Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,124

seen that, because God knows, I wouldn’t want him—

“Trin?”

“What?” I snapped.

“Are you going to the high school with me or someplace else?” he asked, amusement dripping from his tone like thick honey. “I’m just curious, since you seem to have other plans in mind.”

Stopping halfway across the street, I sucked in a breath and did everything in my power to keep myself from screaming. I pivoted and found that Zayne had hung a left at the intersection. Stalking my way back to the sidewalk, I all but power walked past him, noticing the sidewalk was no longer following a flat course but a rather steep incline. A deep, rumbling chuckle came from behind me.

“Glad you found that funny,” I replied, squinting as the outlines of trees gave way to open lawn. “Because you’re going to think it’s really funny when I break your face.”

“You’re incredibly aggressive.”

Up ahead, I saw a two-story building with its main floor lit up. “And you’re incredibly annoying.”

“And you’re still going the wrong way,” he said.

I stopped.

God had to be testing me.

Wheeling around, I saw that Zayne was crossing the lawn. I frowned, glancing in the direction I was going. I couldn’t make out much about the large building ahead of me, but it looked like a school to me. “Is that not the school right there?”

“It is.” He kept walking. “But I don’t think you want to walk right up to the front doors, do you? We’re here to scout the place, not announce our arrival to whoever is working right now.”

My God, I was going to tackle him and pound him into the ground, and not in the fun way.

“Did it cross your mind to maybe say something?” I complained, breaking into a jog to catch up with his freakishly long strides. A flag whipped around its pole, making snapping noises.

“It did.” He slowed down. “For about a second.”

“Ass,” I muttered, remaining a few feet behind him and to the side. The ground was mushy and soft in certain areas, as if the soil had been recently laid down.

“What was that?” Zayne looked over his shoulder, his face hidden in the darkness. “I didn’t quite hear you.”

Yeah, he had; he just wanted me to repeat myself. Not going to happen. “Where are we going?”

“To check out this side of the grounds. There’s a small neighborhood directly behind the school, and I want to see if we pick up on anything.”

All I felt was the constant low hum of nearby demon activity. “The only thing I’m picking up on is your combative attitude.”

Zayne laughed—he laughed loud enough that I wondered if we’d be overheard.

“That wasn’t meant to be funny.”

“It sure made me laugh, though.” Zayne stopped suddenly, throwing out an arm and nearly clotheslining me.

“Jesus,” I gasped, stumbling back a step.

“Careful,” he advised. “It’s hard to see, but the lawn ends here and there are six narrow steps down.”

Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t have noticed that. Granted, tripping and falling down those steps would’ve hurt only my pride. The words thank you burned my tongue, but I didn’t speak them as I tentatively went down the steps.

“I don’t know if I can sense a Shadow Person,” I said as lightning cut across the sky again. “Since they’re not living demons, I don’t know how that works.”

“With our luck, probably not.” He scanned what I realized was a small, narrow parking lot that likely was for faculty.

Beyond a temporary makeshift fence, several lighter colored vans and trucks were parked along the back of the building, blocking whatever entrances were there. The words Bar Rhinge and Sons Construction were scrawled in big, bold red letters across the vans, lit by the side entrance lights. As we drew closer, I could hear the steady thump of hammers and...

“By the way, I talked to Roth this afternoon,” Zayne announced as we started across the parking lot. “He wants to check out the school with us on Saturday.”

“Cool,” I murmured. “He’s like the opposite of a good-luck charm, so why not?”

A rumble of thunder silenced the trill of cicadas and my steps slowed, then stopped. I looked behind me. Wind continued to beat at the flag and the branches of the trees that dotted the lawn. Tiny bumps rose on my arms as I strained to hear...what, I had no idea. It was a low murmur. Maybe even the wind?

“Trin?” Zayne’s voice was close. “You feel something?”

“No. Not really.” I turned back to the school and lifted my gaze to the