Swinging open the bathroom door, I called in a breathless, frantic voice, “Lainey, we have to get out—”
I froze. Harper leaned over Lainey, squeezing my best friend’s neck with a gleeful look of vengeance on her face.
Even though red scratches welted Harper’s arms, Lainey was in serious trouble.
“Let her go!” I screamed, rushing forward.
Just as Lainey fell to her knees, her face straining with the need to breathe, I slammed my fists down on Harper’s arm, dislodging her hold.
“Stupid bitch!” Harper turned her fury on me with a vicious backhand. She took advantage of my head whipping to the side to grab my shoulders and jam me against a locked stall door.
I blinked past the pain searing across my face and grabbed a fistful of her pinned hair. Yanking hard, I hissed, “Get off me, you crazy psycho!”
I tried to hit her in the stomach, but Harper turned at the last second and my fist caught her hip instead. She gritted her teeth and grabbed my throat with gleeful, wild-eyed excitement, grating out, “You’re not worth the effort.”
She squeezed and I knew I had very little time to save myself and Lainey. I gripped the top of the stall above my head, then yanked my knees up between us, breaking Harper’s chokehold.
Harper flew at me with payback raging in her eyes, but I shoved my bent knees forward, slamming her in the chest with everything I had.
Harper stumbled a few steps, then caught herself on the sink behind her. Recovering quickly, she lunged for me once more.
“Get away from her!” Lainey yelled at the same time she swung her fisted hands into Harper’s jaw.
When Harper crumpled to the ground, then slithered to her side on the floor, Lainey unclenched her hands and threw herself in my arms, babbling, “God, I was so scared, Nara. I
told
you she was a lunatic!”
I hugged Lainey for a second, then pulled back to stare at Harper. She looked so innocent and peaceful lying on the floor, her chest rising and falling in steady breaths. “We need to call the police,” I said in a shaky voice. “Do you have your phone?”
Lainey rubbed trembling fingers under her wet eyes to wipe away mascara smears. “There’s an officer patrolling the parking lot tonight, remember? We’ll go get him.”
I nodded. “Did Harper say anything to you before she attacked you?”
“All she said was, ‘I’m tired of you getting in my way, taking up all Nara’s time.” Lainey rolled her eyes. “Crazy, jealous stalker psycho!”
Lainey thought Harper was jealous, but with Harper’s connection to Drake, I was pretty sure her desire to spend time with me had more to do with hoping to get access to my house and stuff, than developing a friendship. She’d attacked me too.
“You go find the officer. I’ll meet you outside.” I worked hard to calm my voice for Lainey’s sake. I wanted to check on Ethan.
Lainey’s hands shook as she pinned a curl that had come loose from my hair. “I’m not leaving you here alone with her.”
I gestured to Harper’s prone body. “She’s knocked out, but just in case, I’m going to grab a chair or something to block her in the bathroom.”
“Good call.” Lainey glanced down at Harper once more and squeezed my hand. “This is crazy!”
I gave her a gentle push toward the door. “Go! I know it’s darker that way, but take the senior hall back. It’s shorter.”
Lainey started toward the senior hall, but she paused at the sounds of fighting going on down the locker hall. I shooed her, mouthing, “Hurry!” Once she was out of sight, I moved fast, grabbing a chair from our study hall classroom to block the bathroom door, but since the door swung inward, I was pretty much out of luck.
When a loud, crashing boom echoed, I dropped the chair and left Harper in the bathroom to backtrack to Ethan.
The screeching and fury reverberating in the sophomore locker hall as I drew closer turned my legs to jelly. I wanted to run in the opposite direction, but I had to know Ethan was okay.
I peered around the corner and covered my mouth to keep from making a sound. Dark marks marred several areas on the floor, a few of the lockers and parts of the ceiling. Claw-like rips gouged through the metal on an entire wall of lockers. At the end of the hall closest to me the floor had a huge hole of crumpled and smashed tile as if something or someone had been slammed into it with terrific force.
Drake stood on the far end of the hall and Ethan stood close to my end, facing each other with murderous looks. They panted and bolted for each other at full speed. Drake snarled and leapt in the air toward Ethan first, but Ethan veered to his left and ran up the side of the lockers, before springing off them in Drake’s path.
