Page 111 of The Darkest Note

“Which one?” Finn asks.

“Both of them. If they see we’re desperate, they’re going to give us the run-around on purpose.”

My brothers go quiet again.

I tap my fingers on the arm of the beach chair. Cadence’s eyes when she told me off tonight are burned into my head. I have no freaking clue when she started getting to me, but it’s in a different way than Redhead.

I willingly gave that pianist a piece of me. With Brahms, I didn’t want her to barge in. Didn’t ask for it. I’m fighting it with every breath in my body. Every muscle, every nerve. Every vein.

I slouch low in my seat. My brothers’ anxiety is feeding into my own. I hate that we don’t all agree about how to handle this. But I can’t let their fears or my own emotions shake me.

I owe my loyalty to Sol. His sadness was palpable that night. He got entangled in a situation that wasn’t his own doing and yet he took the rap for it. He’s the one suffering all the consequences.

I need to get him out of there.

No one is getting in the way of that. No matter how much I want her.

“We don’t have time to deliberate this,” I tell my brothers. “She needs to get a cold hard brush of reality. Quick.”

Finn gives me a sobering look.

I arch an eyebrow. “Are we in agreement?”

Zane glances at the ground.

Finn pulls his lips in.

“It doesn’t matter if we are.” I push to my feet. “I’ll handle it one way or another.”

Sympathy has no place in this war. My brothers might have fallen for Brahms’s spell, but if I’m the only one standing, so be it.

I’ll burn it all down to end this.

Even if I that means I have to burn myself down with her.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

CADENCE

A note slips out of my locker at school on Monday.

Meet me at the pool before first period.

It’s in a masculine scrawl and it’s signed simply ‘Dutch’.

I glance around, looking to see if he’s watching. Weird. Leaving a note in my locker isn’t usually Dutch’s style. He’d either text me or show up out of nowhere and cart me over his shoulder like a Neanderthal.

Pulling out my phone, I shoot him a text.

Why do you want to meet me at the pool?

There’s no response.

The smartest thing would be to totally ignore this message, but I have a feeling that if I do, whatever revenge Dutch is planning will be ten times bigger and ten times more public.

The school is already buzzing thanks to him dragging me up to the second floor at the party. I don’t even want to know what kind of rumors are going around about us now. Best to deal with him away from prying eyes so this madness ends quietly.

The pool is all the way on the opposite end of the school where the football field and gym are located. The hallway is empty when I pass by.