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“I was making a joke.”

“No, you weren’t.
 
What did you mean?”

Her eyes were searching mine.
 
I liked her too much to lie to her, but what choice did I have.
 
If I showed her what I was capable of doing, what would she do?
 
What would Alex do?
 
It was the secret creepy Jim told me I had to keep.
 
I couldn’t share it with them, which bothered me.
 
I didn’t want to keep secrets from them.
 
I’d only been friends with them for little more than a week, but already they were coming to mean something to me.

I looked at my watch.
 
“We should go before we’re late for class.”

But when we turned to leave, we were met by Principal Roberts, who was standing in the doorway and looking at me in defeat.

chapter eighteen

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

She looked pale, exhausted.
 
“We should go to my office.”

“Why can’t we talk here?”

“Because it’s private, Seth.
 
The police are here.
 
They want to talk to you.
 
They have questions.”

A million thoughts ran through my mind.
 
Was it about my parents?
 
Did Hastings say something about that day in the woods?
 
He couldn’t have.
 
I sealed his mouth shut about what happened between us.
 
Was it Ginny?
 
That was possible.
 
Or was it Jake Tyler?

Who knew?
 
The more I thought of it, the more I realized it could be anything with anyone at the root of it.

“What for?”

She hesitated.

“These are my friends,” I said.
 
“I have no family.
 
Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of them.”

“Alright,” she said.
 
“Did you buy a new car?”

My stomach tightened.
 
“I did.”

“An Audi?”

Alex looked at me in surprise.

“That’s right.”

“Then you need to come with me,” Roberts said.

*
  
*
  
*

When we went outside, the first thing I saw were the two police cars across the parking lot, their blue lights flashing.

There were two officers.
 
Though I couldn’t see my car yet, I was no idiot.
 
Somebody did something to it.
 
The only question was how far they went since school began just twenty minutes ago.

I looked behind me at Alex and Jennifer, who were looking worried.
 
Beyond them, I could see the long bank of windows that made up the entire length of the left side of the school.

In every one of those windows was a face.
 
Classes were in session, but apparently that didn’t matter—we were openly being watched by students and teachers.
 
Once again, I was being publicly humiliated and they were thriving on it.
 
It infuriated me and, given the thoughts I was stuffing down, it scared me.
 
I had to keep myself in check.
 
I had to watch what I crept into my head.
 
I couldn’t think what I wished would happen to each of them.

But it was difficult.
 
All of it was becoming too much for me to handle.
 
I wasn’t sure how much more I could take this week.

When I saw my car, it was no longer my car.

What had been a bright, shiny black Audi TT this morning now was smashed beyond recognition.
 
It looked as if it has been pummeled into oblivion by something heavy, probably a baseball bat.

The tires were slashed.
 
The roof, hood and doors were dented.
 
The head- and taillights were blown out.
 
Inside, the leather seats were shredded by a knife or a razor.
 
And all over it someone had spray-painted the word “FAGGOT” in large pink letters.

One of the officers came over to me.
 
“Are you Seth Moore?”

I nodded.

“This your car.”

“Yup.”

“Any idea who did this?”

One way to find out.

I walked past him and pressed my hands against the driver’s side window to look inside.
 
I was pretending to have a look at the damage, but I felt I needed my hands on the car if this was going to work.
 
I closed my eyes and tapped into the amulet.
 
I asked it to show me who did this.
 
And then I saw exactly who did it.
 
And then I saw more.

I stepped away from the car and looked at them.
 
I had a decision to make—tell or not tell?
 
I knew exactly who did it and where he was now.
 
He should pay for it.
 
He should be in jail for it.
 
Regardless of how tempting it was to take him down properly, I couldn’t reveal myself to them.

“I have no idea,” I said.
 
“It literally could be anybody in that school.
 
They all hate me here because they’ve been allowed to hate me here.”
 
I motioned toward Alex and Jennifer.
 
“Except for these two.
 
They’re my friends.”

The cop looked at them.
 
“Either of you have an idea?”

“Seth is right,” Alex said.
 
“It could be anyone.”

Time was running out.
 
If I was going to get him, I needed to get out of here.
 
I turned to Principal Roberts.
 
“Would take care of this for me?
 
I don’t feel well.
 
I just need it towed back to my apartment, then I’ll take over from there.”
 
