“Then stop asking,” Luna said, jutting out her bottom lip to exaggerate her petulance. “Just listen to me. After the dance, he took me to his place, and it turns out he lives in an old rundown house just outside of town. He lives there alone—I think illegally—and in the back room, he has a bunch of bones and there was a pentagram drawn on the wall.”
“He took you back to his house? What was it like?” Violet rambled, sounding interested.
“It’s not what you think, Violet. The house was terrible—missing boards, big spider webs,” she explained. “I don’t think the lights worked either because he used candles.”
“Wait, wait. Chance lives alone in a rundown house?” she asked in disbelief.
“Violet, that’s what I just said.”
“Are you sure his parents just weren’t home?”
“No, he told me he was emancipated from them,” Luna answered, shrugging.
“What’s ‘emancipated’ mean?”
“It’s when you’re legally separated from your parents,” Luna explained.
“You can do that?” Violet asked, and her voice dripped with skepticism. “I should try because that sounds like Heaven.”
“Yes, it’s possible, but that’s not important either. I think he drew the pentagram on the wall because he’s a Satanist.”
“What does that mean?”
Luna pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed at Violet’s apparent lack of knowledge. “He worships the devil. That’s why he’s so obsessed with death and hunting. It’s probably why he’s always wearing black too.”
Violet stared at her for a moment without speaking, and Luna wondered if maybe she believed her that time.
Suddenly, she began to laugh and clutch at her sides. “That’s a good joke,” she squeaked between gasps of air.
“I wasn’t being funny!” Luna said, stomping her foot in disbelief. “I am dead serious! I’m freaked out, Violet.”
Violet took in another gasp of air and finally managed to calm her laughing. “Right, like Chance, the hottest guy at our school, is some freak worshipping the devil and sacrificing things. That’s a good one, Luna, you should consider being a novelist. Your ideas are amazing.”
“Satanism is no joke! Some of them do human sacrifices, and if Chance is that kind then he could be a real danger to the school!” Luna swore as she stared her down.
“You play your part so well,” Violet replied, smiling.
“This isn’t a joke!”
“Okay, I’ll level with you then. Satanism is a religion, right?” she asked. Her smile dropped from her face as her shoulders tensed. “Chance tells everyone he’s atheist, he doesn’t even believe in that stuff.”
Luna balled her hands into fists. Violet was so stupid sometimes it was unbelievable. “Don’t you see that he’s just trying to cover it up? What better way to do that than by saying he doesn’t believe in it?”
“Luna, he really doesn’t believe in that stuff,” Violet argued.
“Why don’t you believe me?”
She shook her head. “Because I believe that going to that dance against your will made you stressed, and you got upset and had a bad dream. Now, you’re mixing up reality. It happens.”
“No, I’m not mixing things up. I know what happened last night.”
“I think you’re stressed out,” Violet repeated.
“Okay, I’m stressed, but not that bad,” Luna replied. “I know what I saw.”
“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about a dream.”
“Oh, speaking of dreams, I had that dream again last night,” Luna said. “The one I had before where you get shot and all that. That was my dream. What I saw at Chance’s house wasn’t!”
“And how do I know you’re not just saying that to prove your point?”
“Because I know for sure I had that dream again! And you’re my best friend so you should believe me when I say this,” she said. “That was after I finished researching the pentagram I saw at Chance’s house.”
“Just stop thinking about it.”
“But what if it can come true? What if it’s some kind of warning?”
Violet stared at her, and Luna could read her thoughts, since they were practically written across her friend’s face. “What’s wrong with you? Did Chance put something in your drink last night?”
Luna shifted uncomfortably. Even though she felt mad, she suddenly didn’t feel so sure she could answer her.
“I don’t know, I feel like the dream needs to be taken seriously,” Luna muttered. “It felt so…different.”
Violet sighed, reaching up a hand to scratch at the side of her face. “For the last time, Chance doesn’t have a secret. It was all part of your crazy dream.”
“No, it wasn’t, Violet. I know what I saw, and I know what I dreamt. If it was part of my dream, then how come it wasn’t in the dream the first time I had it?”
“Maybe it was, but you don’t remember it,” she replied, shrugging.
“I’m not changing my mind just because you don’t believe me.”
“Fine, then be serious about it,” Violet said nonchalantly and shrugged once again. “Doesn’t mean I have to be.”
Luna’s eyes darted away, to the path ahead. How did Violet stay calm? Her apparent lack of care made Luna question herself. What if she had been mistaken about what she had seen in that room? Maybe the bones had been plastic toys. The house was old; maybe the pentagram had been there before Chance had moved in. Luna frowned. Maybe Violet was right. Chance could be perfectly normal in an odd situation. Why was she being so serious about a dream? If the dream was true, Violet wouldn’t be walking alongside her—she’d be in a morgue.
Luna frowned again; no matter what she thought, or tried to make herself think, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was deeply and utterly wrong with Chance. In her heart, the knowledge weighed that he had a secret, and she knew what that secret was. Even if she couldn’t convince Violet to believe it, she knew what she had seen.
