Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,75

a challenge.

***

The never-ending school week finally ended and I was mentally exhausted as I headed back towards Beech House after dinner on Friday. Saint, Blake and Kyan had ensured I was firmly outcasted, making me sit at the front of every class I shared with them until the students in my other classes refused to sit within two seats of me too. Everyone but Mila was treating me like the name they’d given me. Plague. I’d even heard Pearl and Georgie talking loudly about how they’d always had the feeling there was something wrong with me. And now a rumour was circulating that I’d spilled tequila on Kyan Roscoe’s chest at the initiation party and licked it off before he could stop me. It was taking everything I had to keep it together, but every morning I woke up, I fixed my mask on tight and refused to let it crack until I could be alone again.

A group of students skirted around me on the path and tossed the name Plague at me like it was fucking hilarious. If they hadn’t moved in packs, I would have thrown a few fists to shut them the hell up.

As I walked, I tried calling Dad for the millionth time this week, but his phone was dead. Wherever he was, I knew he was protecting me by doing this. But it cut my heart to ribbons to know he was out there all alone with the whole world turned against him. By Wednesday, I’d cracked and read the entire news article about him.

I was at war with myself over the evidence they’d presented. CCTV footage had shown him leaving the Apollo Company in California three months ago. Several Hades Virus samples had gone missing that night and his was the only access pass to have been scanned in that evening.

What were you doing that night, Dad? Please tell me you aren’t responsible for this…

The air swirled around me and a rumble of thunder in the distance made my heartbeat quicken. The world felt alive tonight, nature prickling with tension as it awaited the oncoming storm.

I gazed across the lake to Tahoma Mountain rising right into the clouds. Lightning flashed high up around its peak and the hairs raised on the back of my neck. The sky was deepest blue, colouring the whole world in that same forbidding tone. Sometimes, I almost believed the legends about this place. If there was any location in the world that they could exist, it would be here. And the idea of the Night People really lurking in the forest made me up my pace in the direction of the dorms.

I was looking forward to getting out of my school uniform and into something comfy. Then I could spend the evening with Mila and some mindless Netflix show. I was so grateful that she hadn’t disowned me like the rest of the student body. I didn’t know why though. On the surface, I knew people had a reason to hate me. The Hades Virus was becoming an ever-present threat in the world; it had killed thousands upon thousands of people already. But I wasn’t to blame for it. And neither is my dad, dammit.

I could feel my rage rising again and pushed it down into the pit of my belly. Dad had taught me how to survive the end of days. And though I was sure this wasn’t the apocalypse, I could still draw on the gifts he’d given me. The tools he’d taught me to keep a level head, the way to contemplate a problem without getting emotional about it.

Survival came down to one thing ultimately. Choices. And if you made the wrong ones, it would cost you your life. So when it came to the Night Keepers, I wasn’t going to act irrationally. I had to face my enemy with as much cunning as they showed me. Had to hunt for weaknesses and exploit them to my advantage. I had to be patient, mindful. I could never give them the reaction they wanted, because if they saw me breaking, they’d start picking at those cracks. They’d rip and claw their way into my being until I was consumed by their cruelty. So I could never, ever let them find a way in.

I headed up the path into the trees, the world darkening around me as the storm drew closer. A few girls up ahead started running and laughing as they jogged inside, anxious to escape the