Good vs. Evil High (30 page)

Roman grabbed my shoulders to hold me in
place. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t ever want to hear you
say Knight’s name again.”

“Where is he?”

“I went back and took care of him. He’s out
of the picture, okay? You can stop saying his name.”

“You, you killed him?” my voice came in a
whisper.

“I had to—”

“No,”

“He was coming between us—”

“No, no, no, NO, NO,”

“Kristine, calm down!”

But I couldn’t. Not without Luke. “NO, NO,
NO,” I kept screaming, because it couldn’t be true. I continued
screaming as I rested my head against my knees.

“Kristine—“

“NO, NO, NO,”

“Kristine—” Roman kept trying to talk to me,
but I couldn’t stop screaming, not until it stopped being true.
Roman finally stood up and said, “I’ll be back when you’re done
with your little tantrum,” before he left through the door at the
other end of the room.

I wailed and cried out, because it hurt like
I couldn’t believe. Nothing—not even North Haven or my
friends—could ever compensate for losing Luke.

He was dead. My heart was dying with him.

* * * *

Hours later, I lay numbly on the mattress. My
ankle was shackled to a chain that was cemented into the wall in a
tiny bathroom. It stretched just long enough to let me lie
comfortably in the bed.

I had no idea where I was, just that it was
nowhere near another living soul. After the screaming and banging
and no one responding at all, I knew I was all alone.

Aside from toilet paper and soap, all the
room contained was a chair with a lamp sitting on it on the other
side of the room where I would never be able to get to it.

My con was gone. I was hungry. The lump on
the back of my head where Roman must have knocked me out ached.

But none of this really mattered to me. All
that mattered was the absolute devastation I’d suffered. The loss
of Luke. I had to go on living without him, and it was the worst
fate imaginable.

I wondered if Roman intended to keep me there
forever because I knew he was the guilty one. Even if he did—who
cared? What was the point of going on? I wished Harmony was there
to put her arm around me, but it wouldn’t have helped. Not really.
Without Luke, my spirit was crushed.

The door opened then, but I didn’t bother to
look up. “Are you feeling better?” Roman asked.

“No.”

“This might help.” He set down a plate of
steaming pasta and a backpack next to me. “I brought you clean
clothes and some of your other girly stuff.” How could he act like
that? Like everything was normal?

“Why are you doing this to me?” I choked
out.

He simply smiled and said, “Because I love
you.”

“But I don’t love you.”

“You will. Trust me. I knew the moment I saw
you that you were the one. You’re my soul mate, the one I’m meant
to be with. Forever. Until you see this too, I have enough love for
both of us.”

I wanted to lash out. I wanted to scream and
curse him for taking Luke from me—make sure he understood that I
would always hate him—but I just didn’t have the energy.

“So...so you’re going to keep me in here
forever?”

“Of course not.” He reached out to touch my
face, so I leaned away. “When you’re ready to admit that you love
me and you’ll let me take care of and love you for the rest of our
lives, I’ll let you go. Until then—” He scooted closer and held my
hand. “I’ll keep you here with me.”

“Please don’t touch me,” I said, taking my
hand away.

He let out a sigh as he smoothed my hair
behind my ear. Then he crawled over me and sat beside me on the
mattress with his back against the wall. He began running his hand
over my back.

“What happens when everyone realizes I’m
gone?” I said.

A look of disgust spread over Roman’s face.
“They’ll probably think you ran away with
him
, since he’ll
come up missing, too.”

“And what about when spring comes?” I finally
turned around to face him. “You’ll have to go back to North
Haven—What then? Are you just gonna leave me here to rot?”

“No...” He gave me a frustrated look. “You
weren’t supposed to be in their dungeon. You were never supposed to
find out...but I’ll figure out something. Nothing will ever come
between us again.”

Delusional, twisted idiot!
I screamed
inside my head. I turned my back to him again and let him resume
rubbing it. “I’ll never love you.”

His hand slowed down as he said, “You will,
Kristine. Even if I have to wait years for it, you will love
me.”

