Beyond the Veil

FIVE : Wicked Webs

SONG RECOMMENDATION: White Teeth Teens by Lorde

                         SATURDAY

Brookewell Academy rarely ever went on lockdown, and when they did, it was nearly always due to a medical emergency. Some poor allergy-prone sap who downed a bag of peanuts in the cafeteria, or an overachiever having a panic attack about finals in the hallway, or a pair of students who roughed each other up a bit during a fight in the courtyard. Ruby had read online that Brookewell was statistically the safest school in the entire state of North Carolina-- it was secluded, almost deliberately hidden, in the shadow of Mount Cowan. There was no reason for anyone to be on campus that shouldn't have been, but now, inexplicably, there was someone on campus that shouldn't have been, and as Ruby sat huddled in the corner of the painting classroom, she found herself wishing more and more that she'd brought her anxiety medication with her.

Rory didn't seem to be doing too much better. She had her knees pulled up to her chest, and was resting her head in her hands; her stormy gaze was glassy and unfocused, eyes trained on the linoleum floors. They were off-white, speckled with flecks of green. It reminded Ruby of the dentist-- she'd always hated the dentist.

She didn't have her phone. She'd left it charging on her bedside table that morning, positive that she wouldn't need it, and now she was mentally kicking herself. She couldn't call her mom, or the police, or Bree or Emily or anyone in Elmwood. As much as she'd tried to forget it over the past two days, it was home, too. What if she never got to see it again? What if they found Mara and she never got to see her again?

Her breathing was quickening, heart pounding against her chest like a caged animal, a frightened beast of a thing straining against her ribs. The familiar, hot swell of panic choked its way up her body, a hulking, dark creature that stole her breath and sent her mind to another place entirely-- a bleak, dark, spiraling void. Black spots were dotting her vision, ink blots stark against the sterile floor of the art room.

In that fleeting moment, Ruby wanted to go home.

Several minutes passed (she counted ten in total in her head) before the intercom came on again. According to a level-voiced Headmaster Park, it was all a false alarm-- she didn't give out any details about the nature of the misunderstanding, just gave them the all-clear and signed off with a static-y click.

As painting class resumed, Ruby's mind wandered. What was going on? She had the nagging suspicion that Headmaster Park was keeping something from them, despite her soothing facade, and Ruby wasn't exactly a fan of that prospect. The sinking feeling was persistent all throughout art class, an itch buried deep in her head, screaming to get out. She would find Abbot and Nori and Owen when class was over-- they'd been here before, they knew Park better than she did.

After the last bell rang, Ruby collided with another student in her rush to get to the door. The girl whirled on her once she'd gathered her books from the floor, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Watch where you're going, bitch," she snarled, and before Ruby could react, Rory was there, yanking the girl towards her by the collar of her shirt.

"You're the only bitch here, bitch," Rory growled. "Don't test me, Blaire."

She released Blaire, grabbed Ruby roughly by the shoulder, and stormed out of the art building. As she stalked briskly to the fine arts dorm, Ruby's mind scrambled. What had just happened?

"So," Ruby said, speeding up to fall in tandem with Rory's pace, "are you gonna tell me what that was all about?"

"Yeah," Rory said. "I don't have patience for people who are douchebags for no reason. Especially to my friends." She left it at that, but Ruby knew there was something more, something deeper, that made Rory react the way she did. She definitely had some history with this Blair girl.