Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter 1

Alyssa

I heard them before I saw them, but by then, it was too late.

Cutting out of the study hall early for the first time was easy. I waited until a group I didn't know was leaving, then followed them as they left the library. Miss Carmichael, the college student completing her final practicum before becoming a real teacher, was too engrossed with texting her fiancé from her perch on a stool behind the checkout counter to notice us slip past.

In the hallway, I broke from the group, worried the noise they made would get us caught.

The faint aroma of dry-erase markers and stale cafeteria lunches enveloped me, absurdly heightening the suspense. My heart raced as if I were plotting a master escape instead of skipping the last half of Friday's final class of the day.

Sprinting around the last corner, I crashed through the back door, jumping as it clanged shut behind me.

Outside, I blinked stars from my vision, ignoring the headiness of snow mold on the ground.

After being grounded for a week--for skipping class--the first day of the weekend marked freedom. Not even the chill from the not-so-warming breeze could ruin my mood.

Spring was here, the smiling sun clearing the path to the trees beyond the sports fields behind Royal Academy School.

I hurried across the damp, ankle-deep grass that hadn't been cut yet.

The open greens behind the school stretched to fit two football fields, with a running track coiling around them like a figure eight. Beyond the field, the dense woods rose as a natural barrier between our school and Elixir High. Barely a kilometer deep, but thick enough to swallow me whole, it held the treehouse refuge I escaped to with every opportunity I had.

There, I remained hidden.

Secluded.

I ran faster, the strap of my bag digging into my shoulders until they throbbed. The lawn brushing my ankles thinned to brittle brown patches, the ground turning muddy and rock-strewn. Just another hundred meters and I'd be in the shadows, invisible to the world, reading the conclusion of my favorite series.

I could almost feel the rough bark of the treehouse ladder beneath my hands.

"Hey!" a guy's voice rang out behind me.

I peered over my shoulder, then snapped my gaze forward again, eyes glued to the ground as I picked up my speed.

"Oh, she thinks she's better than us!" a girl's voice sang. "She's a royal bitch, just like the rest of these private school losers."

The group laughed, a single cackle from one of the girls rising above the cacophony of the rest. I bent my head, picking up my pace.

Were they following me?

Why were Elixir High School students coming from Royal Academy? Had they cut through the woods and doubled back? I'd been so eager to leave that I didn't notice anything above the noise I made. Watching to ensure nobody from within the school noticed me, I hadn't thought to check for anyone else outside.

Now their footsteps pounded in rhythm with my pulse. Each unsynchronized thud against the earth echoed beneath me, as though the ground itself was hollow.

They blocked my way back to Royal Academy, leaving only one direction to flee: forward, into the woods. Every other direction held a barrier.

Just ignore them.

Keep walking.

They'll go away.

I knew better, even as I thought it. There would be no ignoring this bunch. Maybe if I weren't alone... No. Everything about them screamed trouble. Probably the reason their school forced kids to join the new delinquent outreach thingamajig.