Page 131 of Trapped With You

Veni, Vidi, Mortuswas the last saying we saw as we enteredthe crypt.

I came, I saw, I died.

A morbid spin on Julius Caesar’s famous proverb.

I lowered Ella to her feet and inhaled a few breaths to recenter myself. Ella wobbled and I grabbed her elbow to steady her. “You okay?”

“Barely,” she panted. “Something is really fucking wrong with this place.”

“I think we’re the only people left in the school.” We hadn’t seen any Initiators in over two hours. Initiation Night was supposed to be complete by 3:00 a.m. and now we were pushing the 4:00 a.m. mark.

“And now we’re being chased by a spirit like it’s ghost fucking busters!”

“Don’t cuss, Ella. We’re among saints.” I canted my head to the far right, where the graves of Sister Victoria and the other nuns lay to rest. A sole light hung from the ceiling, casting an eerie glow over the coffins on the ground.

“Please.” She rolled her eyes and walked further into the crypt. “Like we haven’t done worse, blasphemous things in the presence of saints.”

Touché. There was that time we snuck to the crypt a few months ago and…screwed in the confessional. Easily one of the hottest fucks of my life. I’d gotten down on my knees to show her how I worshipped and she’d creamed my face in blessing. Then I completed the service by pounding into her body six ways to Sunday. Sacrilegious of us, but we never claimed to be perfect.

The crypt hadn’t been renovated since St. Victoria’s olden days. It was probably one of the few places in the establishment that never lost its horrifying, unsettling charm.

This place was supposed to be a sanctuary, yet it felt like the devil’s lair.

I followed Ella as she paused in front of the graves, tensionradiating from every line in her body. “Cade…”

“What is it?”

“The crowns.” She gulped. “They’re here.”

I froze, staring where she pointed.

Two gold crowns, encrusted with blue stones, were poised over Sister Victoria’s coffin, gleaming under the light like ceremonial relics.

“There’s no one left in the school and the crowns are still here.”

I grimaced. “That means nobody won.”

Ella shook her head. “None of this makes any sense.”

Something went awry during the competition and we had no means of communicating with the outside world. Everyone had vanished and we were stuck here, hallucinating an apparition.

Foreboding ticked into my system like a swinging pendulum. “Ella, I think we should—”

A creak resonated and Ella nearly squeaked before I clamped a hand over her mouth. Above us, another call for our name resonated and then heavy footsteps started descending the stairs.

Panicked, I grabbed Ella and dragged her to the confessional booth tucked in the corner of the crypt. I shoved us in and closed the curtain behind us so we remained hidden. I brought my finger to my lips in a ‘be quiet’ sign and turned off her flashlight.

Our breaths mingled with how close we stood. The baseball bat was stamped between our fronts. I could sense her fear and she could sense mine. Wordlessly, we wrapped our arms around each other, embracing the way we had a thousand times.

Only this one felt more monumental.

Was this the surge of life before death?

“Cadellaaaa. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

We both perked up. I could feel Ella’s skeptical expression in the dark. “I…I don’t think it’s a demon anymore.”

That taunting voice sounded too human. I gritted my teeth. “I don’t think so either.”