew I
had as much chance of hitting Luke as I did him.

When I turned right, I watched them disappear
up a long stairway with short stone steps, the same one Luke and I
used to get to Rose in the boiler room.

As I got closer, I saw Luke’s headmaster
standing frozen close to the top, eyes fixed on Luke. He opened his
mouth to speak as Roman shoved him out of the way so he could run
past. With no handrail to grab onto, gravity threatened to hurl him
to his death.