Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 178117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 712(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 712(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
He snorts. “You think I’m scared of a little cut?”
The fear coiling its way through my body turns me into a vicious girl. “I’ll fucking slice off your balls.”
“I’d love to see you try.”
Suddenly, he lunges at me, and I jump aside, rushing to the window. I pick up a wooden chair and chuck it at the window, but it does nothing. Fuck.
“You think you can escape me?” Felix taunts. “Oh no, the fun is only just getting started.”
“I’m not playing games with you,” I say, and I run to a different window in the bathroom, where I stick my knife into the lock and crack it open by force.
The mechanism budges, and I slide it up, then jump out right as his hand wraps around my cape, hanging me.
Choking, I cough and heave, frantically tugging at the wire around my neck. Finally, it comes loose, and I fall down onto the emergency escape stairs. Above me, Felix clutches my cape tightly, roaring out loud.
“You’re not getting away, Pen. Not this time.”
I run down the shoddy metal staircase as fast as possible while Felix’s head disappears from the window.
But I know it won’t be the last time I see him.
Adrenaline races through my body as I rush down the last few steps and jump off into the garden beyond the house. But the back door slams open loudly. And it isn’t only Felix casting a shadow in the bright lights behind him. Two others, one dressed in an all-black robe kept together by a rope with an eerie skull mask on, and another one wearing a black suit with a red tie and an Anubis wolf half-mask, the filthy grin underneath definitely belonging to Dylan.
It’s them.
“You’d better run fast,” Felix growls.
I don’t hesitate before I run like hell.
PENELOPE
Within seconds, I hear their footsteps behind me.
My breath picks up as I race down the pavement and squeeze through a narrow crack in the university walls, heading straight for Priory Forest far beyond the school grounds.
“There’s no place to hide from us!” Dylan yells, laughing like a crazed man on drugs.
He’s right. I’m not safe anywhere. Not in my room. Not in the university. Not anywhere.
My mind guides me toward the trees, hoping and praying I might get away.
I went looking for Nathan and found three serpents lurking in their den, waiting for some prey to enter their domain. And I did it, willingly, knowing I could cross their path and be swallowed whole.
Fuck.
I should’ve stayed away.
Too late.
They’re right behind me, chasing after me with grins on their faces.
This is a fucking nightmare come to life.
“Fuck yeah, run little whore, run as fast as you can!” Dylan roars, his Anubis wolf mask barely staying on.
I can’t believe this is happening. They’re fucking insane.
I have to get away, fast.
Past thick trees I bolt, jumping over stones and loose rubble lying in my way. No time for missteps, no time to glance over my shoulder.
But when I take one glimpse to my left, there’s a wolf in a mask with a glint in his smile chasing me.
“I’m gonna fucking catch you!” he roars, closing in on me.
I veer to the right, but Alistair is right there, bolting through the woods, his skull mask glowing in the moonlight. Every tree a mere flicker of darkness as they both corner me.
I’ve never felt fear like I’m feeling it tonight.
Suddenly, a hand wraps around my arm and pulls me down on my side, my ass bumping onto a rock. I shriek as Felix knocks me farther down and crawls on top of me. I claw at his chest and punch him, but he quickly grasps my wrists and pins them in the mud.
The look on Felix’s face is savage. “Mine.”
“What do you want?” I yell in his face. Even though he’s wearing that creepy LED mask, I know he can see me. “Let me go!”
Dylan and Alistair lean over me, their masks even more terrifying from down below.
“I told you we’d catch you,” Dylan says, tilting his head down to gaze at me.
“Nice outfit, Pen,” Alistair says, staring at me with black-painted eyes. “Makes me wonder who you’re going to suck this time.”
“Fuck off!” I spit, fighting off Felix, but he’s much stronger than I am.
I reach into my bag, searching for the knife.
“Hold her down,” Felix barks at his friends.
Alistair snatches my bag from my hand and throws it away. “You won’t need this.”
Then he and Dylan step on my arms until I howl with pain.
It hurts so bad, tears stain my eyes.
Felix roughly grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “Let me see those tears, Pen.” He leans in and his tongue dips out to lick the salty drops off my cheeks. “You look so fucking pretty when you cry.”
“You’re sick,” I hiss, pulling my head away.