Maverick (Maverick Academy Series) (29 page)

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Ellie had attempted to talk to Whit, but she was too angry. All she could think about was getting back to Darby and killing her. How could she do that? How could anyone be that heartless? She paced the room for a long time, trying to calm down. Finally, she collapsed into the chair next to Ellie, and noticed that Rory was gone.

“Hey, where’s Rory?”

“She got out, but Tavis grabbed me before I could get away.” She rolled her eyes. Then, with a hesitant voice, she asked, “What did Darby do to you?”

Whit heard the question, but it took a while for her to answer. “I saw my parents,” she
said, her voice shaking. “They died in a car accident six months ago. Darby … well, she …” Whit wiped her cheeks and wondered when she’d started crying.

Ellie gasped.
“That’s awful. How did she know?”

“That’s a good question.” It hadn’t occurred to her until Ellie asked, but
now Whit wondered how Darby had known the one thing that would distract Whit. She hadn’t told anyone but … Nolan. “It must have been Nolan. I told him.”

“No way. He wouldn’t do that, would he?” Ellie frowned.

“He’s the only person I told about them. It had to be him,” she said as tears poured over her cheeks. “I trusted him again. I gave him another chance, and he used it to hurt me. Why would he do that?” She covered her face with her hands and cried. Darby had said Nolan was using her so his team could win. She didn’t want to believe it, but how else would Darby had known?

Ellie moved closer and hugged her
. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

Whit heard Ellie’s voice as she tried to offer comfort, but she just couldn’t concentrate.
Eventually she zoned out and stopped crying. She had never felt this kind of hate towards someone before and it made her stomach hurt. Only a horrible person would use someone’s dead parents to win a stupid game. She needed to find a way to get even, teach them that some things were out of bounds. She needed to get revenge.

Chapter 34

The game continued and time passed slowly for Whit. After she’d calmed down, she waited for the loudspeaker to announce that the Vixens were disqualified because she’d harmed another player, but the announcement never came.

As she sat there, s
he kept seeing her parents and wishing it had been real. Ellie tried to get her to talk some more, but eventually gave up when Whit refused to talk. Nolan even came in to check on her at one point, but Whit ignored him. If she looked in his direction, she would have completely lost it and now wasn’t the time or place. She heard him ask Ellie some questions, but didn’t bother to pay attention. She felt broken and angry. Livid or irate was probably a better word for it. Now she understood the idea of revenge, because she wanted it. She wanted to hurt Darby and Nolan like they’d hurt her. Had the rest of the team been in on it too? She wondered. Had Mark known what they were going to do to his friend? If so, they would pay too.

S
uddenly something hit the door, drawing Whit’s and Ellie’s attention. Both girls stood up, glancing at each other. Whit moved closer to the door and heard what sounded like people fighting. She touched the doorknob and found that it felt normal. She opened the door and looked out into chaos.

Lindsey
and Nolan were hurling chucks of ice and fireballs at each other. Rory had Darby in a headlock and was trying to drag her into the forest of crates. The other boys were nowhere to be seen, and she didn’t see anything else until Misty sprinted into sight, heading right toward her. Once there, she grabbed Whit’s and Ellie’s hands and pulled them out of the hold.

Before they made it
10 feet, Tavis and Mark ran towards them. Tavis grabbed Whit and Ellie, while Mark caught Misty around the waist. Whit watched as Ellie tried to get Tavis’s attention so she could mesmerize him, but he clearly knew she plan and adverted his eyes. Whit tried to push into his head and force him to put them down, but there was too much going on for her to concentrate. She quickly decided to try her telekinetic skills instead. She looked at Mark and watched as he began to lift off the ground. He began to freak out which caused him to release Misty. Tavis must had figured out what was going on because he shook Whit forcefully, causing her to lose sight of Mark. She tried to refocus, but it was too late. Tarvis shoved Ellie and Whit into the hold and slammed the door shut.

Sound
s of the fighting continued for a few more minutes before the hold door was thrown open and Rory, then Lindsey were thrust inside. Whit looked around at her entire team. They had definitely lost.

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After the horn sounded and the game officially ended, the girls were released from the hold. They were told the game had ended thirty-four minutes early. Whit wasn’t really that surprised. From the beginning, the Silent Assassins had outplayed them. They’d just been better, and the combination of their skills had been tough to beat. With that win, the Silent Assassins would be in the championship game in two days, while the Venomous Vixens were done.

Whit was actually pretty happy that they didn’t have to play again. She hadn’t really enjoyed Dark Conquest, especially after what
happened with Darby and Nolan. As her team exited the game area and started in the direction of their dorm, Whit felt Rory bump her shoulder.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Whit didn’t make eye contact with her because she knew Rory would see that she was lying. She thought she’d hidden her hurt and upset pretty well, but Rory kept after her.

“You’re lying. What’s going on?”

With a heavy sigh, Whit told her about her parents’ accident, then about Darby making her see them during the game. She’d enjoyed replaying the punch to Darby’s face, but by the end she could tell from Rory’s expression that she was livid. Whit finished it up by revealing her suspicions about Nolan. Surprisingly, when Rory heard that, she defended him.

“Whit, I don’t know about that. I don’t think Nolan would do that. I’ve watched him when you guys are together and he’s completely into you. I just really can’t see him
doing that to you,” she argued.

“Then how did Darby know? I only told Nolan about my parents. I mean, you guys didn’t even know.” When Rory and Ellie frowned in her direction, she explained, “It’s hard to talk about
it. It brings it all back and makes it hurt more. I told Nolan because we were talking about our families and I knew he would ask if I didn’t tell him. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys.”

