Nausea churned in my stomach. “You were there?” I hadn’t remembered seeing him.
He nodded. “I was in the haunted house. Did you like my clown makeup? That took me hours.”
“C-clown?” This time, there was no suppressing the shudder that ran through me. The one thing I hated, above anything else, was clowns.
Laughing, he patted my hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t dress like that again. Not now I know you don’t like it.” He sighed, the smile slipping from his face. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you, to ask you out at school on Monday, but then everything changed. Carter”—he spat the word—“Carter ruined it. I saw the picture, you see. The one from Fright Night of you and him holding hands. Yes, you had a mask on, but I’d seen you earlier, and I knew it was you.” Another heavy sigh escaped him. “I almost thought Carter had managed to ruin things for himself, when the rumours started spreading about you with the football team, but it soon became clear to me that the two of you held some kind of infatuation with each other. That’s when I knew I had to take precautions, to show you how valuable I could be.”
“And…” I licked my dry lips, already knowing the answer to my question before I’d even asked it. “What did you do?”
“Nothing much. Just lifted the keys from my uncle, found the combination that Mrs. Whittall keeps locked in her desk drawer, and took the money from the cash box. There was no harm done—I replaced it afterwards, didn’t I?” A pleased expression stole across his face. “That was the first time you really confided in me, and it solidified my belief that we were perfect for each other.”
“But you—I. I paid you the money back.”
“It’s all here. I haven’t touched a penny of it.” He shifted on the bed, angling himself to face me. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
How was he even justifying his behaviour? My head was spinning.
“The money thing worked for a while, then at the party, I saw Carter kiss you. It was only a game, yet it was clear that there were still residual feelings. I couldn’t understand it. This was Carter Blackthorne. He belongs with silly, airhead girls, not with someone as special as you, Raine.” His grip on my hand tightened to the point of pain, and I hissed through my teeth. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because he continued talking. “I tried to get you alone at the party. I wanted to kiss you, so you could feel our connection. So you could replace his memory with mine. But you slipped away.”
There was no disguising my shocked gasp. “That was you in the mask? Up on the walkway?”
“Yes. All I wanted was to kiss you, and I knew that if I wore the mask I’d have more of a chance of getting close to you, knowing the way you reacted to Carter’s mask.” A disapproving note entered his voice as he continued. “You disappeared with Carter, again. So I did what I could. I managed to sneak a couple of photos, and I posted them to the gossip account, in the hope that it would make you realise that you didn’t want or need that kind of attention.” His mouth turned down. “It wasn’t me that sprayed that awful word on your locker, though, or put the picture on there. I’d never hurt you like that.”
I almost laughed. As if that made it any better.
He still wasn’t finished. Now he’d started telling the story, it seemed like he couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “It was Tina. Tina was the one who sprayed your locker and stuck the printout on there. Don’t worry, though, she got her punishment.”
>
“Punishment?” I echoed, bile rising in my throat.
“Don’t look so worried.” He gave a light laugh. “I simply slashed all the tyres on her car. Oh, and I sneaked into the headmaster’s office after hours and altered a couple of her grades. Nothing major.”
“Oh.” It was the only reply I could give him, when he was looking at me so expectantly.
He didn’t seem to notice my lack of response, or if he did, he didn’t comment on it. “I must admit, when I saw the photograph of you with Cassius Drummond, I was concerned, but I concluded that he wouldn’t be interested in someone like us. We…we’re not supposed to be with the popular people, the bland, good-looking ones with their empty lives, who live to crush people like us underfoot. That’s why I was so surprised by Carter’s actions today at the football match.” Finally, he released my grip, and he slid off the bed, pacing up and down. “I…I’ve had the sedatives for a little while now. They were only supposed to be a precaution. I’m so sorry I used them on you, Raine. Do you forgive me? Do you understand that I had no choice? I had to get you away from Carter.”
“Y-yes,” I managed to choke out.
His expression smoothed, and then he pounced, dragging me down the bed and throwing his weight across my body. Although he was much smaller than Carter, he managed to pin me, despite me trying to buck him off. My muscles felt so heavy. It was like they were refusing to work properly. Maybe it was the after-effects of the sedative, I didn’t know. I froze as he lowered his head to mine. It didn’t escape me that Carter had pinned me so many times, and yet, I’d always responded in pleasure, even when I hadn’t wanted to. Now, all I felt was fear and revulsion.
“I’d planned to wait, to let you come to me, to choose me, but Carter gave me no choice.” Dylan’s mouth hovered over my cheek, and bile rose in my throat as he brushed his lips over my skin.
His hand went to the button of my jeans, and that was it. I would not let him do this. My mind raced. Maybe there was a way I could reason with him. “Dyl?” My voice was a soft whisper. I let my hand run up his arm, hoping he couldn’t feel me shake. “Not like this. We need to wipe away all the memories of Carter.”
He stiffened above me, and then he spoke. “What do you mean?” There was a note of intrigue in his voice, and I blew out a heavy breath, psyching myself up for the performance of my life.
“Well, what if we replace all of his memories with memories of our own? Carter loved chasing me…would you like that, too? Would you like to catch me all for yourself?”
His breath hitched, and he pressed into me. I bit down on my lip so hard that I tasted blood, lying completely still. After the longest moment of my life, he replied with one word that sparked a tiny ember of hope inside me. “Yes.”
39
We parked a little way away from Dylan’s house, not wanting to alert him to our presence. “Masks.” I hissed the word, grabbing a handful of our LED masks from the boot. “If there are cameras around, we don’t want to be recognised.” My voice lowered. “Take precautions and stay safe.” Everyone put on a mask without protest, keeping the lights switched off this time, and we headed towards Dylan’s house, keeping to the shadows as much as we could. Attempting to keep my mind clear was a losing battle, but I focused on the task at hand. The only task—getting Raine out of there as quickly and safely as I could.
The house was just as it had looked on Google Street View—a sprawling bungalow, with unnecessary ornate pillars and faux-Grecian sculptures draped over the outside. According to Dylan’s records, he lived with his grandmother. There seemed to be a distinct lack of security around the property, other than a couple of outdoor lights with motion sensors. Peering in the front window, I could see an elderly woman, who must be the grandmother, sitting in a rocking chair, the TV cranked so high that I was able to make out all the dialogue from the show she was watching. We moved down the side of the house in a line, slipping through the night like shadows, avoiding the range of the motion-sensor lights which seemed to only be focused on the doors.
Reaching the back of the house, I stopped dead, a combination of rage and fear so all-encompassing filling me that everything else faded into nothingness, and I saw red.