جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 6

The bus doors wheeze open and the cold hits her face so hard her eyes water."North Star campus." The driver doesn't look up from his phone. "Watch your step. Slick out there.""Thanks," Jessie says, and the word comes out shaky because her teeth are already chattering. She drags her suitcase down the steps, the wheels banging on each one, and nearly eats it at the bottom. Doesn't. But close. The wind slices straight through her hoodie and she realizes, standing there with her fingers already going numb, that she left her good gloves in her old dorm back in Buffalo.Of course.She shuffles toward Welker Dorm, head tucked down, suitcase wheels catching on frozen slush every few feet. Someone has taped a tiny plastic snowman to the vending machine outside the entrance. Its head is lopsided. She notices it for half a second and then forgets it.Inside, the hallway smells like burnt popcorn and some kind of floral spray that's trying too hard. Room 314. She pushes the door open.A blonde

The cage door rattles but doesn't budge."Come on." She yanks the latch again. Nothing. The mesh is digging into her shoulder blades and the mascot head is still crooked, so she's stuck staring at the locker room through one eye hole. Rubber floor mats with tape residue on them. A bin of used towels. Someone's jockstrap hanging off a hook near the showers, which is just. Great.She knows exactly who did this. Trent Lasky and a couple of his frat buddies were cracking up as they shoved her in here after the game. "Team tradition," they'd said. "Rookie mascot gets the cage." Real creative."Hello?" She shakes the door. It clangs but stays shut. "Seriously. Let me out."The post-game crowd noise is muffled through the concrete, a distant roar like a TV left on in another room. She kicks the cage. Hurts her foot more than the door. She kicks it again anyway.Her hoodie is stuck to her back. Her hair is plastered to her forehead in wet strings. She probably smells like a wet dog that crawl

POV: Jessie MarloweI'm still staring at the dark hallway where Silas disappeared when a hand closes around my wrist."Come with me."Martins. I twist around. He's right there. Jaw tight. Eyes fixed on me like this conversation was already over."I'm not going anywhere with you, Heller.""Now, Jessie." He doesn't raise his voice. "Don't make a scene."He tugs me off the stool before I can argue. I stumble. My boot catches on a sticky patch of floor. I catch my balance on his shoulder, and his hand drops to my lower back, fingers digging in just enough to steady me. The bar is packed. People dancing. Drinks spilling. Somebody yelling over the bass. Tinsley is still tangled up with Trent by the back hallway. Brooke is laughing at something Nolan said, her head tipped back. Nobody is watching us."Where are we going?""Just walk.""People are staring.""I don't care."He pulls me through the crowd. Down the narrow hallway past the restrooms. The carpet here is torn at the edge, curling u