Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
If he’ll truly kill Levi Torres…
For me.
CHAPTER 12
Ghost
From a distance, I watch her glance back and forth between the party in the woods and the wooden stool near The Edge, tempted by promises of revenge.
My devious little plaything … So easily persuaded by the idea of violence, as long as it doesn’t come from your heart.
But you know as well as I do that it’s all lies.
You want nothing more than to feel what it’s like to kill the one you want to hate so desperately, but you don’t want to feel the tsunami of guilt that comes after.
Because won’t that make you exactly like him?
I smile as she steps closer and closer, tentatively glancing around to see if anyone’s watching her approach.
And oh yes … am I fucking watching her.
The bonfire behind her makes her skin glow with heat, her red hair flittering in the dark, those freckles on her face like little soot particles floating in the wind. She creeps up to the stool when no one watches, like a tiny bug intent on crawling over the evidence, only to set it all ablaze.
Do it. Go on. Start the fire that roars in your heart.
Aspen
I take the paper out of my pocket and stare at it for a second, my breathing growing more and more erratic the closer I get to my decision.
No one knows I’m here. No one knows what I’m about to do. Not even me, and that’s what makes it so terrifying.
Because that mask on that stool is definitely the same one I saw that night when my stalker first revealed himself. And even though I know I shouldn’t … we both know I’m about to let him into my life.
All for the sake of revenge.
I place the note down onto the stool, the weight of the world coming down on me the moment I let go. Because right next to the mask is a tiny, typed-out note waiting for me.
Good choice … now run as hard and as fast as you can.
Because my price will be your body … belonging to me.
My lip shudders as the note falls out of my hand.
In the distance far beyond the woods, two sparkly, red eyes hidden behind the same mask meet mine.
I swallow.
A sudden short gust of wind blows soot from the bonfire all across The Edge, burning specks painfully igniting the fire on my skin. I tap them off, but the paper I placed down on the stool flutters away with the wind, down, down, down, toward the hollow grounds below, along with all of my demons come to life.
Because my masked stalker is still watching me through the thicket of the woods with a goddamn smile on his face.
Waiting.
Waiting for me …
Oh God.
I bolt off as fast as I can in the opposite direction, through the woods, beyond the bonfire party. Through the thick of night, into the forest, as my heart begins to pound.
Because the Ghost’s price for ending Levi’s life … is me.
Where do I go? Back to the party, back to Grey?
No, I don’t want him to get hurt.
But can I keep running from the inevitable?
A branch hits me in the face, but I ignore the sharp pain as I dart through the trees and head back to the street beyond. Because if I ever go back to the party, if I ever tell anyone about this stalker of mine, I doubt Levi will ever get the punishment he deserves, and I will never get the sweet taste of revenge.
But if I stop, this ghost who’s been haunting me will definitely catch me.
I glance over my shoulder to take a second guess, but that masked stranger is right behind me, wearing that same hoodie with a black balaclava pulled over his mouth and a white mask to cover half his face … in his hand is a knife.
But it’s his eyes that haunt me the most. His lenses are a shimmery bright red. Hauntingly demonic.
And getting closer and closer to me.
I don’t stop running until I’m all the way back on the Spine Ridge University campus. I don’t know where I’m going or how long I can keep running. How long my legs will keep me going until they cave in on me … how long it’ll be until he gets his hands on me.
I swallow down the nerves and head inside the main building. If I’m going to have to hide out somewhere without anyone seeing us, this is the safest option. For now.
The front doors are closed, but that doesn’t stop me from finding a fire exit on the left side of the building. I crank it open and run inside. But before the door closes behind me, a foot is wedged inside, keeping it from closing.
When I glance over my shoulder, I trip over a chair and fall to the floor.