Unlike Drystan, who’d used at least one handhold to climb, I didn’t see Ethan use anything but sheer momentum to run up the side of the lockers. He let out a fierce roar and clotheslined Drake, sending the guy flying back into the lockers once more.
Before Drake could recover, Ethan stood in front of him, grabbing him by the throat. He lifted Drake high against the dented lockers until his dress shoes dangled off the ground. The look on Drake’s face was sheer evil as he hammered a hard fist into Ethan’s shoulder. The horrific, guttural sounds that came out of him didn’t sound human.
When Drake released a grunt of laughter, my insides tensed.
“That little bitch of yours actually taught me something. Want to see?” Suddenly Drake curled his legs upward, and guilt rushed through me when he used the same move on Ethan I’d used on the guy in the library. Ethan slammed to the floor, a sickening sound that knocked me in the gut. I bit back a cry as the force of the impact cracked the floor all the way down the hall. Ethan slid several feet, his body spinning like a top, scattering broken floor and ceiling pieces in his wake.
Drake didn’t wait for Ethan to recover. He vaulted into a run and took a flying leap after Ethan. I pulled my hand from my mouth, intending to warn Ethan, but he blurred into action. He curled into a roll, then pushed up on the balls of his feet, his head down, hands on the floor…and his
back
to Drake.
While Drake arced in the air toward him, I screamed, but only a wheeze came out. Ethan grasped something lying among the floor rubble and calmly stood. Fisting his hand around a silver-handled weapon—was it a knife?—he looked up, his face a study of focused concentration.
Gravity and momentum pulled Drake toward him, but Ethan didn’t move. He took a step back, bent his knees slightly, then jammed his right arm in a backward motion at the very moment Drake landed on him.
Drake’s body arched off Ethan’s back as if he’d been wounded, yet he didn’t pull away. Something held him in place, keeping him from sliding off. That’s when I saw the silver tip of something sharp poking through his back. Yellow smoke exploded out of Drake’s body like a detonated airbag. The horrific screech that accompanied it made me shudder. Just as quickly as the smoke appeared, it disappeared. In a blink it had vanished.
“For Nara…and Freddie,” Ethan gritted out in a tone of finality, then twisted his hand to the left.
As Drake’s body exploded into a fog of thick dust, I gaped while the famous saying about death, ashes, and dust popped morbidly into my mind. I blinked, trying to see past the hazy cloud of Drake’s ashes.
What had Ethan used to obliterate him?
Just as Ethan straightened, I caught a brief glimpse of a sword in his hand with a black feather decorating the blade and a raven symbol near the hilt.
Ethan tilted his head up, but I jerked out of sight, throwing my back against the cool wall. I wasn’t ready for Ethan to know I’d seen him. I needed to process everything first. I took a deep breath and pulled off my heels, then ran toward the senior hall.
Once I ran outside, I leaned against the building to gulp in the cool night air.
I’d just slipped back into my shoes when Mrs. Meacham touched my shoulder, her forehead creased in concern. “Are you all right, Nara?”
Lainey came running up with the police officer, an expectant look on her face. I waved Mrs. Meacham off, saying, “I’m fine,” and then let Lainey drag me in to the school alongside the police officer.
When we reached the bathroom we’d left Harper in, Lainey and I were shocked to find it empty.
While Lainey followed the officer back outside to give him all the information she could about Harper, I started toward the gym to find Matt for Lainey when he came walking out. “Where’s Lainey?” he asked, frowning. “I thought she was with you.”
After I’d explained what had happened, Matt’s expression turned fierce. He started to go after Lainey, but I grabbed his hand. “Please just be there for her tonight, Matt. She’s been through a lot.”
He set his lips in a grim line. “You don’t have to worry about Lainey, Nara. I’ll take good care of her.”
The look on his face said so much more. He’d really fallen for Lainey. “Tell her I’ll call her tomorrow,” I said, smiling my appreciation. I turned to head back inside the gym, but paused when my gaze landed on Ethan standing to the left of the gym entrance.
He had a baseball-sized hole in his jacket sleeve, disheveled hair, a bruise on his jaw, and a couple of splotches of white ceiling and floor tile on his pants that he hadn’t been able to wipe away, but otherwise he looked unharmed. Regardless how I felt about what I’d just witnessed, I was glad he was safe. I stepped close and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Where’d that insane guy go?” I asked, hoping he’d share.
