The Huntress [2018 Archived]

Chapter 8

Jamie practically dragged us through the halls unaware of the whispers we attracted. The hard, angry glares of my fellow peers pecked against my skin like little knives. I was so used to being invisible to them, and now I was notorious for murder. And not just any murder. The murder of their golden boy, one of their own princes of Winshest High, and the only thing that kept them from skewering me alive was Jamie's protective grip.

"Where's Sierra?" she asked me, turning a little. Her grip lessened as she looked around, making faces at anyone who challenged her. Jamie could have been wearing a potato sack and fraternizing with Hades himself, and she would still rule the school. I took some comfort from this realization, basking in the protection her status offered. I wouldn't be shunned by everyone just yet.

Joel's eyes roved the crowded scene. "I haven't seen her since yesterday. She said she would call. Have you heard from her, Alexis?"

I shrugged. Sierra wasn't the first thing on my mind. We hadn't spoken since the incident in the woods. She didn't call or answer my one text message.

I still couldn't get rid of the image of her and Joel trundling off in his car together. It shouldn't have bothered me, but it still did.

Just as I opened my mouth to tell Jamie that I hadn't seen any trace of my supposed best friend, I heard a familiar giggle.

The three of us turned to see an alien. An utter stranger.

Sierra was walking down the hall, laughing gaily with three other girls. I watched as she threw her head back and giggled, the way she used to do, back before this whole thing had ever happened.

I knew the three girls she was with. They were popular girls, so inconsequential to me, but forever important to her.

I couldn't move. My feet were rooted to the floor tile as I watched as Amber Brady, Diana Price, Catherine Quinton, and Sierra walked towards me seemingly in slow motion.

It was very unusual to see Sierra intermixed with these girls, but I saw the resemblance now. How they all seemed interchangeable despite hair and skin color. How their words fit smoothly, like pieces in a puzzle. How they all seemed to meld perfectly together, a dazzling tapestry of power. They were so tightly woven that even their body language was unconsciously turned towards each other even as they walked.

How come I hadn't seen it until now?

"Hey," Sierra suddenly stopped short, staring at me. I watched as her mocha colored eyes took in my new appearance, from the makeup on my face, to the vibrancy of my plush sweater, and down to Jamie's boots.

Her eyebrows furrowed as her perfect mouth dipped into a snarl. "Got a new look, Lexie?" she sneered in a voice so foreign to me. She knew I hated being called Lexie.

Hurt and a dozen retorts welled up inside me. Did she feel threatened now that I was a step above her battered track shoes? Where had that voice come from? Certainly not from Sierra Blake.

"What is it to you?" I returned, my eyes narrowing.

"It...suits you," Amber said, laughing a little too much. It was the kind of laugh that made you feel like an idiot, one of her worst attributes. "Though I think the raggedy sweats were more your style," she said patronizingly.

I hissed between my teeth, but refused to answer. Amber Brady wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but her family was influential in the town. Her mother was on the PTA and school board and her father owned a very successful business. She was not someone I wanted to argue with.

"Did you see this Alexis?" Catherine snagged something from her backpack. It was a flyer, wet and wrinkled from the Oregon rain.

The words: ANNUAL WINSHEST ARCHERY CONTEST were emblazoned on it in big, bold letters. The flyer had been distributed all around town and advertised in the entire state.