Total pages in book: 186
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
“We’re really doing The Hunt this year,” Nick’s voice broke through my reverie with a grim edge of amusement as he stared out across the quarry with the rest of us.
“Yep,” Cade replied simply.
“We’ve been ready for this,” Rook added.
That was true. We’d known about The Hunt for years. You couldn’t grow up in Hemlock Heights and not hear about it. Most people didn’t pay attention to the stories buried in its bones, the rules, the whispers, the names that disappeared without a trace. It was never meant to get bloody, at least not in the open.
And this year, we were in it.
So were the girls we loved, thrown into a gauntlet meant to break the weak and test the rest. It was hyped as some big tradition, but at the end of the day, it was still a game. We might as well enjoy ourselves while we played.
I glanced back at the Genesis and jerked my chin toward it. “Let’s clean this up and head home. I’m ready to get some sleep.”
We turned and moved as one, the night stretching wide and silent around us.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SANJANA
I blinked, disoriented, as my alarm blared from the nightstand, drilling straight into my skull like some twisted form of punishment.
“Shit,” I rasped, reaching for my phone to shut it up.
There was sunlight streaming through the window. That meant I’d already slept through the first two alarms I had set last night. I couldn’t fall asleep and came up with a vague plan to study before school. So much for that. This is what I got for being a procrastination queen. I groaned and shifted under the covers.
As I lay there, my thoughts drifted back to the night before—the car that had followed us, the dead crow tied to the rock that shattered my bathroom window, and that awful, taunting note. I was not looking forward to the day knowing I’d been guaranteed a slot in the freaking Hunt. There wasn’t much I could do about it, though. I stretched, arms overhead, wishing I could just stay in bed where everything still felt soft and warm. The house was quiet, and I wondered if everyone was gone, including Layla, since the other side of the bed was cool and empty.
It was probably best I got my ass in gear to somewhat uphold the promise of leaving right after them. I was surprised they hadn’t woken me up before leaving. With a tired yawn, I rolled onto my side and reached for my phone. The screen flared to life, way too bright for my barely functioning eyes.
I squinted, scrolling through notifications until one name made my stomach do that stupid thing it always did.
The first message came in well after midnight in response to me telling him goodnight.
He was probably up gaming or finishing an assignment. Ryder wasn’t exactly the king to my queen when it came to procrastinating. If it wasn’t either of those things, then he might’ve gone on a drive like he initially planned. I’d gone with him on those late-night excursions before. They were quiet and calming, a way to breathe again when everything else felt like too much. I hated that he likely needed one because of me.
Rye 🥖❤️
Goodnight, my gorgeous girl.
It wasn’t much. Three simple words that barely formed a sentence. Nonetheless, they gave me all the warm and fuzzies. His next text had come just a little while ago, telling me good morning, and the last came twenty minutes before my last alarm was supposed to go off.
Rye 🥖❤️
You overslept, didn’t you?
I smiled and texted back.
No 🙈
I debated telling him about this Hunt business now before the girls and I told everyone else. It wouldn’t take much for him to discover I was indeed Marked if he was still on the whole, I had no Huntsman thing. Soon enough, the entire campus would know. But that would mean telling him about the bird thrown through my bathroom window. I would let him know about it eventually, but that was a matter of sooner versus later, and the Marked discussion was most important. I scrolled through the rest of my notifications and spotted one from Arianna.
Ari
If you wake up and we’re not home, we didn’t leave you alone. Layla said she’d wake you and ride out with you. We decided to alter your plan a bit.
Don’t be mad. :)
Layla? Unless she’d tiptoed out like a cat burglar, she’d been gone just as long as the others. I wondered if she was still stewing about last night. If she was feeling some kind of way, why offer to wake me up? More importantly, how the hell did she get to campus without a car? I texted Ari a quick I’m up, then messaged Layla asking where she was before I popped into the thread with Ashton. He’d sent something around six in the morning.