Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,102

at the trees for a minute. I faintly heard the sound of the other guys’ conversation behind us, but just waited until Gray felt like talking, which eventually, he did.

“My cousin, Maddox, tried to go Unnatural. He was interning for my dad and there was all this pressure from everyone in the family for him to do the spell. He was a good guy, but the pressure … in my family, it’s intense. Every second you’re awake, you’re supposed to be working. You have to be just as obsessive as my father in order to make it. He didn’t understand play, or friendship. He doesn’t understand people, which makes it hilarious that he wants a damn Pinnacle seat. It’s all about ego.”

I nodded when he looked over, encouraging him to continue.

Gray licked his lips, chewed them for a second, before he added, “My cousin and aunt ended up living with us after her divorce. And Maddox got sucked in. Fame and fortune and all that shit. He turned into my dad’s lapdog. Dad ran him haggard and started pushing Maddox to go Unnatural early, just like he had. Such bullshit. I told Maddie not to do it.” He shook his head. “We were hanging out one night and he was just pacing, scared. Asked me like ten times if I thought he should. I said no and he nodded, agreeing. We fell asleep. Or I did. Fucker tried it while I slept. I was lucky I woke up while he was still writing the spell. I ran.” Gray’s face took on a haunted quality. “Dad wouldn’t pay for him to be institutionalized after he scratched me. He was furious that Maddie had done the spell outside an official facility. He said he was pissed that Maddie put me in danger. But really? I think he was pissed that Maddie got it wrong.” The silence hangs over us like a looming thunderhead for a moment, before Gray asks, “Did you know the Pinheads won’t keep a vampire in custody for more than twenty-four hours?”

I shook my head. Matthew had gone straight from the spell facility to an Institute. There hadn’t been much pinhead involvement.

“My aunt had to go get him. They let her keep the cuffs on his hands and feet at least. She had to drive out of town to the countryside. And then she had to shoot her own son.”

I grabbed Gray’s hand and held it. But I didn’t say anything. Because there was nothing to say.

Some people magically turned into monsters; others were born that way.

In my opinion, the latter were far more dangerous.

And they were the ones hunting us.

34

Eventually, it was time to let go of the ghosts from Gray’s past and deal with the damned poltergeists of the present. At nine, I pulled Malcolm’s nose out of his ghost notebook and said, “Come on. I’ll drive. I don’t want to be late to meet Lysa.”

We left Evan and Gray at Joyland so they could guard the sleeping vampires and get together our supplies for the break in.

We dropped Andros and Zavier off about twenty minutes away from Matthew’s institute, so they could head over there and perform recon one last time. As they climbed out of the car, Z pulled on some ridiculous fake Rastafarian hat with dreadlocks as his “disguise.” Andros had magically hidden his tattoos with some quick spell writing, but he was going out to spy without a shirt, a tactic I had tried to dissuade him from. His response had been, “Trust me, you think girls are the only ones who can’t get people to look them in the eyes? Nobody’s gonna look at my face.”

And though that thought fired up the jealousy monster inside of me, I hadn’t been able to argue with it.

I turned in my seat to wish them good luck as they walked the last few blocks.

Z blew me a kiss and then said, in a ridiculously awful Bob Marley impression, “Alright Jolly, you old elf, man, let’s see if you can sneak down the chimney. If you can, you’ll get a cookie.”

Andros merely rolled his eyes as they walked off, ignoring Z’s antics.

Then Malcolm and I drove over to a quaint little coffee shop on the far side of Hidden City, not too far from the cemetery. Before we got out, I tossed on a little black lipstick, some long fake eyelashes, and a spiked collar. Since most of my wardrobe consisted of all black anyway, the

readonlinefreenovel.com Copyright 2016 - 2024