I gave her my address.

“Of course,” she said.
 
“I’m sorry, Seth.”

“I’ve been hearing that all week.”

But the cop lowered his hand in front of me as I tried to walk past him.
 
“Just a minute.
 
We need your information, son.
 
You can’t leave yet.”

“What kind of information?” Roberts asked.

“Insurance.
 
License.
 
Who his parents are?
 
Their phone number.”

“His parents died last week,” she said, and I was surprised by how sharply she said it.
 
The anger in her voice wasn’t fake—it was real.
 
I took my wallet out of my back pocket and tossed it to the cop.
 
“It’s all in there.
 
Just give it back to Principal Roberts when you’re finished.”

I started to walk away and as I did, I heard the officer say to Roberts, “I didn’t know.”
 
I looked up and saw all the grinning faces in the rows of windows across from me.
 
I saw Mike Hastings and Ginny Gibson in one of them.
 
Gibson had the back of her hand over her mouth.
 
She’d been laughing.

I was aware that Alex and Jennifer were following me, so I stopped before they could go any farther.
 
“Would you guys mind if I just have some time alone?”

“You know my cell,” Jennifer said.
 
“Call me when you’re ready.”

Alex scribbled his number down on a piece of paper.
 
“Here’s mine.”

I didn’t have a phone yet, but it didn’t matter—I could always get one.
 
I took Alex’s phone number and walked quickly away from them, toward the school.

Right now, my target was in the boy’s locker room.
 
He was in the shower trying to get the paint off his fingers and the glass out of his hair.
 
He was alone.
 
He was feeling great.

I could feel the amulet heating up as I neared the school doors.
 
He did this.
 
He helped to kill my parents.
 
Now, it ended.
 
Now, he was mine.

He was about to pay for all of it in ways that he’d never forget.

chapter nineteen

When I entered the locker room, I could hear humming and the sound of running water coming from the far left, where the group shower was located.
 

It was him.
 
I’d recognize his voice anywhere.
 
I waved my hand at the door and sealed it.
 

Nobody was getting inside.
 

I stood still for a moment and thought it through.
 
If I walked forward, there was a chance he might hear me, which I couldn’t allow.
 
I needed surprise on my side.
 
So I lifted myself off the ground and started floating toward the humidity that spilled like fog out of the stall and into the room.
 

I held out my arms and imagined a machete in my hand.
 
One appeared.

And then so did I.

A half-brick wall separated us.
 
His back was to me.
 
I plunged the room into darkness and with the help of the amulet, watched him react in the absolute lack of light. He turned around and leaned his head into the hallway, literally inches from my face.
 
“Someone’s in here,” he called.
 
“Turn back on the lights.”

I lowered myself to his ear.
 
“Not a chance,” I said.

The closeness of my voice caught him off-guard and he stumbled back, nearly slipping on the wet tiles.
 
For a moment, he looked frightened, but then he relaxed a little.
 
He was, after all, Jake Tyler.
 
Nobody could touch him.
 
“Hastings, if that’s you, I’m going to beat your ass.”

“It’s not Hastings,” I said.

He paused, listened.
 
“Then who is it?”

“Who do you think it is?”

His lips turned down.
 
“Moore.”

“The one and only, Jake.”

“Turn on the fucking lights.”

“Now, why would I want to do that after what you did to my car and to my parents?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
 
Turn on the lights.
 
Now.
 
Before I ruin that pretty new face of yours.”

I took the machete and slammed it so hard against the top of the wall, it caused him to shriek in surprise, spin around and then rear back in horror when the lights flashed on and he saw that I was hovering two feet off the ground.
 

I floated toward him with the blade at my side, looked up at the shower, killed it.

He’d scream sooner than later, so I shoved my hands behind me and sound-proofed the room.
 
No one would hear us.
 
I hovered closer until his back was pressed into a corner.
 
He looked at the machete and suddenly his hands dipped down to cover his balls.
 
He was dripping wet and his lips were curling back in horror at the sight of me.
 
I turned my eyes into bright-white spheres of light and bled all color from my skin until I looked like a corpse.

“What the fuck are you?” he said.

“The end of you.”

I held out my arms and erupted into flames.
 
At first, the fire started at my feet, but then it quickly snaked up my legs until I was fully engulfed and looked like something sent from hell.

