Let's Kill Her (Book #1)

(ﾒ￣▽￣)︻┳═一 (8)

Later that evening I sit in front of the fireplace in our room on an ancient-looking rug with trees. I watch the fire pop and dance over the logs and lift my hand to lightly touch my bruised eye. The strong-smelling poultice the nurse left on my face all day brought down the swelling, but I'm positive I'm going to have a black eye for a good two weeks. If people weren't gossiping about me before, they will be.

I've decided to talk to Kang tomorrow. They might not have a phone here, but there has to be a way to get in touch with Appa. There's no chance he would want me staying at a school where students attack me in the middle of the hallway and teachers expect me to hit them in retaliation.

I look up at the dark wooden clock on the mantel, which looks like cuckoo clock without the cuckoo: 11:54 p.m. I'm positive that sneaking out right now is a bad idea. But I'm also positive that I just got sucker-punched for some mysterious reason and if I don't go meet Sehun I may never know the truth about this place.

Sejeong's bedroom creaks open for the first time all night. As far as I can tell, she's been avoiding me, and I just keep hoping she hasn't decided I'm too big a liability.

"I didn't know he would do that," she says quietly.

"What do you mean?" I say, turning toward her.

She holds her door open but doesn't actually come into the living room. "When I said Jungkook was all bark, I just want you to know that I had no idea he would hit you."

My brows scrunch together, pulling at my sore face in the process. "I didn't think you did."

"Well, I didn't," she says resolutely, and exhales.

"Do you know why he did it?" I ask carefully.

She shakes her head and her hair shimmers in the firelight. "Anyway . . . good night," she says, and disappears back into her room before I can get another word out.

I stare at her closed door for a few seconds after she shuts it. In the short time I've known Sejeong, I can tell that's all the information she's going to give me, maybe all the information she has.

It's 11:59 p.m. I drum my fingers on the rug, hesitate, and jump off the floor. I'm not going to just sit around waiting for someone else to attack me. I'm going to get some answers.

I pull on my boots and tie my cloak around my shoulders. It's bulky, but it's also black and will help me blend into the low light. I lift the latch on the door as gently as possible and crack it open. The hallway's empty and everything's quiet. I slip out, closing the door gently behind me, and book it down the hall. I stop by the staircase and look down it. It's mostly dark and there are no sounds of movement. Although I wish my heart would shut up so that I could hear better.

I take the steps quickly, pausing periodically to listen for the guards, and walk along the wall toward the first-floor entrance. I grip the cold stone and anxiously peek around the edge of the archway. There's a guard in front of the door that leads to the vine courtyard. Did they already change post?

As I pull back from the archway, my shoulder collided with something. My mouth opens but a hand presses over it before I can make a sound, and someone turns me around. For a split second utter panic flashes through my body, until I make out Sehun staring down at me in the near blackness. He's so close that I can smell the scent of fireplace on his cloak. He puts his finger to his lips and then points toward the entrance hall. We look again just as the guard is opening the door to go into the very courtyard we were supposed to meet in.

Sehun holds up his hand, folding his fingers over one at a time. Five, four, three, two , one. He walks straight for the door, silently, at full speed. Oh, this is such a bad idea. I can't believe I'm doing this. Sehun pushes midway through the room and gives me a demanding look. Someone clears their throat a flight or so above me.