It tumbles around the room and ghosts flee from it, but one boy can’t get out of the way in time. The shadow pulls him into its darkness, adding his screams to its own, cutting off all of his light. In spite of this, I feel a tug toward it the same way I did in the forest not so long ago. My core aches for this poor girl, longs to help her, to set her right.
But when she twists in our direction, I know I can’t risk the others getting swallowed. Rafe and I scramble away, pulling Haya with us into the hallway, bumping into other fleeing ghosts. Kaz and Mr. Qureshi bust through the crowd, followed by a handful of other teachers. They shout at us to get downstairs.
Even as I help Rafe drag Haya along, I glance back over my shoulder to try and see how things end. My last view is of Kaz, face contorted like he’s in pain, pulling out a glowing staff and swinging it at the shadow that was once a girl. I just barely catch a flash of bright light before we reach the first landing, but the wail of agony digs itself deep into me, echoing in my ears long after the flash fades.
Chapter Thirteen
Rafe, Haya, and I sit in the corner of the rec center. All the students have escaped to this building, one of the farthest from the dorms and the horror we all just witnessed. Some people are sobbing, while others are trapped in a state of silent shock. Landon paces a few feet from us near the front door. He’s muttering what I’m pretty sure are profanities.
I don’t blame him one single bit. That was horrifying.
When we got here, Haya collapsed next to me, gripping my forearm and repeating the phrase “matter can neither be created nor destroyed.” Rafe sits to my right, one hand on my back between my shoulder blades and staring off into nothing. A few feet away, Quinn and Yasmin stand against a wall, both mute and looking understandably strained.
A weird sort of numbness spreads through me. Questions pile one on top of the other until I can barely think straight. I’m sure if I could, I’d be cursing as much as Landon.
Why do I feel drawn to the Twisted when everyone else runs from them? Why do the Xers not understand what they’re doing to ghosts? How does Locklear handle students who do end up twisted? I knead my aching neck. It’s too much to deal with at the moment, so I try to focus on Haya, running a hand over her arm to try and comfort her in some small way.
“It was just like Erin,” she says in a whisper, finally breaking through those repetitions.
I tense up and look at her.
Haya sniffs and adjusts her glasses. “She was so close to passing on. A month away. All of her unfinished business was completed and she was almost done with her last class. We were talking about how she was going to visit her family one last time and then…” She sobs and hugs my waist until my ribs ache. “It happened in our dorm right before we went to bed. I had to change rooms after that, otherwise I’d never be able to sleep again.”
“I’m so sorry, Haya,” I say, slightly relieved to know that didn’t happen in our current dorm.
“I should have told you, but it was so disturbing. Though we’d been told about Twisted Ghosts, that was the first time I observed it myself. And talking about it just...”
“Makes it real,” Rafe says, finishing her sentence.
Haya nods. I stroke her hair and try to meet Rafe’s eyes. Apart from rubbing my back, he still hasn’t moved. Terror tenses his face and saps color out of his skin. What we just saw was horrible, way worse than anything I could have come up with. That kind of end scares me too, but I’m still too numb to feel it.
The doors open and Mr. Qureshi leads the other teachers and Kaz inside. They’re all disheveled and, though I can’t be positive, missing some of their number. Everyone in the room turns to face them and Landon stops pacing, arms crossed over his chest, the tendons on his neck standing out.
Mr. Qureshi walks to the center of the room, his face somber and a little haggard. “As most of you know, Abby Jacobs and Mark Ross have both become the victims of a twisting.” His voice cracks a little. “We have dealt with the matter as well as we know how. The rest of you are currently safe.”
My stomach bobs. Dealt with? What exactly does that mean? They didn’t...get rid of them somehow, did they?
Nausea sweeps over me as I glance at Landon, who’s glaring hard at the headmaster and clenching his fists so tight that yellow jumps across his knuckles. He looks like he’s about to blow.
“Know that we take this matter very seriously and that our top priority is to keep all of you safe and help you pass on without incident,” Mr. Qureshi continues. “Classes will be canceled Monday. You are all free to go back to your dorms whenever you’re ready, but our counselors are available for anyone who wants to talk.”
Landon scoffs. “Right, talking’s going to do us a fat lot of good while we wait around here to get Xed.”
Mr. Qureshi lifts a hand. “I understand you’re upset, but we really are doing everything we can-”
“Not everything.” A growl rumbles under Landon’s words and fire sparks in his eyes. “We could go after the Xers ourselves. Take them out before they take us out.”
The students around me murmur, and Haya tenses in my arms. Out of the corner of my eye,
