RoseBlood(15)

Sunny diverts her gaze from the book and lays it back in the bag. “Oh, it was just ol’ Diable prowling around. He’s the resident tomcat. Bug ugly and feral as a fox. He looks like a walking SOS pad. The bells on his collar caused the jingles. And he likes to yowl. It can sound like a baby’s tantrum when he really gets going. Don’t even know why he stays since he won’t let no one touch him. He must’ve belonged to somebody once . . . his name’s written in jewels on his collar. The boys say he’s a ghost cat, due to how he sneaks into our rooms even when they’re locked.”

My eyes widen.

“Sorry,” she says, snorting again. “Being so far out in the country, this place can be creepy as a field of devil’s tongues. The graveyard out back don’t help. Some of us have even seen strange lights coming out of the abandoned chapel at night, but the school has bailiffs who stand guard outside the front and back entrances to enforce the eight o’clock in-house curfew. So there’s no sneaking out. But honestly, if anything is haunted, it’s the forest.” She says it as if it’s an afterthought, although her voice is ominous.

“Why do you say that?” I ask, not sure I want to hear anymore.

“Well, I don’t get out there much myself, so this is all hearsay.” She frowns. “I’m bad allergic to bee stings so the woods are off limits. My ma wouldn’t even let me come here without a year’s supply of EpiPens.” She shrugs. “Anyways, the boys roam out there sometimes. They’ve gone so far as the cottage. And they’ve seen things. Or I should say heard things . . . things that ain’t right.” A chagrined expression crosses her face. “I mean, aren’t right.”

“Like . . . ?”

“A field mouse that croaks like a toad, a lizard that squeals like a wild pig, a fox hooting like an owl. The guys get real inventive when they’re trying to scare us girls.”

My tongue feels dry again as I remember the mewling crow that I assumed I imagined.

Sunny seems to read the discomfort on my face, because she adjusts her tone. “Aw, just listen to me yammer on. Forget everything I said. They’re all made-up stories anyways. And I’m only one door over. Come pounding anytime you get scared.”

I mutter, “Thanks,” but I won’t be getting close to anyone while I’m here. There’s no way to pretend I’m even a little normal. Within a few weeks, I’ll have a reputation for stealing the limelight that will be impossible to live down, and no one will want to be my friend.

“About Katarina.” I wind my hair into a side braid, tying the ends in a knot. “Is she the kind to hold grudges?”

Draped in shadows again, Sunny digs around in her pocket then lifts out what looks like a cigarette. She touches it to her lips, sucks in a breath, and blows out. The end lights up in response, like an LED glow. “You bet she is. And not only did you show her up, you managed a ride in Jackson Reynolds’s arms. That’s more action than she’s seen in the year and a half she’s been prowling after him.”

Great. Could things get any worse? If only I could tell Katarina she has nothing to worry about. I’m not going to pursue something physical or romantic with anyone. Not after what happened back home with Ben. Just being carried down the stairs by this Jackson guy triggered enough of a reminder to stay true to that promise to myself. But there’s no way to bring up something that weird. “Okay . . . so, you’re saying I’ll be Kat’s new scratching post.”

“And unlike Diable, her claws are way worse than her hiss.”

I groan and scoot down, sliding into the pillows with a palm over my eyes. “How to make enemies in less than sixty seconds flat. I wrote the freaking book.”

Sunny chuckles. “Don’t worry. It wasn’t like you were auditioning for Renata’s role. Audrey is her only real competition. But no one’s ever been able to beat Kat out. I’d sure like to see that change.”

A caramel scent hovers over me, reminding me of my aunt when she stepped into my personal space earlier. I move my hand to find Sunny standing beside the bed with the cigarette perched on her lower lip. Her face is oval with dark freckles spattered across her nose and cheeks in the shape of a harlequin mask. In the low light, her eyes are a striking shade of bluish purple, and her features are elfin. She resembles some wild wood creature, dressed for a masquerade.

She takes another drag on her glowing stick. Her exhalation curls like condensation from a person’s mouth in freezing weather. It’s not a traditional cigarette. It’s an e-cig. She has it clamped in an elegant holder—a smaller version of the slender black one that Audrey Hepburn used in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

“Do they know you smoke?” At Mom’s insistence, I read the student handbook on the way here. Tobacco is a one-way ticket to expulsion and home. I’ve kept that little tidbit tucked away on the chance I want to get kicked out of this place. Now I know where I could get a supply. Although that would hurt Mom’s budding relationship with Aunt Charlotte, so it would have to be a very last resort.

“Nah. They’re oblivious. There’s no fire or smoke to give me away. It’s vaping. I’m practically exhaling water.” She hands the cylinder to me.

I run it under my nose, sniffing the sweet aroma, then hand it back.

“I’ve got an extra atomizer in my room,” Sunny says. “If you want one. I lifted the e-juice refills off your aunt. She orders them in bulk from some place online, so she never misses one or two. I kinda like the clove ones, but the chocolates are best. There weren’t any of those in her latest stash, though. Unless they’re hid behind the boxes of disposable contacts in her armoire. Speaking of, I hope those aren’t just for upcoming costume accessories. She needs to incorporate them into her style. Her glasses look like they’re from Ben Franklin’s special collection.”