The Wicked Trilogy: Caleb & Margo (Fallen Royals #1-3), page 32
My breath catches in my chest. I almost expect the stairs to creak, the front door to slam—something to alert the Jenkinses of his presence. But he’s a ghost. Here one minute, gone the next.
I’ll give him one thing: he sparked my curiosity.
But to get up would be to give in, whether he’s here or not. He’d know. And me asking him for help? No.
Never.
I burrow back under my covers and close my eyes.
That lasts about… two minutes.
I pop out of bed and close my door, flicking on the light. Ridiculous, I think to myself. He knows how to get in my head, and I hate it.
My bracelet sits on the dresser. I’d returned it to my old house, and he… he knew. And he returned it.
I run my finger over the web of metal, shaking my head. I can’t do this right now. I can’t forgive him.
I leave it where it is and crawl back into bed. I don’t have the energy to try to deal with Caleb’s mental games. After everything that’s happened today, my mind hasn’t stopped spinning.
My conversation with Amelie about Caleb’s meddling… she thinks I shouldn’t let him get away with it. Well, I won’t.
And then the more devastating piece of news: Savannah texted him the picture.
My eyes pop open again. I can’t believe that I forgot about it. Savannah is Unknown.
I should’ve suspected her sooner.
I sit up and grab my phone, scrolling through past messages with Unknown. I linger on the picture of Ian and me. Is it true? Does Savannah have that big of a vendetta against me that she’d try to ruin my life—and threaten me to stay away from Caleb?
She was at the party where the video was taken. And while she had some noticeable absences from school, I’m pretty sure she was there the day Ian dragged me into the woods. But…
Something doesn’t feel right about it.
Why would she do such a thing?
I shake my head. Caleb’s right: I need answers. But I doubt he has them. I never mentioned Unknown to him—whether that was a bright idea or not, I can’t say.
Imagine if he’s in on it.
That’s another possibility.
I put my phone on the nightstand, flopping back.
The suspects are:
Amelie.
Savannah.
Ian. Yes, Ian, even though he was the one in the picture. He could’ve paid someone to take it and send it to Caleb. He could’ve paid Savannah.
Caleb.
I grimace. His whole friend group is on my suspect list. Any of them could want me to stay away from him for his own sake. For his sanity.
And I’m also well aware that it could be no one on my list. It could be… literally anyone.
“Fuck,” I whisper. I resign myself to a night of fitful sleep. Every so often, my thoughts circle back to the bracelet on the dresser, and Caleb’s…
You’re killing me.
Right back atcha.
He’s confusing and complicated.
Eventually, I fall asleep. I dream of Caleb and my mother.
They’re arguing in his house, just beside the screen door. I can see them from where I’m crouched. Caleb has gray streaks in his hair, and my mom is red in the face. Their hands wave. Their lips move, but I hear nothing. Spit flies from Caleb’s mouth, and I instinctively hunch lower. Their anger scares me. I’m frozen in my hiding place.
I wish I could hear what they’re saying.
She throws a glass. I scream, and both of them stare at me.
Someone yanks me backward.
I fall and fall and fall.
Caleb catches me. He squints. His face is young—fourteen instead of seventeen. “Be more careful, Margo.”
“You were just fighting with my mom,” I say, shaking my head. I look around. There’s nothing but high grass around us. “Where are we?”
“We used to come here,” he answers. He mirrors my actions, head swinging back and forth. “Don’t you like it?”
Don’t you like it?
“I don’t…” I don’t recognize this place. It’s just grass and bright-blue sky, the sun so hot on my skin. “Why were you fighting with Mom?”
His face hardens. “I wasn’t.”
He drops me.
I fall right through the ground, straight into darkness. Straight into my bedroom.
I lunge for the door, but it’s locked. Everything is blurry. Big fat tears fall down my face, and I pound on the door.
“Let me out!” I scream. “Let me out let me out let me—”
It flies inward, knocking me back.