As I cooked, the sheer amount of heat coming off me was enough to singe his skin.
 
He twisted away in pain and pleaded for me to stop.
 

But I wouldn’t.
 
I was just getting started.
 
I let a blast of fire roll off my back and toast the ceiling as I touched his cheek with the machete’s sharp tip.
 
I pressed it against the side of his face and turned his head so he was looking at me.

“This is what my father looked like when you killed him,” I said.
 
“When I saw him, he was trying to put out the fire, but the fire caught his clothing and it overcame him.
 
I want you to look at me not only because this is what you did to him, but because this is my last memory of him.
 
This is what I saw when I had no choice but to leave him and my mother behind.”

“I did nothing to your parents.”

“That’s a lie, Jake.
 
We both know it.
 
I saw you, Hastings and the others running away from the trailer.
 
I know it was you.
 
And here’s what else you should know.
 
If you lie to me again, I’m going to set
you
on fire.
 
I’ve got one badass mother of tricks I’m ready to unleash.
 
I’m going to make you pay for everything you’ve ever done to me and to my parents.
 
If you lie to me again, I will set you on fire, I will leave this locker room and I will seal the door shut until there’s nothing left of you but ash.
 
Are we clear?”

He got to his feet and stared up at me with such hatred, the heat he gave off was its own brand of fire.
 
He told me to fuck off, but it was clear that he was frightened of me.
 
He looked like a caged animal.

“You’re such a fool.
 
I mean, come on, Jake.
 
Look at me.
 
What more do I need to do?
 
Turn your feet into hooves?”
 
I put a finger to my chin.
 
“Actually, I could do that.
 
And I think they’d suit you.”

“You can’t prove any of it.”

“I don’t need to.
 
I know what you did that night and I know what you did to my car this morning.
 
You’re a bad person, Jake.
 
Ever since we were kids, you were bad.
 
Something is spoiled inside of you.”

I cut off the flames and lowered myself to the ground.
 
I turned my skin and my eyes back to normal and just looked at him while I remembered something creepy Jim said the other day.
 
Maybe death was too easy for these people.
 
Maybe there was a better way to get my revenge.
 
“I think you should be in prison for what you’ve done,” I said.
 
“I think you need to rot in there.”

And then, before he could respond or even react, I was on top of him.

I forced him down to the tile, straddled him and pressed my hand hard against his forehead.
 
He struggled against me like a bug.
 
His legs swung out and kicked at the air.
 
He squirmed and he fought and he reached out to claw at my eyes.
 
But he was no match for me, which surprised him.
 
He glared up at me and tried to shake himself free of me, but he couldn’t.
 

“Not such a pussy after all, am I?”

My hand had a vice-grip on his forehead.
 
I could feel my palm heating up as I channeled the rest of his life straight into his mind.
 

“This is what you deserve,” I said.
 
“Are you watching?
 
That’s you, Jake.
 
That’s what you’re going to become after I leave here.
 
You’re going to do all of it and you’re going to go to prison for it.
 
And when you’re released, you’ll do it again and they’ll lock you up again.
 

“And what’s worse?
 
You’re going to be somebody’s bitch in prison.
 
You’re going to understand what it feels like to be powerless, just as I have since I can remember.
 
Some prison thug is going to be missing his wife, but he’s going to take a shine to you and when he does, your going to get one mother of a workout.”
 
I winked at him.
 
“If you know what I mean.”

He was starting to froth at the mouth.
 
He writhed beneath me and sputtered.
 
I closed my eyes and imprinted on his brain exactly what I expected from him.
 
And when I was finished, the struggling stopped.
 
I got off him and took a step back.
 
He was laying there, motionless.
 

But soon, he moved again, this time calmly and with purpose.
 
He stood and walked past me.
 
I waved my hand over the machete and turned it into a gun.
 
When he finished dressing, I handed it to him.
 
He checked to see if it was loaded and then, satisfied, bent down and put it in the calfstrap I’d attached to his right ankle.

“You’re clear on what you’re supposed to do?”

His voice was normal, not flat when he spoke.
 
It was critical that he appear sane when he carried this through.
 
“I know exactly what I’m supposed to do.”

I released the seal from the door and made myself invisible.
 
Jake watched me fade from sight but didn’t flinch.
 

“Then go do it.”