Chapter
Thirty-Seven

~ Escape Plan ~

Days had gone by. I didn’t know how many.
Without a clock or routine, I had no concept of night or day.

I hardly ate. I only got out of bed to use
the bathroom. Then I climbed back under the sweaty blankets to
mourn. After a few days of this, you’d think Roman would have
gotten kind of grossed out, but it never bothered him. If anything,
he became more obsessed, spending every spare minute he had with
me, even though I wouldn’t talk to him or let him near me.

The only thing I bothered to ask during this
terrible spell was why he attacked Rose. He reminded me that we
were fighting earlier that day and that he’d promised to make it up
to me. So he got me Rose’s spot on the Tracers, like this justified
everything. I didn’t bother reminding him that it was always mine
if I’d wanted it, because he just wasn’t worth it.

He began to look a lot happier and healthier,
though, because in his sick twisted mind things were finally okay.
On the other hand, I began to take his place as the sickly one. But
then something happened that snapped me out of it completely. I was
lying on my stomach with my face in my pillow, wishing I were dead,
when I heard a voice—Luke’s voice. “Kristine—” it called distantly
from above my head.

“Luke!” I jumped up and screamed. The voice
called for me three more times. Each time I called back, but it
never did more than call for me again. And then it stopped.

“I’m hearing voices,” I said to myself,
shaking my head. “I’ve gone insane.” The solitude and nonstop
grieving were making me crazy—literally. As much as I longed to
hear Luke’s voice again, I couldn’t deal with hearing things.

But what could I do? I couldn’t get away. I
couldn’t stop being sad.

Another voice came. Then another. I heard two
people talking, but it was too hard to hear to know what they were
saying, or even if they were boys or girls.

My hands began shaking as I covered my ears
and shut my eyes. Was this my life now? Locked up somewhere in
Southland Cinder High, slowly going completely insane? No...Luke
didn’t die just so this could happen to me.

I let my hands fall as I thought about what
he’d been through, the guts it took to stand boldly within the
crowd he was part of before he came here. The fearless attitude he
had when he stood up to fight Titus. Maybe I should try to be more
like that, living without fear because death would come as a
relief.

I would pick myself up and get out of here, I
resolved, if only to prove Luke’s innocence and make sure everyone
knew it was Roman. They deserved to know the truth. They deserved
to feel sorry for placing the blame on him.

So I struggled to unzip the backpack beside
my bed, which hadn’t been touched, and pulled out a sweater and
pair of jeans. It was hard, for some reason. My fingers felt stiff
and weak, like I was using them for the first time. In the end, I
took the whole pack with me, so I’d have shampoo and a hairbrush
and stuff too.

It was a tiny stone bathroom with three light
bulbs above the mirror. I peeled away my sweaty shadow suit and had
to leave it hooked on the chain, since I couldn’t pull the leg part
up over my entire body. Then I climbed into the little
three-by-three square foot shower and turned on the water, which
was already warm. I figured I couldn’t be too far from the boiler
room.

As the water washed over my skin, I cried for
Luke. I had to get out. I had to get back to Harmony and Sassy and
Nadine and North Haven and my own bed.

I knew I could tell Roman what he wanted to
hear and be who he wanted me to be long enough to get free—but no—I
would never do that, even if my freedom and sanity depended on it.
It would be an insult to Luke...the man Roman killed...just for
loving me...

I took in a painful breath and whimpered.
“Oh, Luke...”

No, get it together. For him
. I
struggled to put the pain on hold long enough to think straight. I
had to regain Roman’s trust without affection, but he would never
let me go. Not without me faking love.

Maybe, maybe I could get him to let his guard
down. I could play nice—pretend everything’s rosy and we’re friends
for a while. Lure him into a false feeling of security. I could
wait with the chain in my hands behind the bathroom door, leave it
cracked just enough to see him when he gets close, and then wrap
the chain around his neck from behind and take him down. Then,
hopefully, he would have a key or something on him that I could use
to get free. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was all I could come
up with.

