Faith Heights

Chapter 30

I headed to my last class with an armful of the new Literature books when I was tugged sharply around a corner. Books and loose notes tumbled from my arms onto the floor, making a clutter that echoed through the near-empty corridor.

I looked up, surprised to see a teary-eyed Rhea glaring at me.

"What is going on?" She begged, her voice cracking.

I scrambled to pick up the books. "Uh, I thought I was heading to Literature class." She clearly had something else in mind.

"I want an explanation." She demanded.

"What do you mean?"

She scowled. "You know exactly what I mean! Lila, I lived in a household full of secrets and gossip for seventeen years. I can spot a liar a mile away. I know you're hiding something." Tears trickled from her emerald eyes, and my heart cracked at the sight. 

She beseeched, "Please, I can't stand this. Everyone's either getting kicked out, or becoming a pod person, like you and Lisa. Why?"

There was no point denying the truths she'd surmised; it would just be an insult to Rhea's intelligence. Her face looked so stricken- and it was exactly why I'd been avoiding her. Lisa and another boy passed their final tests in an assembly a few days ago, and now there were only seven scholarship students left in the dark. Rhea, Alanah, another girl, and four boys. They must have been utterly terrified for what was coming next.

I stuttered. "I can't tell you. I wish that I could. But- you wouldn't believe me."

She grasped my hand, her eyes somehow growing even wider under her dark lashes. "Of course I would. You believed me when I told you that I saw a monster in the forest that night. Just give me the chance to trust you in the same way."

I pulled away from her grip, unable to speak. When I turned back down the corridor, she continued, following me.

"I know that something weird is going on in this school. That much has always been clear, from the howling and those gym rooms... But you were always there with me, on the outside, so I didn't mind. But now..." She gestured me up and down. "Your dorm door is always locked, and none of the other scholarship students will even talk to me or the others anymore. Lydia always speaks to us in this grave tone, like it's the last time she's ever going to see us. Even Jackson is acting stranger than usual... We haven't talked since that night they threw us in the river." Her cheeks blushed at the memory, but she quickly shook herself out of the colouring. "And who is Lucas? He's obviously the guest you were instructed to show around, but there's more to it than that, isn't there? Not just the way you act around him, but everyone. It's as if... he's some sort of royalty."

She had no idea how close she was to the truth. Lucas had visited the school a few times after classes, and most of the time we were content to simply hang out around the school grounds. It was a little amusing; he was acting like any other high school boyfriend, even though everyone treated him like a god.

I had to bite my tongue. "I promise, everything will be explained soon. I just can't be the one to do it. It's against the rules." 

What a hypocrite I was, to say such a thing after Jackson divulged all his secrets to me. But he'd refused to include Rhea- and now it was clear that his feelings had played some part in that, whether it was to keep her around, unfrightened, or to hold her at a safe distance.

Either way, Jackson had told me that Rhea was meant to meet her soulmate in a few days, at another assembly. I couldn't do anything to risk compromising that.

She didn't try to follow me again as I hurried from the hall, refusing to let tears spill over into my eyes, too.