Obscure

thirty seven

THE HEADMASTER WALKED her to the massive door to her dorm. He dipped his head and smiled softly at her. It was almost like he was trying to comfort her. "I know it's a lot to take in, my dear. You've done very well so far. Just get some good rest."

Sophie stared at the ground, unsure about how to respond. She was still attempting to work through the idea that Wolfe was about to be locked up for a crime that she was certain he had nothing to do with.

Headmaster nodded a bit. "And rest assured, you definitely have a spot reserved for you in the Night Class. I had planned for you to be wisked away after the games, but I want you to take a few days off to recover."

"What do you mean?" Her stomach twisted with dread. She lifted her head, her gaze focusing on his face. "The games weren't supposed to end yet, so it's not like I won."

"That doesn't matter," the Headmaster said. He stared at her patiently. "Your performance in the first game has thoroughly impressed me, and I have set aside your spot. You would have won anyways."

That made Sophie pause. Her eyes widened as Eli's words replayed in her mind. He had tried to hint that he wasn't the only one messing with her scores.

"I see," she said. She forced her muscles to relax, despite the warnings screaming inside her head. "What will happen?"

Headmaster smiled. "Whenever you feel ready, you will be taken to the Night Class dorms. Several more tests will be done, and then you will be allowed to join the actual classes. In the classes, you'll learn important aspects about being a vampire, like how to hunt."

She stared at him, hollow inside. "Are you a vampire?"

"Of course," he answered simply. "Someone had to teach the next generation of fledglings."

That made her stomach twist.

Sophie forced herself to nod. "I think I'll go get some rest now," she heard herself say distantly. She reached out for the door and turned the knob.

The Headmaster nodded. "Feel better, my dear."

She shut the door behind her and almost collapsed. A shaky sigh escaped her lips. She closed her eyes and listened. The dorm room was silent, which meant Margret had already returned to her original dorm room. That made her feel better. She wasn't looking forward to having to deal with Margret.

Walking toward the fridge, Sophie rummaged through it and pulled out an apple. She hadn't eaten since the incident and her stomach hated her for it. The organ flipped and flopped just at the sight of food.

She sat at the kitchen table and nibbled absently on the apple. It was hard for her to even take a solid bite. As she sat, her thoughts drifted. The memory of Eli making her spaghetti played out across her mind, and she started to cry.

The tears fell harder. She discarded her hardly touched apple and wiped at her eyes. Her eyes already burned something fierce from the abundance of crying.

When she finally ran out of tears, Sophie stood and tossed her apple into the trash. She stalked toward the bedroom area, intent on a nice nap.

As she rounded the corner, her heart stopped. Her entire body froze and her hand clasped tight around the door frame so she wouldn't fall. Her lungs seemed to stop working; she couldn't breathe.

"What are you doing here, Aubrey?"

Said blond stood near the corner of the room, just beside Sophie's bed. Aubrey held Sophie's beloved plush Naruto in her hands. "I came to talk to you about my brother," she said. Her voice sounded wrong.

Sophie's grasp tightened on the door frame. She swallowed thickly and glanced around. Aubrey was completely alone, with no friends to help her bury Sophie's body.

Aubrey stroked Naruto's felt hair. "He liked you, you know," she said. "Like really liked you. The second I knew that Headmaster planned to have you in the Night Class, Eli knew. He was so excited."

Sophie tried hard not to burst into tears again. "I really don't want to..."

Aubrey silenced her with a vicious look. "I'm not finished yet," she hissed.

The deranged look in her eyes made Sophie clamp her mouth shut. Tears bubbled at the corners of her eyes again, and threatened to spill. She chewed on her lower lip as Aubrey stalked around the corner of the bed.

"He really liked you," she continued as if Sophie hadn't even spoken. "I warned him against you. I read your file before you got here. Trouble just seems to follow you. First your mom abandoned you, then your father was quick to get rid of you. Something had to be wrong with you."

Then she started to laugh. She tossed the Naruto plush onto Sophie's bed and ran a hand through her hair. Sophie got a good look at the dark bruised bags beneath her eyes.

"And I was right," Aubrey said. Her voice cracked. "I did everything in my power to stop you. I tried to scare you away, even to kill you. I'm the one who broke that stupid rope on the first challenge."

Sophie's stomach dropped. She inched back, toward the kitchen area, toward the main door. Aubrey followed. She still laughed, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"But that only seemed to encourage him," she said. Her voice cracked again, and she whiped her eyes. "I watched him fall even more in love with you as you managed to get across that finish line."

Aubrey started to shake her head. Sophie continued to inch back into the kitchen, her heart starting to pound. She watched Aubrey wipe at her eyes again and sniffle.

She shrugged, and flipped her hand out slightly, as if she were in a normal conversation. "And then you killed him," she said. Her voice cracked into a thousand pieces. Her chest heaved around a severe sob. Her hand clenched into a tight fist and dropped to her side.

Aubrey snapped.

"You killed my brother!"

She screamed a mixture of curses and threats. Sophie flinched, her back slamming against the fridge. Panic surged through her; she had miscalculated her direction, and was now pinned within the kitchen. "It wasn't my fault," she said. Her own voice cracked in pain, and she struggled to keep it level. She swallowed and blinked back fresh tears. "I tried to stop him. I didn't kill him."

Aubrey lunged toward a decorative bowl on the counter. She chucked it at Sophie, screaming, "You killed him! You stupid bitch! You killed Eli!"

"I didn't kill him!" Sophie found herself screaming back. She easily dodged the bowl. "It wasn't my fault! I swear!"

"Liar!"

fun fact: Obscure had almost 300k reads when this chapter was posted! The highest any of my stories had earned at the time. Which reminds me, I can never say it enough, thank you for reading this book! ♡