two notches. Without thinking she pressed down. She heard a labored snick and felt the brick move under her hand.
Settling her fingertips even deeper, she pulled the brick towards her. Unseen hinges groaned from lack of use as the brick swung out and away revealing an uninviting black maw in the side of the fireplace. Stepping around in front of it, Dana leaned closer to see what was inside.
"That belongs to me."
Chapter 12
Dana was surprised at how calmly she turned around to look at Austin leaning against the door jam of her room. He appeared smugly arrogant as usual. "You!" Last night's humiliation washed over her like a wave. She felt her fingers clench. "I should have known." Dana opened her mouth to yell.
In an instant, Austin was across the small room and pressing the tip of a knife lightly against her cheek. "Don't." His eyes glittered hotly. "Do you know how easy it would be for me to cut you right now? Right here?" He touched the tip to the corner of her mouth. "Or here?" He traced the corner of her nose. Oddly, Dana felt no fear of him or the knife he held. She was too royally pissed.
His eyes met hers and he grinned. He lowered his knife and leaned into her. "Hey, doll,”he whispered. He gave a laughing hiss like she had heard behind her last night. Her fingers clenched harder. Then he mockingly licked her across the cheek. "Remember me?"
It took every ounce of will power Dana had ever possessed not to strike him. But the knife still held casually in his hand dissuaded her. She stared at him coldly until she began to shake with repressed rage. Thinking her tremors were from fear, Austin laughed. "So, who's laughing now?"
"Is that what this is about? Because I laughed at your stupid voodoo trick?"
When Rose and Grace had spoken about the voodoo museum in New Orleans, it had birthed the idea within him. He had read about voodoo poltergeists years ago. Using materials he and Brett had in the car, he had spent the better part of the afternoon crafting the chicken, taking pains to make it as realistic as possible. The electronic equipment they had brought with them completed the illusion. He'd almost thought it was real himself.
The sound of her laughter had haunted him from that night. Her taunting cackles of amusement rang in his ears and her rejection at his advances had all had led up to him wanting to punish her for humiliating him.
Austin's eyes hardened and the hand holding the knife rose slightly. But with some effort he relaxed. "Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. Although,”he leaned in so close she could feel his breath, "we could have had a lot of fun, you and me."
Backing up slightly, he indicated the hole behind her. "No, it is all about that, Roan Davis's hiding place,”he continued.“I know Oscar told you all about him, the school teacher bandit. I was listening outside the door yesterday. That was when you so helpfully gave me the idea for the spider web in the music room. You were so fun to watch last night."
"Where were you?"
He looked her up and down insolently. "There's a storage closet towards the back of the room. I ducked in there just before your idiot boyfriend charged in to the rescue. I stayed there until everyone went back to bed. Just as I did the night before." Austin's eyes narrowed slightly and he added silkily, "The night you laughed at me.”
There was a madness lurking in those black eyes, she decided. He seemed obsessed by the fact that she had laughed at him. For the first time a slight frisson of fear began to share space with her anger. A punk with a knife was one thing. A crazy punk with a knife gave her pause.
He leaned in closer again and began sniffing her neck like a dog sniffing a bone. His smell of cheap cologne sickened Dana even more, if that were at all possible. "I don't know which I enjoyed more, listening to you shrieking like some deranged bat or listening to you panting like a bitch in heat in your room a little while later. I have to hand it to Jack," his eyes flashed maliciously, "I didn't think he had it in him."
Dana almost lost it then, knife or no knife. She wanted to sink her fingers into his eyes up to her elbows. She felt her fingers hook