Ethan settled his arms around me, then jerked his chin toward Lainey talking to the police officer. “What’s going on?”
I was disappointed he’d avoided answering my question, but maybe he wanted to talk to me about it in private. Where had he learned to fight like that? What
was
Drake? And should I feel any sympathy for someone who’d bragged about killing Freddie and had every intent to kill me in an equally brutal way? Did Ethan know why Drake was after me? Where’d he get a sword that looked just like the one on his back? And he was upset with
me
for holding back? Question after question popped in my mind, making me dizzy, so I focused on answering his question instead.
While I told him what happened in the bathroom, and then explained that Harper was Drake’s girlfriend, he ran his hands over my shoulders and arms as if proving to himself that I was okay. He gently cupped my face where Harper had slapped me and stared at me with a combination of worry, guilt, and frustration as he murmured, “But I only saw the one.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Ethan shook his head. “Never mind. So she got away?”
I snorted my disgust. “Yes. What happened with her boyfriend?” I looked him straight in the eyes, my gaze pleading,
Please tell me what happened in the hall, Ethan. Tell me the truth!
Ethan stiffened, his jaw hardening. “He’ll never bother you again. Don’t worry.”
He’d told the partial truth at least. I sighed and laid my head against his chest, seeking his warmth and strong, protective embrace. “Unfortunately, I have something he wants, something he’s already killed for once. I don’t think he’ll stop until he gets it. And even if he really is gone, I have a feeling Harper will eventually come looking for it.”
Ethan tilted my chin, his stunned gaze boring into me. “Something he wanted? What are you talking about? What did he want?”
His confusion was sincere. Ethan didn’t know what Drake was after. “It’s a long story that started with me researching ravens as a way to stay connected to you while you were gone, and it ended with me finding out that we’re
both
connected to ravens. In different ways, but definitely connected.”
Ethan clasped my shoulders. “We’re
both
connected? How?” As soon as he asked, his face set in determined lines. “I need to know everything that’s happened. This can’t wait, Nara. Are you ready to leave now?”
My questions can’t wait either
. I nodded. “I just have to run inside and get my keys.”
Lainey and Matt walked inside the gym with me. While Matt went to tell Drystan that he and Lainey were heading out and to ask him to bring me my keys, Lainey hooked her arm in mine.
I gave her arm a gentle squeeze and frowned at the slight red marks marring her pale neck. “You’ll probably bruise pretty bad, which will freak your dad out. If you don’t want him putting you under lock and key, I suggest scarves until they’re gone. Until they find Harper, we’re going to have to keep an extra eye open.”
“You sound like you’ve been through this before,” she rasped, respect reflecting in her tone. “I had no idea you knew all those moves. Thank you for saving my life.”
Sadly, there seems to be a glut of people trying to strangle me lately.
I forced a confident smile. “We both have Drystan to thank. He’s taught me a lot about self-defense. And you wield a mighty two-fisted hook yourself.”
When she snorted and glanced down at her swollen knuckles, I asked, “What did you want to talk to me about in the bathroom, anyway?”
“I was going to ask what Jared wanted, but—” She broke off, then shrugged. “After what just happened, I really don’t care. Matt and me…” Her gaze ate up every inch of Matt as he talked to Drystan on the dance floor.
Her happy sigh made me laugh. “I told you he liked you! Who’d have thought that with all the scheming you two did, you’d end up falling for each other? Ha, I love the irony. I’m so happy for you both.”
She gave me a knowing grin. “I’m glad to see Ethan showed. Though he had to have already been on his way when I sent him the picture.”
“What picture?”
She clicked on her photo button on her phone and showed me. She’d sent the picture she’d taken while she helped me get dressed yesterday, the one of me with the sexy pout. She’d also added the text underneath…
This is what you’re missing!
No wonder Ethan came in blazing. I was just shaking my head at her when Matt strolled up and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Ready to go, Lainey?”
As she nodded, he looked at me. “Drystan said he’d bring your keys in a sec.”
After Lainey and Matt left, it wasn’t long before Drystan came off the dance floor. Sweat glistened in his hair and he had a girl hanging on each arm.