Cobweb Head

t h i r t y - f i v e

We were moving down the fabric rope a moment later. The night air tore through the fabric of Oliver's shirt and touched my skin. I was shaking the whole way down.

I slumped against the brick wall after reaching the grassy ground below. My teeth chattered. Tousled hair fell over my eyes.

Leo sighed. "I hadn't been thinking about the cold, sorry. I should've grabbed a sweater for you—"

"No." I waved him off dryly as my stomach flipped. "It's fine. Where do we go from here?"

He looked ahead for a few moments, pulling his lip between his teeth as he thought, until he finally spoke. "I know where – we need to leave the school, right?"

"That's the plan."

He took me by the hand. Somehow, even in the frigid cold, his palm was still hot against my skin. His grin was just as warm. "Follow me."

We started moving across the green oval. The forest's edge was thick with shadows, and I had to convince myself that that was all it was. Shadows. They weren't moving. They weren't watching me from afar. I tried to shake away the cold, but goosebumps were already running along my arms.

A familiar clucking came from behind me for the second time tonight. Leo paused. "Do you hear that?"

I turned – I knew what it was before even seeing it.

Greg.

The small echo glared at me from where it stood a couple of paces away. A black wire burst through the cracks between its limbs and added height to the stout horse. Its chittering grew louder as it moved faster towards us.

Leo stepped back, pulling my arm with him, but I shrugged his warm grip away and ran at the horse. I could hear him protest from behind me, jarring against the ears. Even Greg seemed a little shocked.

Then finally, as we clashed, I drew my foot back and kicked at it. With every football training session behind the force of the hit, it barrelled through the air.

Somewhere in the forest, it landed.

Leo gaped from behind me. "That was awesome!"

My chest heaved in shaky breaths. "I've had practise."

Soon, he'd lead me to the teacher's car park, where a few scattered vehicles lined the asphalt ground. We kicked up small stones as we hurried to a small car, but before we reached there, I grasped at Leo's shirt. He turned to look at me, frowning.

"Wait," I grimaced. "Are you – are you sure you want to leave with me? This is still school. You're leaving school."

His smile was lopsided. "The Frights are going to make my life a living hell if I stay – and what am I supposed to do? Let you go off into a foreign country by yourself? I told you I'd show you New York, didn't I?"

As he turned away to face the small car, my face went hot. My stomach twisted into knots. What was wrong with me?

I flinched when the car's siren split the air. After smashing the window, Leo had opened the door, which sent the siren ringing with the same fury as thunder. It ended quickly, as the engine grumbled to life.

I gawked as Leo slumped into the driver's seat. "How do you know how to do that? You don't even have keys."

He cocked his head to the side. "This school is for troubled students, I'm here for a reason, aren't I?"

I went to take the seat next to him, moving around the front of the small blue car, when a voice rang from the entrance. I recognised it immediately, with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Moore!" Oliver.

I looked up. He was stumbling down the stony staircase, hair more ruffled than I'd ever seen it before, with a flash of anger in his eyes and a face bright red.

I cursed, almost tripping on my own feet as I opened the car door and fell inside. Leo laughed as he pressed his foot down onto the pedal, which sent the wheels squealing against the asphalt and the engine growling angrily. Oliver ran a hand through his pale red hair as we sped passed him. I made sure to flip him off through the open window.

"This isn't the end, Moore! There are other Fright groups out there, and the walkers won't stop until—" His words became obscured by the pumping engine and the growing distance.

With the window open, cold wind whirled through my hair and cut like glass against my face. But I didn't mind – and Leo didn't seem to either. His laughter was as sweet as warm honey.

Finally gone from Windsor's, I watched as the school grew smaller and smaller from where we drove across the mountainside. I could see every dark tree, see the bright moon branded in the dark sky, see the bats flicker across low hanging clouds.

Even as I grinned, and as Leo leaned back into his seat and shook away the adrenaline, Oliver's words rang loud in the back of my mind. We were going to be chased wherever we went.

I tried not to think about it – instead, imagined Oliver's face just moments ago, red with rage as he watched us drive off. I felt a little better.