“Dad?” I moan, rolling onto my side. “Dad, Mom—”
It’s not Dad. Why did I think it would be Dad?
“Wake up,” Mom snaps, pressing my shoulders into the ground.
I open my eyes, instantly rattled. Tears fill my eyes, and I fumble for the lamp’s switch. It felt real. Too real. And for once, I remember every second of the dream.
The sudden light blinds me, but I can’t close my eyes again.
There are pieces of my past trying to come out.
Outside, it’s getting light out already. A second later, my alarm goes off. Good timing, since I don’t even want to think about sleep for another sixteen hours.
My shower’s hot water helps shake off any residual chill from the dream, even as I go through it piece by piece. My mom and Caleb arguing… except he would’ve been young. Nine or ten, like me. So that doesn’t make sense.
And the field? Maybe that part really is fiction.
I shiver under the water thinking about my mother. I thought of her with fondness up until…
When was the turning point?
What did she do?
“Margo, you okay?” Lenora calls. “You’ve been in there for a while. You’re going to be late!”
I jump. “Ah, sh—sorry!”
Out of the shower, toweled off, into my uniform in record time. I glance at my phone, shocked that I won’t have time to eat breakfast, let alone put on makeup. I bite the inside of my cheek and rush out the door.
“Good morning,” Lenora says, coming over and planting a kiss on my cheek.
I try not to stiffen with surprise. My heart gives an extra-hard thump.
“Good morning,” I answer.
She hands me a banana and herds me toward the door. “You’re going to be late. Riley’s at the curb.”
I grab my coat and bag, balancing it with the banana, and walk outside.
There’s snow on the ground, and I pause. Winter has made a fast and furious arrival, apparently.
“It’s just a dusting,” Lenora says. “Go!”
“I wish it was summer.” Still, I continue on to Riley’s car, sliding in and slamming the door.
She laughs. “Your coat will work better if you put it on.”
I hand her the banana and my bag. Shove it at her, really. “Hold that.”
Once my coat is on, I take my stuff, and she pulls back onto the road.
“I had a weird dream,” I say. “And I can’t tell what’s real and what’s my imagination.”
She glances at me. “What was it about?”
“My mom and an older Caleb arguing, then Caleb and I were in a field, and then I was in my room…” I shake my head. “I feel like I’m misremembering.” That’s how dreams work. Let them sit in your brain long enough, and the finer details slip away.
“What were they arguing about?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“An older Caleb—like his dad?”
I flinch. Why didn’t I think of that? “Oh my god.”
She bounces in her seat. “Okay, okay, so your mom and Caleb’s dad probably argued at some point.”
I hesitate. She was really angry in the dream. Angry when she burst into my room, too.
“Caleb stopped by last night,” I say. I left the bracelet on the dresser. Didn’t even think about grabbing it this morning. My wrist feels shockingly bare without it. “He wanted me to forgive him.”
Riley snorts. “Don’t.”
“I’m not going to.”
“And what did Amelie want? I’m sorry I didn’t go with you, I just… I don’t trust that girl.” Riley parks and shuts the car off. “You didn’t agree to do anything with her, right?”
“Um, no.” I make a face. “She was encouraging me to dump Caleb and tell her what I remember. And… you know those texts I showed you at the beginning of the school year?”
She tilts her head. “The creepy ones from the blocked number.”
“Yeah. Well, they didn’t stop.”
“Margo Wolfe! You never said.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “I didn’t want to freak anyone out.”
“Give it to me.”
I wince, then open my phone to Unknown’s conversation.
She scrolls through it, getting paler by the second. “Fucking hell, Margo. You kept this a secret?”
“I didn’t want to drag you into it,” I whisper. “I mean… I don’t know who it is.”
She blinks at me. “You suspected me.”
