were turntables and a D.J., who looked like a reject from a Tim Burton movie. He was thin, gaunt-looking, and wore a tall hat which any undertaker would have been proud of.
Around the edges of the walls, there were tables which had been covered with the most delicious-looking food I had ever seen. There were plates of sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs, bowls of popcorn, marshmallows, and every other kind of cake and dessert that I could imagine. Maybe this really was a leaving party, I thought. I had no idea what strange customs and rituals this weird new world had.
I headed across the chapel to where some of the other students had started to dance with each other. Not since arriving at Ravenwood had I seen such looks of happiness on their faces, and I couldn’t help but feel my own spirits rising.
“Hey!” I heard someone shout and I looked around to see Pryor and the Addison twins standing in a nearby alcove. He waved his hand at me, and beckoned me over. Ignoring him, I turned away.
“Hey, Hunt!” he shouted again.
I looked back and could see that he had my iPod in his hand. Without hesitating, I headed across the dance floor towards him. He grinned at me from the shadows.
“Look what I found by that big old chestnut tree,” he smiled.
I reached for my iPod and he snatched it away. “Give it back to me,” I said.
Then, swiping his thumb across the screen he opened the messages. “Say, look at this,” he smiled, then he read aloud the message I had sent earlier to Kiera. “Kiera, camera hidden on south side of school near to stream and huge pile of bushes. If Isidor can’t track my scent then he should be able to smell the dead body! Will have to explain later. Got to go! Kayla.”
“Give it back,” I said, holding out my hand, and the Addison twins sniggered like a couple of hyenas.
“So you’ve been over the wall?” Pryor asked with his annoying grin, but his eyes looked crazy — almost wild. “What’s with the dead body and who the fuck is Isidor? What sort of fag name is that?”
I couldn’t bear the thought of him being nasty about Isidor, so shooting my hand forward, I grabbed him around the throat and brought my forehead smashing down onto his nose. I heard a sickening crunching sound and felt his nose spread across his face. Pryor fell to the floor screaming, blood pumping through his fingers.
“She’s broken my freaking nose!” he screamed like a baby. “She head-butted me!”
I reached down and snatched my iPod from his blood-stained hand, fighting hard not to tear his head clean off. Then, whispering in his ear, I said, “Don’t you ever say another bad word about my brother, because if you do, you won’t fucking believe what happens next!”
“You can’t do that,” one of the Addison twins mumbled from beside me, as they looked down in horror at their bleeding friend.
Then, flashing my fangs at him, I hissed, “Shut your fucking face before I start sucking on your brains!”
Both twins looked at me, their faces white as snow, eyes wide. Smiling to myself, I walked away, needing to find somewhere alone so I could contact Kiera. Before I’d had a chance to find anywhere, Sam came running towards me, a smile spread across his good-looking face.
“I really think we’re going home,” he shouted over the music.
“Do you really believe that?”
“Don’t you?” he asked me, the grin still plastered across his face.
“I’m not sure,” I said back. I wanted to believe it but it sounded too good to be true. “What about you?”
“What about me?” he said, pulling me close so he could hear me over the music.
“What are you gonna do when you get out of here?” I asked him, knowing that he didn’t have parents to go back to.
“I was still hoping that I might get you to change your mind,” he smiled, slipping one arm around my waist.
“About what?”
“Letting me tag along with you and your friends,” he asked again.
“You can’t, Sam,” I said, shaking my head.
“It’s meant to be,” he said. “I know you don’t believe me, but I did see you on the beach that day, and you did know my name.”
“It wasn’t me,” I told him.
Then, the music changed and
“Let’s dance then,” he grinned, and before I knew what was happening, he was spinning me around and around in his arms. Sam wasn’t a bad dancer and he swirled me this way and that as he held my hands. His smile was infectious, and within moments, he had me smiling and laughing too. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so happy.
The lights in the chapel were dimmed and before I could walk away, Sam pulled me into his arms and started to dance slowly with me.
“I’m sorry I stabbed you,” he said.
“I seem to have that effect on guys,” I said back.
“I bet there aren’t too many guys who have to say sorry for doing something like that on their first date,” he said, trying to make a joke, but I could tell that he was sorry.
“So you think this is a date then?”
“The closest I think me and you will ever get to one,” he said.
“I guess,” I smiled.
“Even though you say that it wasn’t you on the beach that day,” he whispered, resting his cheek next to mine, “I’m glad that I got to meet you here, Kayla.”
“Why?” I whispered, always feeling uncomfortable when I was being paid a compliment.
“I wanted to tell you something the other day, but I chickened out,” he said, pulling me close as I slipped my arms around his neck. “I guess it doesn’t matter if I make a complete jerk of myself, as we’ll never see each other again after tonight.”
“So what was it that you wanted to say to me?” I asked, swaying against one another.
Leaning back from me so he could see into my eyes, he said, “You shouldn’t let the memories of those girls who bullied you haunt you forever.” Then, swallowing hard, he quickly added, “I think you’re hot, Kayla.”
With my hand placed gently on the back of his neck, I wanted to pull him forward and kiss him. But before I’d had the chance, the music stopped, the lights went out, and everyone started screaming.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Banner led us into his office and slumped behind his cluttered desk. He eyed Potter and Isidor with suspicion and said, “So, who are your friends, Hudson?”
“Just friends,” I said. Then, taking the camera from my coat pocket, I placed it on the table in front of him and said, “I’ve been trying to solve a puzzle, and here is a big piece of it.”
“Puzzle?” Banner said, looking down at the camera.
“Emily Clarke?” I reminded him.
“Clarke?” he replied, scratching his thick, white hair. “Oh yeah, I remember now. The girl that went missing.”
“That’s right,” I said. “She worked as a teacher at Ravenwood.”
“Look, I don’t really have time for this right now,” he groaned. “I’m kinda busy. Got a couple of guys down in the cells for burglary.”
“I’m pleased for you,” I said dryly. “But what about Emily?”
“Look, Hudson,” Banner said, “I’m really busy. Neither of the scum downstairs is talking. I got some of the boys to take ‘em both round the back of the station and give ‘em both a slap — but they still didn’t talk. So I went