Ellie smiled sadly
. “We understand.” Then she pulled Whit into a hug, while Rory just squeezed her elbow.

“Sucks that we lost
, though. Wish I’d known about what Darby did, I would’ve kicked her ass. I still might.” Rory snarled. “Don’t worry, though, she’ll get what’s coming to her.”

The girls continued talking about the game all the way to the dorm.
When she finally got to her room, Whit collapsed on her bed and looked at the ceiling, wondering what she’d say to Nolan the next time she saw him. She felt a bit tired, so she closed her eyes and the dream took her right away.

Jumping down from a fence, Whit starting running. She was breathing hard, so she must have been running for a little while. It was dark out, but there was a full moon
, which made seeing easier. As she jogged, she looked to her side and noticed about ten people running nearby. Some in front, some beside. Everyone had on dark clothing and hoods pulled over their heads. Whit glanced around, but didn’t recognize the area. Up ahead, there was a large building. The group divided, some headed toward the big building while Whit’s group veered to the right and then behind the big building. The group slowed, and Whit heard the others around her breathing hard as well. They stopped outside another building, which looked similar to her dorm. Someone walked up next to Whit and told her to get ready. It was a woman, but Whit couldn’t see her face because of the hood. She felt her hands start to move and looked down. She was carrying a gun. She didn’t know anything about weapons, but this one looked serious. If she had to guess, she thought it was some sort of machine gun. Then the group moved forward and entered the building. They started shooting. The noise from the guns echoed in her ears, and the blood was everywhere. Girls screamed and tried to run away before being mowed down by gunfire. It was horrible. Whit screamed inside the dream, but the person she was trapped in continued to fire and race around the building. She followed another hooded figure down a hallway, and just before they turned the corner, the person turned and looked at Whit. It was a teenage guy around Whit’s age. She’d never seen him before, but she’d never forget the look of glee that filled his eyes. He was enjoying himself.

Whit woke up crying. She covered her face and continued to cry for a long time.

Suddenly she thought about the importance of the dream.
She grabbed her dream journal and started writing every detail she remembered, from what the area and buildings looked like, to a description of the teenage boy. Once she was done, she allowed herself to start crying again. She knew she’d dreamed about the Redeemers attacking a school somewhere.

When she looked
at the clock, she saw that it was almost 8. She had slept for five hours, and she still felt drained. Her head and body ached from the dream and the crying. She was also hungry, but didn’t think she could make it to the cafeteria before it closed, and didn’t feel like being social.

She thought a shower might help,
though, and it did a little. When she got back to her room, she grabbed a pack of crackers and bottle of juice she’d packed for the game, then shook two sleeping pills out of their container. Mona had bought her some sleeping pills for nights just like this.

It didn’t take long before her eyelids started drooping and she couldn’t stay awake. Wh
it laid down and, seconds after her head hit the pillow, drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 35

The weather had turned cold and some
were predicting snow by the end of the week. Whit knew that Mona hated driving in the snow, and hoped it would hold off until after Friday. Holiday break officially started after classes on Friday, but Whit had her Biology exam today, so she felt like break started for her after that class. Yeah, she still had class on Friday, but she didn’t think they would do anything too taxing on that particular day. Plus, it was the championship game of Dark Conquest on Friday. Whit was just happy not to have that worry on her plate.

The dream about the school attack had been fresh in her mind the second she’d woke
n up. She’d already planned to talk to McFaddin about it, but knew she’d have to let it go just like the dream about the playground bombing. It sickened her that she had this gift but couldn’t do anything to stop the events. There had to be a better way to handle it.

Nolan was also on her mind. Had he told Darby about her parents? It was the only explanation she could think of
, but why would he do it? And what was she going to do about him?

Whit hurried from the dorm to the cafeteria, bundled up
to her eyebrows in a coat, scarf, mittens, and hat. The wind felt like it was tearing her skin off, it was so cold. And she felt dazed the entire walk, with her mind flipping between Nolan and the dream.

Rory and Tavis were already eating when Whit sat down with her pancakes. Before she could say anything, Nolan flopped into the chair beside her. He leaned over and kissed her
lightly on the cheek before digging into his breakfast. Whit didn’t know what to say, so she just sat there thinking.

“So, I got worried when I didn’t see
you last night at dinner. Where were you?” Nolan asked.

Whit continued to stare at her pancakes in silence. She knew she needed to say something, but she was still figuring it out.

“Whit? You okay?” he asked, obviously confused by her silence.

“Nope. I’m about as far from okay as possible,” she whispered. She noticed Rory glanc
ing in her direction then back at Tavis. She clearly knew that Whit was going to ask Nolan about yesterday’s game. Whit was relieved when Rory pulled Tavis away with some excuse about needing help in the library. Once they were alone, she turned toward Nolan.

“What’s wrong?”Nolan asked
, grabbing her hand.

“Have you ever talked to Darby about me?” she
asked, tugging her hand away from him.

“Have I ever talked to Darby about you? Yeah, why?”

“What’d you tell her?”

“Just that we were dating and that I really liked you. I also told her that she and I were just friends
and once the competition was over, she needed to back off. That we weren’t going to hang out anymore,” he answered with a confused look on his face. “What’s going on?”

“Yesterday during the game, Darby used her gift to make me see my parents. You’re the only one I told about them. How could she
have known about them, unless you told her? How would she know to make me see them?” Whit’s voice trembled at the end as all the emotions from yesterday came back in full force. She felt her eyes start to water, but held the tears back and glared in Nolan’s direction.