Page 61 of Vying Girls

But instead, cold rushes in as his weight disappears, an alien orange light filtering through my eyelids.

I open them the same moment Damien hits the floor. Blakely stands above him, grinning like a psycho.

‘Baby goth was right.’ She kicks him in the ribs, making him cough. ‘You did just come here to cause trouble.’

Behind her is another figure, mask still up, brandishing a torch. The curious animal with her confirms to me it’s Fina. She picks up my phone and hands it to me. Then she gestures me away from Damien.

‘Might let this puppy here rip you a new one.’ Blakely pushes him back down when he tries to rise. ‘Does like her raw food. Only the best for these wolves. Though, I’m thinking you might just poison her.’

‘Get the fuck off me, bitch. This is a family matter. Fucking hell, do you know who I am?!’

‘Do you know whoweare?’ she counters, pushing him into the wall. ‘We can make you disappear so fucking quickly, you wouldn’t even know.Do you know who I am?’She scoffs. ‘Real original, fucktard.’

They fall into a standoff as I watch from my place next to Fina. Mora’s sniffing at my legs, determining if I’m some kind of threat, and the torch fire is so warm, so soothing. I envision taking it from her, thrusting it into Damien’s face.

Before I can do anything of the sort, Blakely lunges and twists Damien into a hold he can’t escape from. Bastard’s trying though. There’s spittle flying from his mouth, teeth bared as he fights. In the firelight, he’s a diabolical thing. He catches my eyes, the threat in them so stark I almost stagger back.

‘Come on, fucker.’ Blakely’s still grinning, like she’s enjoying every moment of this. ‘Time to take a little boat ride.’

I move backwards as they struggle past.

‘Yo, Nic,’ Blakely calls back. ‘Your little girl’s up there. Better go find her before she comes find you.’

They disappear into the dark. Fina leads me a different way, the way I came. Fuck knows where Blakely’s going with Damien. I’m too numb to care.

My legs begin to shake when I spot signs of the dying daylight. There’s a figure huddled against the wall. Tilda jumps up when she sees us, my hockey stuff in a pile with hers.

‘He won’t be back,’ Fina says, then leaves me alone with my other demon.

Tilda

‘Was that a wolf?’

I watch the retreating creature, unable to believe the size of it. Holy shit. So they do exist. Didn’t even know you could get black ones. It looks like a literal hound from hell.

Tearing my eyes away, I look Nic over. ‘Are you okay? Blakely said that Damien—’

She stalks past me into the wind. It’s been raining for a while now. Far too close to the edge for my comfort, she gulps in the wet, cold air, looking formidable in that cloak.

‘How would you even know that?’ she all but groans.

I join her at the cliff edge, peeking down at the black, frothing waters. Without drawing her eye, I take a hold of the black fabric of her cloak. ‘I spoke to Tommy.’

She tosses her head, clearly upset with that. Tearing herself from my grasp, she grabs her stuff from the mouth of the tunnel, throwing mine at me too.

I hold my breath as she approaches the ledge. I’ve no doubt she’s as agile as me, but she’s in a state right now, wild energy billowing from her in waves.

She turns to face me. ‘You first.’

‘Why?’

She doesn’t answer, just waits.

If it was Elly or Haz, I would think they were being chivalrous. I have no idea what Nic’s game is.

Readjusting my hockey stick, I step onto the ledge, hands reaching for the holds. My feet are so cold they’re numb. I stamp them a couple of times. This suddenly seems a lot more precarious than it first had.

I shuffle across slowly, too slowly for Nic who’s already pushing into my side, both now sharing a handhold.