Luna felt like she needed to understand something in that reoccurring dream. Maybe it was stress-induced, but there was a good chance that it wasn’t. She needed to understand the message behind it before it was too late.
Luna guessed no one would believe what she had to say about Chance…especially the people who believed him to be perfect in every way. They’d be in worse denial than Violet.
She would have to work alone, and she was fine with that.
When they reached the school, Violet split away from her and disappeared into the crowd. Luna sighed, once again glad for her absence, and walked down the long, crowded stone path that led to the door. She noticed the popular kids she passed stopped talking to stare at her like she was some kind of otherworldly creature. She had the dance to blame for that.
Chance was the most popular boy in the school, and because of that, they didn’t know what to think of her anymore. They didn’t know if she should be among them or remain an outcast. She snorted to herself—personally, she’d rather stay an outcast…friends of Chance were definitely no friends of hers.
She had learned that the hard way.
Luna pressed her lips tight and started to walk faster, hoping their curious stares would fall off of her. She couldn’t avoid the attention that resulted from going to the dance. She had known that…but it seemed somehow worse in the moment. Luna continued walking with her head bowed when she felt arms wrap around her stomach, and the smell of heavy cologne flooded her nostrils and her mouth. She screamed at the surprise and coughed as the scent began to gag her.
Luna spun around to see Chance laughing at her.
“You scared the Hell out of me. That wasn’t funny.”
He smiled widely.
“Why?” She clenched her jaw in frustration.
“Well, because I can,” he replied with a cocky smirk.
Luna turned to walk away from him. “Geez, what did you do before coming to school, bathe in cologne to hi
de the smell of death?”
Chance tensed as an uncertain look crossed his face. The expression disappeared to be replaced with hooded eyes.
Chance grabbed her, holding her in a way that appeared almost playful to the kids they passed. She stared at him, feeling her heart pound in her chest as her mouth opened to spew soundless words. He dragged her with his full strength through the crowds and into the school. No one noticed as he kicked open the bathroom door and dragged her inside. He pushed her against the beige wall, pinning her by her wrists, and glared at her. His blue eyes flashed with flickering anger as he curled his lip, flaring his nostrils as he stared her down.
“What did you mean by that comment?” he growled, an inch from her face.
Luna looked back at him, feeling real fear as he shoved her against the cold tiles on the wall, his body pressed to hers as he closed the gap between them.
“It’s just that you’re a hunter…and to me, that makes you a murderer. You know it was a joke. Ha, ha,” Luna whispered. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“No, you know something. You haven’t acted right since you went to the bathroom at my house. Now, tell me where you really went because I’m not buying your bullshit. You saw something, and you better tell me what before I find out on my own.”
“I-I—” Luna started to deny him, but she felt him let go of her wrists and grab the collar of her clothes. She knew it was truth time. “I found a room with a pentagram on the wall and bones on the floor.”
Chance’s eyes widened, and his grip loosened momentarily. “Shit. You are to tell no one about what you saw, okay?” he whispered to her. “If you do, then I’m going to make damn sure you never leave your house again,” he threatened.
“I’m not even really sure what I saw, honest,” Luna said, trembling slightly.
Chance let go of her and took in a deep breath of air as he ruffled his hair absently.
“Okay. Good. One day, you’ll know about it, but for now…keep quiet,” he demanded. “Act like you never saw it.”
Luna opened her mouth to ask him a question, but he turned and walked away without another word.
Chapter Seventeen
LUNA PUSHED HER way out of the bathroom and spotted Chance leaning against the lockers. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she froze in place before swallowing and mentally building the courage to run past him. He watched her pass but didn’t follow.
Without stopping once, she went to study hall. She trudged over to the nearest table where Amy already sat. Luna pulled out a chair and sat down quietly, reaching up a hand to her neck as she had the horrified afterthought that he might’ve left marks from pulling on her clothes as roughly as he had. Amy looked up at her from her science book as if surprised Luna had sat with her.
“Hello, Luna,” she said quietly.
“Hi, Amy,” Luna replied.
“So, are you dating Chance?” she asked as she fidgeted with a page of her book.
“What? Where did you hear that?”
“It’s the rumor going around school. Is it true?”
“No, it’s not,” Luna answered. “Violet’s just being stupid again.” She assumed Violet was the source.
“Are you okay? You seem a little stressed,” Amy said, and her voice sounded sympathetic.
Amy was a fragile girl. Luna decided that maybe it would be best to not tell her what she had discovered about Chance.
“I was up late studying for anatomy, and I barely got any sleep is all. I’m fine,” Luna tried to assure her.
“Yeah, I heard that’s a hard class,” Amy said, again in that sympathetic voice, and returned to reading her science book.
“It is,” she replied, and they fell silent.
Luna was glad Amy wasn’t one to pry. She knew that if she wanted to talk about it, she would. More people needed to be like her. Luna glanced up at the clock and realized it was almost time for class to start. She stood up, and Amy looked at her questioningly.
“I gotta get to class.”
Amy nodded.
Luna turned away from her and headed to class as fast as she could. When she got there, it was almost completely full. She sat in her usual desk in the front of the room and drew absently on her notebook as the few open seats filled in around her. The bell rang, and the teacher immediately jumped into a lecture without a single pause in between.
