School of the Crown Assassins

12

"We just prevented a possible rebellion and get a dead body as a thank you card," Damien sighed as he dramatically flopped into the couch.

Nydia pulled out a cookie from behind the kitchen counter. "Must be Tuesday then."

Knox squeezed himself onto the very edge of the couch that wasn't occupied by a sprawled out Damien. Xavier leaned against the glass balcony railing of the Alpha suite, facing in as he inspected all of us from a distance, though his eyes seemed to be looking at something far off. Arielle was poised in one of the many armchairs, staring at the sharp edges of her blades, twirling between her fingers.

My first instinct was to sit on the spiraling stairs, but I would be positioning myself away from most of the other Alphas, acting more like the outsider that I am. As much as I loved being outside of the Crown's poisonous attention, I needed to be close enough to find their secrets. Swallowing all thoughts of comfort, I slid into an armchair across from Arielle. Her eyes flicked up for a second before turning her attention back to her blades. It was progress, as slow as it may have been, but at what cost?

The hierarchy will fall.

Those had been the words written in blood along the walls of the main room that had ceased to reverberate in my ears. It didn't take a genius to figure out who the hierarchy refers to. If that was the case, whoever was behind the murders wants to kill the Crowns and maybe even the rest of the Alphas, which now included me.

But it was the nature of the words that chilled me to the bone. The killer wants to get revenge or justice on the Crowns for the numerous crimes they had committed, a purpose that wasn't far from my own goal. The only difference is I don't want to kill, but how long until I break? The thoughts of murder had already planted their seeds in my mind and started to sprout while I was in Cressida. How much more could my mind resist before I wanted to kill them? Before I turned into one of them?

Nydia placed a glass of hot chocolate in front of me, pulling me out of my thoughts, before kneeing Damien in the side until he made room for her on the couch. He eyed the glass she sipped from that was covered in mounds of whipped cream and syrup, extra chocolate chips dotting the top.

"How do you drink so much sugar?"

"By swallowing," she answered before casting a glance at the clock. "How long is it gonna take for him to come? It's already been an hour."

As if on cue, the main doors of the Alpha suite slammed open and Principle Cartwright strolled in followed by two guards. I forced myself to hide any of the resentment that was threatening to show on my face. I had been hanging out with people I despised far too long today.

Just a few more minutes. Then you can finally take a break.

Principal Cartwright sat in the last remaining armchair and the guards stood by the door, their faces blank. Xavier made his way back into the living room, leaning against a wall, though he neglected to close the door, letting the surprisingly warm winter breeze flow in. I took a sip of my hot chocolate before it got cold.

"Hello," Principal Cartwright said awkwardly. The bravado he usually carried when he addressed the mass of students was gone. We responded with only silence.

He cleared his throat and continued, "As you have seen in the main room, we've had a little incident. Rest assured, we're trying to get to the bottom of this, especially because of the threatening message written, but we still urge you six to be-"

"Forget all that," Damien interrupted with a dismissive wave. "I want to know how the hell someone dragged a body up a twenty-foot sculpture then played wall decorator and got away with it."