And if I failed and Roman freaked out and
hurt me, who cared? If I got away and ran into the Cinders, who
cared? Living without Luke was worse than dying. And at least I
would be able to say I did everything I could for him.

By the time I got out of the shower, I felt
much better, like the sick draining feeling I’d suffered from for
days had been washed away. Too bad it didn’t take care of the pain.
But it was enough to really let me feel my anger toward Roman,
too.

As I dried off and brushed my hair and teeth,
I felt a rising rage toward him. He’d taken North Haven away from
me. He’d taken away my best friends. He’d killed my
real
soul mate and imprisoned me for who knows how long. Every cell in
my body hated him almost as fiercely as they still loved Luke.

Getting dressed was a pain. I couldn’t get my
shadow suit or jeans on or off right. In the end, I had to leave
the suit dangling from it and the chain running from my ankle to my
waist in my pants. Of course this only fueled my fury.

When I walked out of the bathroom at about
the same time Roman came in with a bag in his hand, it was
extremely difficult to put a happy face on.

“Breakfast—Wow,” he said, staring at me. “You
look like a million bucks. Are you finally feeling better?”

“Yep, but my North Haven suit’s stuck on this
chain.” If Roman knew it was a shadow suit, he never let on, making
this a perfect way to find out.

“I can help you with that if you sit down,”
he said, locking the door behind him. He came and sat across from
me. “I’ll let you free long enough to get your suit off—if you kiss
me.”

Seriously? That’s all it would take to get
free? No—It would take fighting and overpowering him, both things I
knew I would fail at if I made a move then. And besides, I wasn’t
kissing him! “Sorry, Roman, I’m not ready for that yet. Couldn’t we
give the friend thing a shot first?”

“If that’s what it takes, I guess.” He leaned
over to reach into his back pocket, the opposite one he kept the
door key in, and pulled out an old cast iron key. Roman kept eye
contact with me as he picked up my leg and unlocked the
shackle.

“Thanks,” I said, turning my ankle around,
free at last.

I tried to stand up, but Roman got this awful
look on his face. He grabbed my foot and pulled it out straight,
making me fall back down.

“Why’d you do that?” I asked.

“You’re not leaving me.”

“I wasn’t trying to. I just need to stand up
so I can pull this out through my pants.” I held part of the chain
out to him.

“You can lay down and do it. You’re not
standing up until this is locked back on you.”

I fumed inside at this, talking to me like a
dog tied up in the backyard, but I had to hold back. “All right,” I
said, pretending it didn’t bother me at all as I laid back and
tugged on the chain until it was out, relying on the memory of Luke
to keep me levelheaded.

After taking the suit off, I laid my foot in
Roman’s lap so he would know I was ready and that he could trust
me. He pulled my pants leg up a few inches and ran the back of his
fingers over my freshly shaven legs. “I hate to put this back on
you.”

I let him enjoy it a little while longer
before I said, “Then don’t.”

He gave me a ruthless look as he snapped the
heavy ring around my ankle. “I have to.” He continued to stare at
me as I tried to think of something to say.

“How long have I been here?” I finally
asked.

“This is day number eight.”

I wondered how long he would keep looking at
me like that. “Um, could you maybe get me a different blanket?” I
asked. “This one could use a good washing.” I hadn’t realized how
rank it smelled until after my shower.

He let out a breath and looked down for a
second. “I’m sorry, Kristine. I hate doing this to you. I hate it
even more with you acting like yourself again. I just don’t know
what else to do. I want to set you free, but you’d leave me. How
can I trust you when you spent the last eight weeks with another
guy?”

Darn straight I’d leave you
.

“Sooo, no clean blankets?”

Roman snickered. “I’ll find you some. I can
wash your suit too.”

I pulled it away from him and held it behind
me. “That’s okay. I can wash it myself in the bathroom.”

He stood up and pulled the sheets and blanket
off the mattress. “Why don’t you eat something? I’ll be back before
you know it.”

“Okay.”

Holding the bundle at his side, Roman held a
hand out to help me up. Then he used his free arm to wrap around
me. “Mmm. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”