Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [110]
And then I remembered my date with Brendan at Belvedere Castle. When security kicked us out.
I changed directions and started running for Belvedere Castle. It sat perched above the park, luminous and bright.
The castle was very close, and in less than a minute I was running up the steps that just two weeks ago, I leisurely climbed with Brendan, blissful in our first date together. And now, I was speeding up the stairs, fearful for my life.
I burst into the stone plaza, flinging myself on the doors of the observatory. I yanked on the doorknob, banging loudly on the embellished windows.
“Help me!” I screamed, pounding on the doors until my already-raw palms split.
An older, gray-mustachioed man rounded the corner, swinging a flashlight and wearing a Parks Department uniform.
“Miss, we’re closed,” he said sternly. Then he got a good look at me and his face softened.
“Are you okay, miss?” he asked gently. “Did someone hurt you?”
“Yes, please, help me,” I croaked, still gripping my phone.
“I’m being followed. I was attacked at school—I’ve been running….”
“Okay, miss, you’re safe now,” the man said, his voice gentle as he approached me with his palms forward. Only then did I realize how wild I must have looked.
The guard pressed a button on the radio attached to his shoulder.
“Hey, this is Yanek up at Belvedere—”
His kind eyes rolled back in his head as his knees collapsed underneath him, his jaw dropping in an uncontrolled, stomach-twisting way. My eyes followed his fall—and then they looked up.
“You’re so predictable, Emma. Running to the fancy lit-up building for help,” Anthony mocked me in a high-pitched imitation of a girl’s voice, fluttering his hands about excitedly. I noticed he held a bloody rock in his right hand, and he stepped over the man’s crumpled-up body, throwing the red-smeared stone to the side.
“You’re crazy!” I screamed, backing away from the observatory.
“No, I’m desperate. It’s different.” Anthony took two steps forward for every one that I took back.
“Because of you, I have to go away. My life is over.” He snarled, baring teeth that shone in the shimmering, flickering light of the lampposts.
“No, I can change things. I can go to Principal Casey,” I cried, stumbling backward down the steps to the rocks.
Stall, the cops have to be close. Brendan will find me.
“It’s too late for that.” Anthony scowled, lunging forward and losing his footing on one of the stones that lined the base of the plaza.
“No, it’s not,” I said hastily, trying to make my voice sound sincere. “My aunt’s on the board, Brendan’s mom is, too. We’ll get you back in the school. We’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Like I can go back there now,” he scoffed. “That part of my life is over.”
I looked around me, trying to figure out my options. The guard lay motionless—but his radio sounded like it was going off. Someone had to come up here to look for him. The cops were on their way. And there was no chance I could hop that fence onto the rocks without Brendan’s help. Stay out here and let him pound on me until the cops get here? Try to stall?
Stall, stall, stall.
“It doesn’t have to be over,” I bargained, my pleas getting more creative as he closed the gap between us. “Imagine, you’ll look like a hero, finally vindicated. I’ll even transfer schools. I can go back home. I don’t need to stay here.”
“Everyone knows already,” he shouted, and I noticed the blood-crusted cut above his eyebrow. I guess I had better aim with that lock than I thought I did.
I tried another tactic. “I think they’ll just be impressed with how you stood up for yourself. I mean, I am,” I said, trying to make my voice sound flirtatious. Instead, I just warbled shakily.
“Who cares? Everything’s over for me—because of you!” Anthony’s face turned red with fury—the same look he had when he’d confronted me in the quad. Only Brendan wasn’t here to save me.
“I can fix it, I promise!” I begged, letting the tears flow down my cheeks. I didn’t have the power to stop them. “Please