Victory at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #5) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,185

just shakes his head and takes off after his mother, watching her as she rejoins Maxwell outside the door and then heads back down the steps toward the amphitheater. They take their seats and Victor reluctantly pulls himself away, but not like he’s fully at ease with any of this.

We gather the rest of the boys and rejoin the group of students headed back to the lawn. It’s as we’re heading into the rows of folding chairs that we first notice that something is wrong.

“Ophelia is no longer in her seat,” Oscar grinds out, sounding frustrated by the change of plans. As we pause by our chairs and look up the towering row of steps to where Maxwell sits, we see him reach into his pocket and pull out a phone. He answers it and puts it to his ear. After a moment, he, too, stands up.

I look around for Sara and Constantine, but they’re not there either.

“Ophelia was just fucking there,” Vic growls right back, but not like he’s angry at Oscar. No, he’s clearly pissed off with himself. “In the two minutes it took us to get down here, she left?”

“Apparently.” Oscar checks his phone as Aaron goes to do the same, frowning at the sound of it buzzing in his pocket. He drops those pretty green-gold eyes to his screen and then turns a shade of pale that I equate only to the faces of corpses. Bloodless. Empty. Terrified.

His eyes lift up to mine.

“What’s wrong?” Hael asks as Callum crowds close and reads the message from over Aaron’s shoulder. His pink mouth flattens into a frown and his blue eyes go dark with violence.

“It’s from Kara,” he says, and I know instantly that this is going to be bad. “It says mare’s nest.”

“Kara, honey, where are you?” Aaron asks as we leave the amphitheater via the side path that winds up toward the dorms. He keeps his voice remarkably calm as the call connects and he’s able to get her on the line. I feel relieved, but only for about half a second. “What do you mean took her?” he repeats, and my heart plummets.

On our way out, we found Ashley with her class, in the process of filing back to their seats on the lawn. Seeing as we’re likely to get into trouble right now, we took her hand and led her up the steps to where Ms. Keating was sitting. She didn’t pester us with questions when we asked if she could watch the girl, but in her eyes, I could see that she was worried.

As rightfully she should be.

Heather.

If someone has taken Heather or hurt Heather … I refuse to let myself think about it, following Aaron with the other boys in tow. When he starts to run, we run with him.

We end up at the Oak River dormitory on the third floor, where the girls’ room is located. They have what the school calls a ‘family suite’, designed for up to four siblings to share provided they all attend the elementary school.

The door is open when we arrive and Kara is crouched inside of the wardrobe, shaking and crying. She throws herself into Aaron’s arms as soon as he opens the doors, twining her arms around his neck.

“Where is Heather?” he asks her, setting her on the edge of one of the beds and pushing her gently back so that he can look into her eyes. Aaron sweeps chestnut curls from his sister’s forehead and gives her a gentle shake. “Kara, talk to me.”

“She took her,” she repeats, sniffling and shaking her head. “We asked our teacher if we could come back to our room to get Heather a new tie since she spilled milk on hers at lunch.” My hands clench into fists at my sides as Hael rubs my back in comforting circles, trying to keep me calm the way I did for him at his parents’ house. I’m going to flay that fucking teacher alive. At the same time that thought crosses my mind, I know I can’t blame her. The campus is secure; it’s safe. There are security guards everywhere. Who would ever think something like this might happen on a sunny day like today?

“And then what?” Aaron encourages, crouching down and managing to keep himself calm as he presses his sister for information. “Who took Heather, Kara?”

She shakes her head at him again and rubs at her nose, glancing up at me like she’s ashamed of herself.

“When we