Air rushes from the room in a violent jolt. I gasp out a cry as my limbs go heavy and numb. I drop his hand, practically throwing it back at him as the images continue shrieking through my head. My eyes lift to his in horror and… God, I need something, anything, but all I can see is that room, and the screams, and the table, and I have no idea what to do with it as adrenaline gushes through me.
I’m shaking when I step back. “I’m sorry. I… You…”
He doesn’t move, those hypnotic eyes searing into me. I’ve seen them not-angry, not-amused. I’ve seen them shattered.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asks.
I barely hear him, my voice a whisper when it finally comes out. “Why do you let them hate you? Why don’t you tell them the truth? About the room?”
And there it is: Naked fear. His mask slips beneath the horror of a question he shouldn’t understand. But he does. He fucking does.
“Daniel, wait!” I cry as he storms for the door.
“Stay away from me,” he spits back.
“Don’t leave!”
“Stay away!”
“We have to—”
We have to nothing because he’s gone.
My heart hammers in my ears as I stand frozen, the vision pounding through my skull in a merciless loop. I don’t know what I saw, only that I’ve stumbled on a landmine. Maybe it’s dormant. Maybe I’ve triggered a massive explosion. By his reaction, I suspect both our worlds just collided in a furious vortex I can’t begin to understand. Or undo.
Madison Academy has a room that wasn’t on my tour. I don’t like it, but I can shrug off things like secret rooms and scary basements. No, it’s the image of Daniel strapped to a table and screaming inside it while our director observed with a calculated stare that’s left me paralyzed.
They want me to fear my troubled roommate.
What if I should fear everyone else instead?
Chapter 2: Outcast
I can’t erase Daniel’s muted cries from my head after his retreat. How the hell does he disguise a truth like that? Even more disturbing is why. I don’t know how much time passes after I collapse in one of the giant leather chairs, but Ben and Laura’s return feels too soon and not soon enough.
“Damn, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Laura says when I force my gaze toward them.
“I met Daniel while you were gone.”
Ben releases a heavy breath and drops to the couch. “Ah, then you kind of did. Sorry about that. He hasn’t been around for days. It looks like he did some damage.”
I sink my fingers into the armrests. “What do you really know about him?”
“All we want to know,” Laura mutters, lowering herself beside Ben. “Trust me, that boy’s secrets have secrets and none of them are good.”
“But you must know something,” I say, leaning forward. They have to. You can’t hide secrets like that. At least, you shouldn’t be able to.
“We know he does a ton of drugs, despises everyone, and is always getting into fights. That’s enough for me.”
What if it’s not enough for me? My eyes trace a pattern in the antique rug as I try to sort through everything that just happened.
Ben straightens in his seat, drawing my gaze. “You saw something with your vision things, didn’t you? That’s where this is coming from. What was it? Let me guess, he also cooks meth in the basement?”
I have trouble mustering the expected smile at the joke. The basement… could there be a room down there they don’t know about?
“Tell us,” Laura says, hands clasped, elbows on her knees. Funny how she hasn’t shown a shred of interest in me until I became linked to Daniel. What did Shakespeare say about over-protesting? I study her intense, eager expression.
“I didn’t see anything,” I lie. “It only works if I touch someone. Do you really think I touched him?”
