The Sinners of Saint Amos - Logan Fox Page 0,20

the eyes. I’ve got a bad temper sometimes, but I never let it show back home. I’d rather suppress it until I’m alone.

Things are always easier to handle when you’re alone.

“What’s your name?” I ask, switching to a softer voice.

Jasper’s friend glances up at me, and then shifts in his seat as if even that question makes him uncomfortable. “Perry.”

“Perry…I’m going to level with you.” I put down my fork and place my palms on the table, spreading out my fingers. It helps me keep calm, and Perry can see I’m not palming a switchblade or something. “I’ve had a horrible few weeks. I…”

Why is this so difficult?

Come on, Trinity. Just open your mouth and—

“My parents died. Recently.”

Perry’s eyes go even wider.

“This place is all I’ve got left. I’m not picking a fight with anyone. Why would I? That would just make my life miserable.”

Perry nods a little.

“So why is Jasper treating me like his enemy?”

Perry picks up a pea and presses it against his lips, but he doesn’t eat it yet. “Because you’re a girl.”

“Bullshit.”

Perry shrugs.

“So he just straight-up hates all girls?”

I sit back. Perry looks relieved as he pushes the pea into his mouth and swallows.

“How can I show him I’m not a bad person?”

Perry shakes his head. Eats another pea. I pick up my fork, toying with it. “Nothing, huh?”

“I guess…”

I sit forward. “Tell me.”

“I mean…he’s getting really bad grades for English Lit. And you’re like two grades up. Maybe you can teach him? I tried, but I’m not good at explaining stuff.”

I have no idea if I can teach anyone anything. Then again, I’ve never tried. It can’t be all that difficult, right? And since I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with myself after I graduate, I guess staying here for a year or two to teach would give me time to figure things out.

If I can convince Jasper to let me help him.

That’s going to be the hardest part of all.

Chapter Ten

Zac

Gravel crunches under my shoes. With no moon out tonight, this path is as dark as those heading toward the stables and sports ground. This time of night, the students and staff should all be snug inside their beds.

There’s a light fixture outside the crypt, but the bulb’s been busted for months. The tomb isn’t exactly a place students care to go, and even the staff avoid it. Superstition, of course. The only corpses nearby are those in the handful of graves outside in the cemetery.

Warm light spills out when I open the door. Should someone happen to glance out of a window, they could see me enter, but hopefully I wouldn’t be recognizable.

It’s one of many reasons I chose this place for our meetings.

The crypt’s interior is cool and, despite the size of the room, stale.

A double row of columns cut the room in half, forming a square in the center where they meet the second row of columns intersecting diagonally.

I don’t know who would ever hold a class or an impromptu sermon in this place, but if they did, it appears the maximum seats allowed would be no more than the dozen inside that sunken square.

Twelve seats

Twelve apostles.

Only three of those seats are taken.

Apollo chuckles as he leans forward, turning his video camera so Cassius can see the playback screen. Reuben’s watching the entrance. He sits up even straighter when I enter the square.

The smell of weed hits my nose.

“Christ, I almost feel sorry for her,” Cass says, and then glances up at me. “You took your time, Boss. Everything okay?”

“Never better,” I say as I sink down in the seat closest to Cassius.

“Apollo taped her,” Reuben says, his voice steeped in disapproval.

“That was the plan.” I hold out a hand for the camera.

“I didn’t know why she went in there,” Apollo drawls through a grin as he passes the camera to me. “Would’ve tried for a better shot if I had.”

Him and Cassius laugh at this. I turn the camera.

Trinity’s a blip on the small screen until Apollo moves closer with his camera.

I flip the screen closed without bothering to watch more.

Apollo throws up his hands. “You missed the best part.”

I hold up the closed camera. “This is not what I meant.”

“You said t’ watch her. This is me watching her.”

“Showering?”

Any normal guy might have dropped his eyes at this point. Apollo’s grin grows wider. “She did a good job. I’m sure there wasn’t a single spot she—”

As soon as I move my gaze from Apollo’s eyes,