“Not directly.” I take my phone back and close out of my messages. The overwhelming majority of messages in that thread are from Unknown–my rare replies don’t seem to dissuade them. “I don’t think it’s you, Riley. Not anymore.”
“They were the ones who took the video? And leaked it.”
I sigh.
“And they sent the picture of you and Ian…”
“I don’t know why they did that.” I rub at my eyes. This no-makeup thing might work in my favor, because I have a feeling I’ll be scrubbing at my face a lot today. “They’re all about making my life miserable… but only on their terms, I guess. And they sure as hell don’t want me around Caleb.”
“They ask a lot of rhetorical fucking questions,” Riley says. “We know anyone like that?”
I laugh. “I doubt it’d be that easy… but Amelie said the text came from Savannah.”
Riley gasps. “Excuse me? I’m going to kill her.”
I grab her arm before she can lunge out of the car and ruin the start of my plan. “I don’t think it’s her.”
“Why?”
“Because…” I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s a gut feeling. Wasn’t she the one to stick up for me after I left?”
Riley shifts. “Yeah. Amelie is a dirty backstabbing snake. Savannah just kind of shunned you to survive. So maybe Savannah’s motive is—”
“Was she at the party?” I ask. “At Ian’s?”
“Um… No? I don’t remember.”
I groan. “There are so many questions and virtually no answers.”
We get out of the car and walk toward the courtyard. We cut it pretty close—the doors are going to open any minute. Even with snow on the ground, students mill around in sweatshirts. Some wear jackets, stomping their feet in the cold.
“They’ll probably start letting us go straight in,” Riley tells me. “The courtyard dramatics will be a thing of the past.”
“That wouldn’t be a bad thing.” Except today… today there will be dramatics. I realize that as soon as we round the corner and my eyes go to Caleb.
He’s standing with his friends—all of them except Eli, who’s absent—and Amelie. And four other cheerleaders.
His gaze lands on me, and he raises his eyebrows.
“Why is he looking at you like that?” Riley whispers.
“Probably because I told him we’re done.” I match her volume. “Multiple times.”
It’s like he can hear me, because his lips purse. He slips away from his group and walks toward me.
I hold my breath.
“Maybe he forgot,” Riley offers, covering her smile with her hand. “I mean, you gotta admit—he’s hot for you.”
I glare at her. “He sabotaged me, Ri.”
“Touché.”
“Margo,” Caleb greets me. He reaches out and runs his hand down my arm, lifting my hand. He pushes my jacket sleeve up to expose my bare wrist. His fingers are cold.
Goosebumps break out along my arms and back.
Disappointment flashes across his face, then the mask is back in place. How he slides it on so precisely reminds me of the masquerade ball. The cool gold against my skin.
“You know what you have to do,” he says. Then he drops my hand, stepping back. He turns and goes back to his circle of friends, offering his arm to Amelie.
And oh, my blood boils.
“Did he really just do that?” Riley hisses.
I look away. “He wouldn’t do anything with her.”
Except, I’m not so sure. We’re not together—she’s fair game.
The bell rings, the doors swinging open, and Caleb breaks away from Amelie. He’s swept away by Liam and Theo—intentionally or not, I can’t tell.
We don’t move while students push past us, eager to escape the cold.
Savannah weaves through the students, headed directly for… us.
“What do you think she wants?” I ask.
“To rub in her hatred of you? Or admit that she sent the creepy texts?” Riley asks. “Could be anything.”
Savannah stops in front of me. “Margo.”
“Savannah,” I reply.
“I have an offer for you.”
The need to ask her about sending the picture to Caleb is overwhelming. My desperation for answers is going to show at any minute.
I manage to only say, “Oh?”
She extends her hand. “I propose a truce. We’ll be friends again.”
I snort and glance sideways at Riley. “Is she serious?”
Savannah huffs, rolling her eyes. Her hand is still out, her fingers wiggling slightly. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to suck me down into your outcast circle. If anything, I’ll elevate your status… so it won’t matter if you’re on the outs with Caleb or not.”
