We all met outside the library with one extra body; that was the first red flag I missed.
Austin was firmly by Kate’s side, with his arms wrapped around her from behind and his face nuzzled into her neck. He wanted to be anywhere, but here, that much was obvious. He made other plans involving Kate.
No, I wasn’t jealous.
I had a crown to keep straight.
I was focused on revenge and the familiar fluttering feeling inside my stomach that I missed so much while I was swearing off trouble.
Luna and I walked together to the edge of campus, letting the love birds follow behind us. I knew I had to apologize for being a bitch, but my tongue suddenly weighed a thousand pounds. The guilt felt easier to carry.
She looked at me like she could read my mind. “Arianna, it’s okay. We all get angry and say things we don’t mean.”
I whispered in a low tone, making sure there was enough distance between the love birds and us before I spoke. “Is that like… your superpower?”
Her laugh was all genuine, pouring out of her mouth, and her fingertips rubbed her eyes in order to catch the happy tears.
What else was I supposed to call it? I was barely believing all this, and now I was asking ridiculous questions I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to.
“I’d never heard someone call it superpowers. That is really funny.”
I looked at her with my head tilted to one side. “What do you call what you guys can do then?”
She stopped walking to stare at me very seriously to make her point. “Control, Arianna.”
I should have dropped it then, but I wanted Bolton to come up more in this conversation. What better way was there than to bring him up myself. “So what’s Bolton super power?”
She looked behind us, since Kate’s only superpower lately was busting me when things got good.
What a rent a cop.
“Major douche? Incredible asshole? Beats me.”
I looked at her with my head tilted to one side. How could they not know or care what his superpowers were? It was like living next to Harry Potter World and you simply shrug when someone asks if you want to go. It wasn't acceptable behavior.
“Excuse me? No one knows?”
She laughed, like it was shocking he held his own secrets with a firm grip. I rolled my eyes at myself for even asking.
Dumb move, Arianna.
Her hand landed on my arm just as we stopped at the opening of the mouth of the hidden path—the same one outlined by Henry Jon. This time we wouldn’t be following his ghost into the woods, but going the other direction to end up behind the boys’ locker room.
“You’re the only person he’s let close in a long time. It’s a privilege we don’t get afforded.”
Her words made me smile, and I quickly wondered if Nyx offered that on his menu of services.
I felt protective of Luna, my roommate and only ally here, and the possibility of her heart hurting made me want to launch a war the size of the battle they once had for Helen of Troy. She deserved for someone to take care of her the way she did all of us.
We all stood still, checking for anyone around us. The coast was clear, but Kate refused to set one Gucci shoe on the dirt path overgrown with vegetation.
“Austin,” she whined in her too prissy voice. “I cannot go in there.”
She stressed the word with so much emphasis I watched her face crinkle in disgust at the thought of being forced to blaze that trail. I didn’t understand her objection to adventure.
Who plans adventure? Who cares if your shoes get dirty and your hair gets messed up?
I dove into the unknown with no safety net, no back-up plan, and no fear. I wanted every day to be a mystery that I had to unravel.
Kate was the opposite: perfectly armed for every day, every ounce of fun, and planning it all was the adventure for her.
Luna, to my left, was mentally assessing everyone with her deep blue eyes, while I shined the light on the overgrown pathway leading to the boys’ locker room and taking the first steps into the wilderness. I was determined to prove my worth, with some good, old-fashioned sabotage.
Luna just wanted everyone to be happy, fed, and hydrated. She was in touch with her feelings, too much for my liking. She coddled everyone like the mother I lost too young, and ironically, I hated the reminder instead of letting her tendencies extend to me too.
I hadn’t dragged anyone out here. I was capable of riding out my own plan and enjoying the typical trouble that came right after. I didn’t need them to follow me.
I stomped out every ounce of needing anyone the further I got down the path. I looked over my shoulder slightly, not obviously, when I saw Austin following along with Luna. Kate was thrown over his shoulder and being well-preserved from the adventure.
A smile crept up to my mouth from the pit of my stomach, knowing that people followed me, without pressure or force, but because they wanted to. I knew I wasn’t a princess, but now I had two feet firmly placed under me and my crown. There wasn’t any doubt left now that I had an army.
The path was a shortcut to behind the building, and it landed us right in front of the emergency exit to the boys’ guest locker room.
The guest and home team were firmly separated by a long hallway. Even the girls’ locker room was across from the boys’, while the guests were down the hall just to create a buffer of loyalty.
Probably Bolton’s idea.
I yanked the door open, expecting an alarm that would pump the adrenaline building inside my blood, but the quiet was even more eerie. I slipped into the complete darkness, holding the door for Luna behind me. I shined my flashlight onto the surfaces, making sure it was empty—devoid of gear and people.
I dropped my heavy duffle bag on the bench and tucked my phone into my bra strap so it could shine on and I could become hands free.
I packed shaving cream, dish soap, extra laces, even fart canisters to ruin the crisp air in here. Kate scoffed at my bag full of pranks. “That’s your sabotage plan? Do you know Caellum? He probably has one of his goons check the room before anyone enters.”
Her inability to share all this information before we planned to come here with a bag full of useless pranks would have been nice. Clearly her reign as queen wasn’t a gracious one.
“Kate, why don’t you share your plans then?”
Luna was between us, and Austin across from her, all circling the bag, as tension became a hot, sticky mess between us. My blue irises had to be dripping in resentment, and as I became all kinds of pissed off, the shade got darker. They always did get a mucky mud color when I was pissed off.
Kate’s arms were folded, and her hip popped in an obvious expression of not caring, even if she did. Neither of us were backing down or even arguing with words.
This was all glares—queen against queen.
Austin, being the sympathetic and empathic person he was, suggested we bail on the whole mission. Luna quickly agreed when she realized we still didn’t speak though our gritted teeth and pensive eyes.
Finally, I spoke, remembering queens don’t need to rule with an iron fist or lace gloves. I could be a new kind of queen. “Comprise? Whatever you’re thinking and some pranks.”
Kate popped an eyebrow to match every other part of her that was popped too. “I’m not sure you can handle what I have in mind if this is what you brought. I expected more from the troubled girl.”