Page 79 of The Oath We Give

“That’s between you”—Rook points in her direction before jerking his thumb at me—“and the silent one.”

The couples around us began to disperse, prepping before the girls spread out to hide. Coraline takes a step closer to me, standing just inches from where I rest against the hood of my car.

Her eyes are dark, the kind of dark that looks inviting. Lures you in.

“Was starting to think you weren’t going to show.”

“I wasn’t.” She rolls her lips together, a blush tinting her cheeks. “But then I remembered hearing about all the infamous games you four played in high school. The teenager in me wouldn’t let me say no to a chance of living out a fantasy I had of being invited.”

My eyes squint a bit as I tilt my head, biting the inside of my cheek with amusement.

“You have a crush on one of the nightmarish Hollow Boys in high school, Hex?”

Her eyes roll, but the blush on her face remains. I was just teasing, but something tells me I might just be on the money with my guess.

“You wish,” she scoffs, playing it off. “So what do I get when I win?”

I push off my car, taking another step forward, and look down my nose at her with my hands tucked into my pockets. Everything about her is small compared to me.

“What do you want?” My voice is a gruff grunt, huskier than normal.

Coraline hums in the back of her throat, debating her options. I glance down at her hands, fingertips tinted blue, stained from paint.

She fixes her gaze on me, eyes determined.

“You have to tell me a secret,” she says finally, sure of herself in her words. “Something no one else knows about you.”

The howling wind carries all the whispered truths I’ve never said aloud. A thought passes through my mind without my consent.

Would you believe me?

Do I have enough faith that if I told her, she’d trust my words without physical proof? Or would she be just like everyone else, placed inside a box in my life, a box that’s just beyond my reach but I can never touch.

“And when I win?” I ask.

“If,” she points out, slitting her eyes at me with a challenge. “I’ll give you the same in return.”

She says that likes it’s enough. Like one secret of hers is all I want from her.

“Timer starts in one minute!” Lyra shouts from where she stands.

I turn my upper body, grabbing the mask that rests on the hood of my car and holding it in one hand as I shake my head.

“Nah,” I mutter, determination setting in. “I don’t want one secret from you, Hex. I want them all.”

I slip the black balaclava over my face, leaving only my eyes visible. She’s about to speak again, ready to argue, but I lean in closer, my mouth right next to her ear, the smell of lavender in her hair.

Her body shivers under my touch, making me smirk behind the thin fabric that covers my face.

“WhenI find you, not if, I’ll let you know what I want,” I whisper, dragging my mouth across the shell of her ear. “Start running.”

* * *

CORALINE

Hollow Heights University is a creep show during the day, plucked straight from the pages of a Victorian ghost story.

When the sun sets? It’s a nightmare.