House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)

Okay, that was it. I’d had enough of this town’s strangeness, of the millions of questions I had bubbling around my brain, and before I could filter myself I leaned closer, lowered my voice, and said, “I’m going to need you to explain to me exactly what the deal is with this town. With Daelight Crescent and all the weirdness there. Who are the chosen ones at the school?”

Cara’s ran her eyes across me and I thought she seemed surprised. I wondered which part shocked her. Before I could ask, she started talking, her voice barely above a whisper: “I’m astonished you haven’t run into any of them yet. I don’t know a lot, but I will definitely tell you what I do know. Just not right now. We’ll talk more later.”

Ominous. But at least she said she would tell me later, so I’d have to hold on to that. For the rest of the trip, Cara chatted about everything and nothing. She was one of those people who could talk underwater, requiring very little response from me. Still, I found myself drawn to her, finding true warmth under her flighty personality.

“My boyfriend, Mitch, goes to Astoria High, the other school in this area,” Cara was saying. “Do you have a boyfriend? Leave anyone behind? What do your parents do? There aren’t many jobs in the area, so they were lucky to find something.”

I sucked in a low, deep breath, quiet enough I wasn’t sure she noticed the strangeness of my response. Such an innocent question, and it had literally stolen my breath. After a few more ragged inhales, I managed to reply like a normal person.

“I moved here with my guardians. They have an online business, so we can live anywhere. My parents … uh, they died eight months ago. I used to live in California, and no boyfriend. I left no one important.”

I skimmed quickly over my parents’ death, hoping she would just give me the usual “Sorry to hear that” and then move on. It was when people pushed harder, asked how they died, that I usually lost it.

There were a few moments of silence, enough that it was almost uncomfortable when she said, “I’m really sorry to hear about your parents, girl. I can’t even imagine how hard that was to live through. My parents are selfish douches at times, especially Dad, but I would never want to live without them.”

Yeah, dead did kind of outweigh douche, but I appreciated her acknowledgement that she couldn’t imagine. Unless you’d lived through something like that, stood beside a pile of black ash knowing your parents had burned to death while you had somehow managed to get out … well, there was no understanding.

Things might have traveled right into awkwardville then, except Starslight came into view and I leaned forward for my first glimpse of my new school. I knew my eyes were wide, mouth probably hanging open as I stared. Cara laughed at me.

“Honestly, I’ve been going here for four years now and it still takes me by surprise. My theory is that this is an experiment, like some secret government facility, but instead of guinea pigs they’re using teenagers. Socialization experiment on the segregation of teenagers. Rich versus poor.”

That’s exactly what it looked like. Very government, CIA, NSA, space-center like. Huge, shiny, with lots of gleaming windows. There seemed to be an enormous round building in the center with many connections spanning off that led into smaller buildings. Almost like an octopus, but one that was extremely expensive and luminous, made up from a multitude of different metals.

Cara went straight into tour guide mode. “So, the entire school is indoors. Everything is connected via moving walkway corridors.” Her hands were jabbing rapidly as she pointed out things through our bus windows. “The only outdoor parts are the sports fields, and they’re way out the back. Even the track field is inside. Olympic size pool is also inside, and state-of-the-art gymnastics arena. Anything you can imagine a school needs, Stars has five of them. It’s overkill, but what can you do? This is the home of the elite, and they like to cater to a few of us poorer folk. Gives them good PR.”

I wondered if that was the reason for the poor side of Daelight Crescent, to garner some positive public relations. Pressing my face closer to the window, I was hit immediately with the knowledge that I didn’t belong here. I was going to stick out like crazy, but Astoria High’s scholarship program had not been as extensive. College applications were important too, and according to all of the online forums – and Ace – Starslight was the school you wanted to graduate from.

I repeated this to myself multiple times as I followed the other silent kids from the bus. Cara stayed right at my back as we stepped down to the curb. In front was a huge circular entrance, the American flag high in the center. A second flag on a pole nearby had the same dissected double circle symbol as the bus. It was black and white, the bisecting strike a deep red. Just behind this was an extravagant water fountain. In the center was a hand-carved stone depiction of four huge men standing above a bunch of smaller “student” looking people.

“Those are the four founding fathers of this school,” Cara said when I paused before it. “It’s been over a hundred years, but we still have to see this ugly-ass fountain every day.”

Interesting. More students were pushing past us now. The large clock above the main entrance was telling me it was five after eight, which meant the first bell would be going off in about fifteen minutes. I was running out of time. As Cara linked her arm through mine, starting to lead me toward the entrance, a loud purring roar caught my attention. I spun around to look at the parking lot, situated just behind the bus stop.

“No freaking way,” I whispered as the cars came into sight. Well, at least one good thing might come from being at this school. I was finally going to discover who lived across the road from me. There were just two of their cars: the purple Aston and white Range Rover, following each other into the lot, both of them pulling into spaces near the front.

“You know how you were asking me about the chosen ones … the elite. Well, here's the main group of assholes that run this school,” Cara said quickly under her breath, almost like she was worried they could hear us all the way over here. “The Darken boys.”

I was about to answer her when the doors to the purple beast opened and two males emerged. A third joined them right after.

What in all holy hell?

“Are they real?” I finally said, wrenching my eyes from the view and turning to Cara.

She wore a knowing smirk. “I’ve touched them once or twice, accidentally on purpose. They’re definitely real.”

I had to turn back. I had to see them one more time just to make sure they hadn’t been figments of my imagination. “They’re so freakin’ tall,” I finally stuttered out. They weren’t just unnaturally tall, but they also had this intense, dark, dangerous vibe going on. Their hair and aura matched their name.

Cara chuckled, apparently enjoying my astonishment. I just couldn’t believe these were the guys I had been spying on for days – I hadn’t expected them to be teenagers like me. It made me feel uneasy, and kinda intrigued at the same time.