Darker Days

Cassidy must have told her. I felt guilty, but now wasn’t the time for apologies. “What happened?”

She jumped back as two of the guys from chorus—I couldn’t remember their names—rolled across the floor kicking each other and screaming. “He started shaking, mumbled something about leaving, and poof. Everyone went apeshit. He crawled under there and hasn’t moved.”

“Craps.” I dropped to my knees and grabbed his hands. When he lifted his head, his eyes were blood red. “Lukas, listen to me. You need to calm down.”

Kendra knelt beside me. “Which one is he?”

I gestured to the chaos. “Isn’t it obvious? He’s Wrath—sorta.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Sorta? Do I even want to know what that means?”

“Probably not.”

“And yesterday. The chick that came over to the table. I bet my family’s spell book that was Lust. Am I right?”

I rolled my eyes. Kendra was smart and always there when you needed her, but holy crap was she easily distracted. “I promise I’ll fill you in—for real—later on. Right now, we kinda have a small issue to deal with…”

She blinked, then frowned. “Oh. Right—sorry. What can I do to help?”

Some kind of spell to put everyone to sleep so they couldn’t do each other any more damage would be awesome, but since Kendra didn’t have reliable control over her magic, I didn’t dare voice the suggestion. With our luck, she’d turn everyone into toads, and let’s face it. That would have been much harder to explain than this.

“It’s the crowd. They’re way too amped. We need to get him out of here.” I turned to Lukas. “Lukas? Lukas can you hear me?” He was staring right at me, but the glazed look in his eyes said he didn’t see me.

Behind us, a chair crashed against the wall, and Kendra let out a toe-curling scream.

I turned to her. “Go into the hall and hit the fire alarm—then get as far away from the school as possible.”

She shook her head, strands of blond whipping back and forth. “Leave you alone? No way.”

“I got this. I promise.”

She didn’t budge.

“I’ll be fine,” I pressed.

Reluctantly, she stood and made a beeline for the door. A few moments later, the fire alarm went off. The noise got most people’s attention, and they swarmed the door, making their way in chaos mode to the nearest exits.

I focused on Lukas. Sliding my arm under his, I hauled him to his feet. His skin was hot to the touch—not the comfortable warm it’d been last night when our hands had touched—no, this was scalding. Almost on fire. We started for the door but only made it several steps before he collapsed, dragging us both to the ground.

“Lukas, please!” I tried in vain to get him standing again. Without his help, it was pointless. He was too heavy. Times like these were when a little of Dad’s demon genetics would’ve come in handy.

“Jessie.” His voice came in a strangled growl. “Have to get out—” He grabbed my arm and used it to pull himself upright.

Some stumbling and a few pulled muscles later, we made it into the hallway.

“Farther,” Lukas gasped. His fingers were digging trenches into my arm. “Outside.”

Outside was a no go. That’s where everyone would be gathered because of the fire alarm. From bad to worse. But the gym was right down the hall and, more than likely, empty. “I’ve got a better idea.”

By the time we’d made it down the hall and to the gym, Lukas was shaking and pale. Damp hair clung to his forehead and the back of his neck as he struggled to stay on his feet.

“It’s okay. We’re out.” I steered him toward the bleachers. He stumbled several times, and I thought for sure we’d both topple to the ground again, but we made it without wiping.

His breath came in shallow pants, fingers clamped like a vice around the edge of the bench. After a few minutes, his breathing evened. “Are you okay?”

“Other than wanting to hurt your friend—I’m great.”

“My friend? You mean Kendra?”

The corner of his lip curled up and he shook his head, angry. “The boy in the hall. That whole disaster was his fault. Whatever you were arguing about sent me over the edge. I felt it. There was no way to pull it back in time.”

I sighed. “Maybe school is a bad idea.”

“I need to stay away from everyone.” He rubbed a shaking hand across his cheek. “The pull of the box is intensifying. It’s making it difficult to keep Wrath under control. Someone’s going to get injured—or worse.”

I was about to tell him modern high school was a dangerous place regardless of his presence, but the speakers above the door squealed to life.

“Can I have everyone’s attention,” Principal Dubois’s voice crackled with static across the PA system. “Due to the fact that I no longer feel like being here, school is dismissed for the day.” In a sing-song voice, he ended with, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Even from inside and down the hall, we heard the hoots and screams of appreciation from the student body on the front steps. Idiots. They didn’t think this abnormal? Since when had Dubois ever let us leave early?

He nodded and looked to the door. “It’s one of them.”

I bit my tongue against an instinctive Duh. “I figured.” The look of agony on Lukas’ face back in the cafeteria was the only thing keeping me from jumping up and charging out to find them. You’re losing your touch, a little voice inside my head chided. Letting him slip under your skin.

“It’s okay,” he said, watching me like my skull was made entirely of glass and he could see right through. The twisted wheels turning—itching to charge. “Mostly everyone’s cleared out. It should be safe to have a look around.”

Part of me screamed victory, while another hesitated, terrified to repeat the incident in The Pit. “You sure?”

He watched me in that way of his. Searching, yet somehow distant. Annoying, yet at the same time intriguing. “Positive.”

The halls were so empty that I heard each tap my sneakers made as they hit the floor. Every now and then, my foot would turn the wrong way and the rubber would make an annoying squeak. Stealth had never been a strong suit for me.

We passed the cafeteria and hooked a right to head through the English wing. At the end of the hall, two girls were playing tug-o-war over a green football jersey.

“Give it to me. I want it!” The taller one screeched. It was Gabriele Murphy, the editor of the school paper.

“It goes better with my eyes!” the other wailed. I didn’t know her name, but we shared the same gym class. At the beginning of the year, she’d spiked a volleyball at Kendra’s head because Jeff Brennan, her summer fling, had been talking to her in the hall before class.

I stormed up to them and yanked the shirt away. They’d already started to tear it, so the rest was easy. With a loud rip, the jersey separated down the middle. I handed one half to Gabriele and the rest to the other girl. “Here you go. Enjoy!” I turned back to Lukas. “Greed again?”

He shook his head, distracted. “Envy.” With a few steps toward the science lab, he cupped his hands to either side of his face and peered through the window. “Vida.”

I elbowed him to the side and stood on my tiptoes. Principal Dubois was locked at the lips of Mrs. Hastings —the guidance counselor. Good thing I hadn’t eaten lunch. I seriously would’ve lost it.

We left them to their gropefest and continued down the hall, peering into classrooms as we went. Everything was empty. Like the mall on the first day of school. I was about to suggest we call it, convinced the Sins had scattered already, when we came to the teacher’s lounge.

Pushing though the door, I froze, trying to digest the scene before me. Mrs. Manning had her feet kicked up onto the table, shoes off and stare vacant. Around her head, a fly circled, landing finally on her cheek. I waited for her to shoo the bug away, but she ignored it.

Across the room, Mr. Marks sat in front of a small TV screen, expression eerily blank. There was nothing