Page 150 of Dark Little Game

And never in my fucking wildest dreams did I think I’d be going on a date with Hunter Knox by the start of fall break.

I make it past the edge of Onyx House gate and go past the quiet front of Luros House.

I’m almost past Luros House when I catch a glimpse of something.

It’s a bright, orange-red light coming from the far side of the Luros backyard.

Fire.

The pleasant scent isn’t coming from far off, apparently.

Someone’s got a little bonfire lit in the Luros House yard.

I thought all of the Luros girls had gone home for the break.

But there is someone back there in the yard, far off.

Briar.

I recognize her hair, shiny and black.

I stop walking for a moment as I overhear her voice.

She’s staring at the fire, facing away from me. The yard is wide, and I’m still in the front near a thick row of green hedges, but there’s a narrow arch cut into the greenery where I can see through to the back.

But I’m just close enough to overhear her voice.

I don’t intend to eavesdrop, but she’s alone, on the phone.

And I can’t help but catch something strange.

“We’ve got one,” she says as she adds more wood to the fire, prodding at it, making the flames leap high. “He’s ours now. Just need the other and we can end this.”

My heartbeat ticks up, and suddenly my skin breaks out in goosebumps. I watch her movements past the row of rose bushes that line the edge of the house.

What she’s saying is odd.

Even stranger ishowshe’s saying it.

Because Briar Zhang is new here, and I’ve only spoken to her in passing a couple of times on campus.

But…

Briar’s talking in a pitch-perfect British accent.

And Briar Zhangdoesn’t fucking have a British accent.

Hunter told me, one night after hanging out with her, that her family is from Hong Kong.

But he also said she’d been in boarding school in the U.S. since she was a young kid, and that’s why she speaks English just as fluently as we do.

In the sameaccentwe do.

Strange.

“It’ll be fast, and simple,” she says now, talking in the same accent the Queen had. “Bloody fucking cold here, isn’t it? Cannot wait until we’re back home.”

Something isn’t right.