Haunted Destiny: A Midnight Dragonfly Bonus Short Story by Ellie James Read Free Book Online Page B

Recoiling, I sat frozen, once again in the unsettling room with the dirty walls and grimy windows, the cell phone discarded in the corner, the girl on the bed…the dark tangled hair.
    Not me, I finally realized. Not me.
    Jessica.
    And finally, the scream burned my throat.
    Immediately something whooshed to my right, and the darkness let go. This time the stab of light did not come from the confused corners of my mind.
    “ Jesus —Trinity.”
    “Pitre…” I managed, but the sound that crawled from my throat was no more than a whisper.
    Flashlight in hand, he lunged inside what looked like a large closet and reached for me. “What the hell—”
    The instant his hand touched mine, he looked like he wanted to hit someone. To hurt them. Bad. “ Je sus—you’re like ice.”
    I fumbled for words. “… bad place .” With a gentleness totally at odds with the rough-around-the-edges veneer, he helped me to my feet.
    But around me, everything kept right on shifting.
    “Easy,” he muttered, stepping beyond me, toward the walls of shelves that had not been there before. They hadn’t. I was sure of it. All the while he didn’t let go, kept his hand curled around my wrist.
    Then he blew my mind. Slipping his hand under the fourth shelf from the bottom, he pushed something, and the shelves creaked open, revealing the vat of darkness beyond.
    My heart slammed, hard. “ Omigod… ”
    “Come on!” He jerked his flashlight from me to illuminate the staircase we’d used on the way up. “Let’s get out of here.”
    My mind struggled to process everything. The staircase was secret, hidden. The heavy door must have closed after Chase ran through it, accidentally trapping me…
    My legs felt like rubber, but I made it to the kitchen. With the muggy night air rushing me, the stench of mud welcomed. Never letting go, Pitre led me to the gaping room where we’d started, where broken windows stood like the most amazing welcoming committee in the world. I scrambled through to the backyard, where Spanish moss swayed with the breeze—and three girls stood watching.
    I stopped.
    “ Jessica. ” She looked…fine. “What—”
    She and Amber beamed—Bethany looked away.
    And in that fractured moment, another kind of flash went through me, uglier than before. And I knew. I understood.
    The dare Amber had given her friend hadn’t been for Jessica at all. It had been mine. She and Amber had planned everything, long before we’d reached the awful mansion. They’d goaded me, played me, gotten me to give them my flashlight. When Jessica screamed, everyone had run, taking their lights with them. Leaving me alone.
    They’d closed the door to the secret staircase. They’d waited until I was inside the fake closet.
    They’d shut me in.
    They’d been on the other side, waiting, knowing I was inside. In the dark. That I was scared…
    “Trinity!”
    Something dark and vicious took control of me. I spun toward Chase’s voice, found him emerging through the gaping darkness. “You’re okay!” he said, vaulting through the window.
    I didn’t wait for him to reach me. I charged him, catching him off guard as I slammed my hands against his chest. “You knew!”
    The others I could understand. But him…
    “Easy,” he said, reaching for my hands.
    I twisted back from him, hating the tightness in my chest. “Game over,” I whispered.
    He went so very still, looking beyond me to where his girlfriend stood like a vision of saintliness. “No—” he muttered.
    “Liar!”
    He shook his head, eyes darker than usual. “No, I swear!”
    “Bullshit!” My hands were tight fists. I wanted to hit him. “You pretended to be my friend! You pretended I could trust you!”
    That he was different… special .
    “Trinity.” His voice was softer now, lower. “This isn’t what it looks like. You have to—”
    “I don’t have to do anything.” Except leave. I very much had to do that.
    “Let me explain—”
    “What, you think I’m an