“What’re you drawing there, Luna?” Chance asked curiously.
Luna dropped her pen to the desk with a clang; the sound of his voice had scared her more than she had thought possible. She didn’t know when he had come in, but he always had to make his presence known. She looked at her drawing on the blue cover and realized she had drawn the five-pointed star she had seen in Chance’s house. She stared at it, shocked, before realizing that Chance still waited for an answer. He must’ve already known what she had drawn before she had.
“Nothing, I’m not drawing anything. I’m waiting for the lecture to get interesting,” she replied.
Luna frowned down at the drawing on the blue cover and quickly picked up her pen. She scribbled lines over the image and then stared at the mess on her notebook, wondering when Chance had first noticed.
She couldn’t focus on a thing the teacher said. Chance sat in his usual desk behind her, and even though he was quiet, he was still the loud-mouthed, over-cocky boy he turned into around a lot of people. Instead of talking a mile a minute, he had found a new way to be annoying.
Luna heard him rip a piece of paper and felt something hit the back of her head the next second. Every piece made her more upset. Quickly growing angry at the thought of spit wads, she reached up and ran her hand down her hair, pulling out the crumpled wads of paper which had stuck there. She shook her hand in disgust, and they fell to the floor by her desk. She was glad no one had noticed it as she wiped her hand on her clothes.
She tried to focus, but every ounce of patience quickly drained from her. Another piece hit her hair and sent her over the edge. She whipped around in her chair.
“Stop doing that!” she hissed angrily.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, honey,” Chance whispered and smiled at her innocently.
His desk had nothing on it, and she guessed he had it on his lap out of view.
“Then how—” she began. If she could have finished her sentence she would have said, “—did the paper get in my hair?” but she didn’t have that chance.
“Miss Ketz,” Mr. Katerwall’s voice boomed from the front of the room.
Luna winced and turned away from Chance slowly at the angry tone in his voice.
“Do you have important information to share with the rest of the class?” he demanded, arm frozen mid-movement at what he had been about to write down as he glared at her. The kids around her turned to look through curious eyes like they were surprised the teacher yelled at her of all people.
“No, I don’t,” Luna whispered, sinking into her chair as a blush lit her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
Mr. Katerwall gave her one last warning glare before he turned his attention away and pointed at something on the board as he continued teaching. For a moment, his lecture was the only sound filling the room.
“Nice going, Loon,” Chance whispered in her ear. “You know, you shouldn’t be causing trouble. Remember what happened last time you did?”
Luna doubled her hands into fists at his words. Once again, he had managed to make her look like a trouble maker. She wanted to let her anger fly, but instead, she said nothing. He had gotten the best of her once, and she wouldn’t let him do it again. She looked down at the scratched out drawing on her notebook as she remembered what he had been so desperate to hide. If he kept getting her in trouble, then she’d let the whole school know the secret that only the two of them shared.
***
CHANCE STARED AT the back of Luna’s head, waiting for her to turn around again. He couldn’t believe he had slipped into that mind and almost hurt her. Maybe she wasn’t repellent to it.
He wasn’t sure how it worked but that didn’t stop him from feeling ashamed of himself for the outburst. He wanted her attention, wanted her to forget about earlier.
But mostly he guessed that he wanted her to talk to him. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle it if she decided to ignore him completely. When that mind took control, he became helpless to his anger.
She didn’t understand that he actually cared for her a lot. He barely even understood it; the chemistry never seemed to make sense. He was sure of one thing, however—she couldn’t stop talking to him. It was vital for her health and safety.
Not to mention whatever was left of his sanity.
***
VIOLET STARED IN shock through the crack in the stall wall. She could see Chance pinning Luna to the wall. His hand seemed to hover dangerously close to Luna’s neck as if he debated strangling her. Violet recognized the look on his face from how he had talked to her after Luna had rejected him.
Chance slammed Luna into the wall, growling words into her face which Violet couldn’t quite make out. Luna’s were as hard to hear since they were stifled by her fear.
Chance dropped her and stormed out without another word. Luna stood there, rubbing her wrists as she stared after him through wide eyes. Her hand clutched at her stomach as if she suddenly had the urge to vomit. Violet stared at her in shocked disbelief and resisted the urge to leave the stall to ask.
Had Luna been telling the truth about Chance the entire time?
Chapter Eighteen
VIOLET TOOK IN a deep breath as she stood outside Luna’s house. She prepared herself to confront Luna about what she had seen. She didn’t know what to expect, but she knew she needed to take responsibility for her involvement.
***
LUNA SAT AT the kitchen table with her head down,a nervous about Chance’s anger earlier. He had never done that before, and she had never felt so terrified. She had been cornered. How much worse could it have been if he had turned that violent when it was the two of them alone?
The thought moved her to memories of her dream.
Get a grip, she scolded.
Though wary and fearful of his outbursts, she was still irritated at him. Getting her in trouble was uncalled for—especially after what he had done. She trembled a bit at the memory. Lucky for her, her dad wasn’t home; he had gone to help an old friend fix up his house.