I can hardly stand the awkward silence that follows.
“I can leave, too,” I say, looking around at them all with a defiant pride I don’t really feel.
“Nix,” Leo says, the kindness of his voice almost unbearable to me—I’m afraid it’s going to make me crack. “You wouldn’t believe the shit that’s gone down just in our own families. Remember, I’ve been here three years already. Dean and I wanted to kill each other first year. Now we’re friends. Bram will come around . . . and so will everybody else.”
Anna looks less convinced, but she nods slowly.
“You’ll find your place here,” she says to me. “Everyone does.”
I don’t know if she intends that place to be at her table.
I eat my food silently, while everyone else tries to return to normal conversation.
Though Bram left the dining hall, I can still feel the angry glares and the barely-suppressed mutters of other students.
And I know, I just fucking know, if I look across the dining hall to the Odessa Mafia’s table, Estas Lomachenko will be smiling in delight.
Regardless of what Leo said, there doesn’t seem to be anything normal about how much everyone hates my family.
7
Ares
Because I’m dreading befriending Nix Moroz, I put it off during the first week of school. I tell myself I’ll watch her first and learn more about her.
That’s not exactly easy to do, because Freshmen and Seniors don’t have any classes together. The one shared class was boxing, but that’s over since Snow returned to New York.
Nix is restless and highly active. Any time I catch a glimpse of her outside of school hours, she’s heading off for a run in the fields around the castle or making use of the shooting range or the gym. From the dampness of her hair when she leaves the Armory, I’m guessing she also likes to swim.
That’s why I find myself rolling out of bed at an ungodly hour on Sunday morning, pulling on the tight black swim trunks provided by the school.
I walk down the wide staircase of the Octagon Tower, skirting the edge of the terraced herb garden, then crossing the deserted grounds toward the Armory. Thick fog blankets the lawn, the buildings looming up unexpectedly like ships moving through the mist. I can smell the salt of the ocean far below us, and I feel the first chill that always comes in the autumn—subtle at first, before tightening its grip on the castle.
Very few students get up early on the weekends. Even fewer of the professors—the mafia world is nocturnal, and old habits die hard. You’re more likely to see Professor Lyons or the Chancellor himself strolling the grounds at 2:00 in the morning than at 6:00 a.m.
The squat Armory looks like a hut with its rounded walls and pointed roof. I push my way inside, hearing the steady thwack of someone hitting the heavy bag over and over again.
I already know it’s Dean Yenin before I see him standing, shirtless and sweating, on the opposite side of the gym. His hands are wrapped. He drives his fists into the swinging bag in relentless rhythm. With his back to me, I can see the ugly scars from the whipping he took last year, all but obliterating the Siberian tiger that once crawled up his spine.
His back looks almost as bad as Hedeon’s.
My stomach squirms guiltily.
Hedeon Gray has been digging for clues about his biological parents.
I could tell him everything he wants to know.
Instead I have to pretend to be his friend, his confidante, while secretly blocking him from ever discovering the truth—yet another task assigned to me that I loathe.
Dean hears my footsteps on the padded mats and turns.
“Morning,” he says, nodding to me.
“Working hard as ever,” I say.
“That’s right,” Dean says, hitting the bag again. “I used to come in here to blow off steam . . .” he grins. “Now I’m just trying to look good for Cat.”
I laugh.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I say.
Cat can’t take her eyes off Dean—she melts like butter every time he comes near her. Leo and Anna are likewise completely besotted with each other. Zoe moved to Los Angeles with Miles. I barely see Chay outside of class hours because she sneaks away to talk to Ozzy on her contraband cellphone.
All my friends have paired off. It’s just me left alone. Always alone.
And now I’m supposed to make a new friend—the last person on the fucking planet I want to spend time around.
Sighing, I descend the stone steps to the underground pool beneath the Armory.
Siren — Kailee Morgue
Spotify → geni.us/spy-spotify
Apple Music → geni.us/spy-apple
The pool is a massive sinkhole in the limestone, full of salt water. The cave in which it resides shimmers with green light. Deep ridges and folds score the chalky walls.
I don’t hear splashing, so for a moment I think I got up early for nothing. Then I see the long, sleek form cutting across the pool, swift and soundless.
I’ve already seen her athleticism in the gym.
That’s nothing compared to how she moves in the water.
She kicks off from the wall, flipping over and swimming below the surface for ninety yards before resurfacing for breath. Her legs move in fluid tandem like fins, her arms scything through the water without leaving a ripple.
Her motion is hypnotic. I watch her pass back and forth a dozen times before I realize I’m supposed to be getting in the pool myself.
I strip off my shirt, leaving it puddled by the steps on top of my shoes. Then I wade down into the water.
It’s cold, but I know I’ll warm up soon enough. I begin swimming laps, while keeping Nix in my peripheral view.
The underground pool is several times standard size. Nix and I are far apart from one another, yet it seems unspeakably intimate to be alone together in this private place beneath the school. I can hear her slightest splash in the cavernous space, and even her breathing. I’m sure she can hear mine, too.
I could grab her and drag her under the water. Hold her down while she kicked and thrashed and clawed at me. Keep her under until she drowned.
That would be justice. The ultimate revenge against her father.
You can capture a man. Torture him. Maim him. Kill him, even. But when the violence is over, the pain stops.
But if you kill the only thing he loves . . .
That pain is unending.
I know this for myself. When someone you love is torn away from you, the ache torments you every minute, every hour. You never stop thinking about them. You never stop regretting.
Marko Moroz has no love, no loyalty.
Except for this girl.
She’s the only way to hurt him.
I could make it look like an accident. No one knows we’re down here, except for Dean. He’d keep my secret, just like he kept Cat’s. Just like I’ve kept Cat’s secret.
My body blazes with anger so hot that I no longer feel the chill of the water. My heart pounds like a voice in my ears saying, Do it. Do it. Do it.
That’s not the plan, though.
I have to follow the plan.
The wolf hunts with the pack.
That’s what I was taught. The fundamental law of my family: alone we’re weak, together strong.
So I force myself to take long, steady breaths. I feel the cool water flow over my skin. I listen to Nix’s breathing on the other side of the pool. When I think she’s finally beginning to tire of her marathon swim, I cross to the stairs and climb out, grabbing a towel off the stack against the wall.