The kids in this school can’t seem to make up their minds about who they hate. But at the moment, it’s me. And it’s wearing on Riley, too. She hasn’t said anything about it, but I picked up the comments made about her.
I hate it.
“Riley, too,” I say.
“Fine.”
I raise my eyebrow. “And why are you proposing a truce? Now?”
“Let me guess.” Savannah crosses her arms. “Amelie dove on you like a vulture on roadkill. Saying you guys needed to take a stand against Caleb, how proud she was that you broke up with him, yadda yadda.”
I stare at her.
“She pulled the same shit on me,” she mutters. “And then she started dating him.”
“You two stayed close,” Riley inserts. “If that hurt you, why—”
“I couldn’t let it affect me,” she says. “Come on, Riley. I would’ve been pushed off the cheerleading team if I went up against her.”
“But you’re trying to do that now?” I ask.
“Because history is repeating itself,” she says. “He’s going to watch you fall apart and use Amelie to do it—”
“The golden boys are cruel like that.” Riley rolls her eyes.
Savannah glares at her. “We’re going to be late.”
Riley and I exchange a glance and follow her into the school. She marches ahead of us, oblivious to our slowing pace.
“What do you make of that?” Riley whispers.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to have to sit in homeroom with all of them, so…”
“We don’t know what her intentions are. Amelie just made her stance pretty clear, hanging on his arm like that.”
I take her hand. “Thank you for taking my side. I think I’d be completely lost if you…”
“Other people may have had preconceived notions about you, Margo, but I always try to keep an open mind. And I saw a little bit of myself in you—the bullies targeting you automatically, just because of something you couldn’t control…”
“Is that why you grabbed me that day?”
“Well that, and you were kind of pathetic with your bagged lunch, trying to slip by unnoticed.” She squeezes my hand.
I snort. “I felt pathetic, too.”
We release each other at my homeroom, and I slide into my usual seat in front of Caleb. It’s hard to ignore him, so instead I focus on Savannah and Ian. He’s more sullen than usual, shooting glances toward Amelie.
Amelie was sleeping around on Caleb—with Ian. And now Caleb’s just letting her paw at him like a starving kitten.
Kitten. I hold back my amusement. She has more claws and strategy than a kitten.
Even if I think Caleb’s not paying attention, it feels like he’s turned toward me. I’m always slightly off-kilter around him.
I glance over at Savannah. She’s watching me. Slowly, I nod.
Even if we’re in a truce, we’re still enemies.
She flashes me a quick grin, then goes back to neutral. Ian’s attention goes from her to me. I scowl at him, but it’s the wrong move: it just traps his interest.
Savannah catches up to me in the hall after homeroom, pushing a note into my hand. I don’t read it until my next class, scanning it then tearing it into tiny pieces. She wants to meet after school.
The day passes relatively quickly. I ignore Caleb and Amelie. Everyone else… well, that’s another story. In Robert’s class, Caleb sits across the room. I welcome it, because I’m getting sick of being ignored. And I suspect he’s going to pay me a visit tonight, anyway…
Operation: Dethrone the King is going to be a work in progress.
Robert pauses by my easel. “How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” I say.
“Is Caleb leaving you alone?”
“Yeah.” I try not to let my voice sound bitter. I wanted this. I need this.
I need to pull myself away from Caleb—our history and whatever fucked-up relationship we had.
“Is it okay if I have friends over after school?”
Robert’s eyebrows go up, then he grins at me. “You said friends. Plural.”
I blush.
“Okay, okay, I won’t interrogate you. You catching a ride with them?”
“Riley, yeah.” I look past my foster dad to Caleb, who is once again angled in my direction.
Thankfully, he keeps his eyes on his canvas.
“Good. I forgot about a department meeting after school. Time’s almost up,” Robert says. “If he gives you trouble, you let me know.”
