Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,125
dark windows. The goose bumps spread as a fine shiver chased them along my skin. “It’s just a weird feeling.”
“Like what?”
I lifted a shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was anything, but there was the sensation of hundreds of unseen eyes on us. Could be the ghosts Sam had said were trapped. They could be at those windows, and I just couldn’t see them. “I don’t know. Just a weird vibe. Maybe this school is a Hellmouth.”
Zayne was silent.
I looked over at him. “Now that was supposed to be funny.”
“Was it?”
“How mad will you get if I just drop-kick you into one of those trucks?”
“Pretty mad, to be honest.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Just going to weigh my odds over here to see if it’s worth making you madder than you already are.”
“I’m not mad.”
“Oh, really?” That I laughed out. “I’ve seen you happy. This is not happy.”
“Didn’t say I was happy, either,” he returned. I threw up my arms in frustration. “There’re doors back here, along the side, if I remember correctly. I’m going to see if it’s accessible or if any windows are boarded up. Map out the area for Saturday night.”
“Have fun.”
Zayne faced me. “You’re not coming?”
“No. There’s probably debris and crap all over,” I pointed out. “I’m just going to stumble and trip all over everything.”
“Then what are you going to do?” He stepped toward me.
“Play in traffic.”
He made a noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a curse. “Sounds like a good time. Just try not to get hit and killed. Sort of like to survive the night.”
“Getting hit by a car wouldn’t kill me.” I tossed the words back at him.
Zayne lifted his hand, and I thought maybe he’d give me a thumbs-up before he walked around the fence.
“Jerk,” I muttered, turning my gaze to the dark windows.
Of course I wasn’t going to play in traffic. While Zayne was scoping out a good entrance for Saturday, I wanted to figure out what I was feeling and possibly hearing. Plus, I would probably break a leg and alert everyone to our presence trying to navigate an active work site in the dark.
I lifted my gaze to the neat rows of the second floor. It could just be insects, but the vibe...yeah, the vibe was way off, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the fact that I knew what could be inside.
The air was thicker here, like soup. The steady clang of hammers made me wonder if the workers had noticed anything. Missing tools. Disembodied voices. People seen in the corners of their eyes but gone when they focused on the area. Those things would be experienced if there was just one ghost in a place, but over a hundred? God.
Why would someone trap them here? And if this was related to the Harbinger, what could it want with ghosts? And Shadow People? The plot was thickening, but the problem was I had no idea what the damn story was.
Another flash of light streaked the sky, illuminating the windows for a second. Anyone else would’ve probably been able to see whether anything was in those windows, but they were blurs to me. Thunder immediately followed, and then a big, fat drop of rain smacked my nose. That was the only warning before the sky ripped open and rain poured from above.
Soaked to the bone within seconds, I sighed heavily. The rain was kind of warm, so at least there was that.
I was debating the merits of crawling under one of the vans when I felt cool, icy fingers slip over the back of my neck. I cranked my head around, expecting to see either someone with freezing hands and absolutely no concept of social propriety, a ghost or an abominable snowman.
No one was behind me. I struggled to see through the veil of rain, scanning the lawn. It was impossible for someone to have touched me and disappeared that quickly. The cold feeling was still there, settling between my shoulders, forming a pressure. It was that same brutally cold sensation I’d felt that night we found the zombies.
I turned and walked back to the steps. Instead of climbing them, I jumped and landed in the thick grass. The cold feeling was still there, and the sensation of being watched intensified.
Someone was out here.
I knew it in my bones and my blood. My grace sparked deep within me as I took a step forward. There. By one of the trees.