And that someone was probably me.
‘There’s no way,’ I said, not bothering to keep my voice low, and fully aware that Millie was reading every single word out of my mouth to try and figure out why Luca and I had gone so cold all of a sudden. ‘Zola’s not here. She couldn’t be here. Not in a high school.’
Luca untangled himself from me and I grabbed him by the back of his jacket before he could disappear into the crowd. ‘Are you crazy?’ I snapped. ‘Where the hell are you going?’
He reeled around. ‘Don’t move from here, OK?’ He turned to Millie and Cris. ‘No one move from here until I come back.’
‘Huh?’ Cris said. ‘What are you talking about, man?’
Luca turned to Millie. ‘Stay on the dance floor,’ he told her. ‘I’m serious, Millie. Keep her close to you.’
‘What’s going on? Is … is it Donata? Are we in danger?’ Millie was starting to panic – she was starting to get it.
Cris was still totally confused.
Luca slid between Cris and Millie. I lunged after him, but Millie pushed me backwards.
‘Stop,’ I said, trying to see where he was going. Straight for the girl with the cane and the cropped pixie cut! Straight for the girl who had been loitering around the dance floor all night – looking for me. Zola Marino – tall and wiry with bright purple lips and wide, dark eyes. And Luca was marching right towards her.
Millie grabbed me by the arm. ‘He said wait here.’
I shook her off. ‘Mil, you don’t understand.’
‘Yes, I do,’ she said, her grip growing harder. ‘I understand perfectly.’
The sound of a gunshot stole my response.
‘Holy shit.’ Cris grabbed Millie and yanked her across the dance floor, away from the sound. I tugged free of her grip and slunk into the pandemonium. Everyone was screaming and fleeing towards the exits. Millie shoved against Cris, reaching out for me. I pushed her back towards him, pulling further away from the waves of people clamouring around me.
‘Sophie!’ she screamed. ‘Sophie, get back here! Come on!’
I tried to trace the noise of the gunshot, the sound still reverberating in my eardrums. Everyone was surging towards the exits, and there were no casualties in the gym – no one wounded or screaming, no one on the floor, no blood … and then … another shot!
Millie’s screams followed me across the dance floor, but Cris was hauling her away. I was running entirely on adrenalin as every thought in my head pounded out Luca’s name. Even though I knew he would never discharge his weapon in such a public place, I refused to entertain the possibility that those gunshots had harmed him.
I was almost across the dance floor when Donata Marino stalked into my path and slammed her fist into my face. A girl beside me screamed, pushing by us towards the exit, as Donata wound her fingers into my dress and pulled me to her. Her perfume rolled over me as I blinked the stars away, tried to keep my head upright. Donata brought her masked face just an inch from my own, her kohl-rimmed eyes flashing as she loomed over me and dug the barrel of her gun into my ribs. She walked me backwards, into the crowds, her long black dress trailing behind her, her blood-red lips twisting in disgust.
‘You think you can kill my son and get away with it?’ she hissed, her yellowed teeth on show. ‘You think I won’t gut you slowly and painfully for what you took from me?’
I heaved a breath, tried to pull my stomach in, away from her gun, but she pushed harder, scraped her fingers across my neck, her long, pointed nails, drawing blood.
‘I’m going to show you what the Marino family does to turncoats,’ she snarled. ‘I’m going to tear you limb from limb, make you scream all night.’
I gasped a breath, turned to stone by the feeling of her gun pressing into me, the very real possibility that she would kill me if I moved against her, even an inch.
Jack appeared, then, shoving his way through the chaos, pushing a girl so hard she fell over.
He was wearing a suit too, a full mask of glittering gold, but I’d recognize those eyes anywhere, one of them irreparably scarred, that lumbering lope. When he reached us, he pulled me away from Donata.
‘Not here,’ he snapped at her over my head. ‘There’s too many witnesses.’
He wouldn’t even look at me.
‘Jack,’ I wheezed.
‘Shut your mouth.’ He grabbed me by the throat, yanked me out of Donata’s grip and into his own.
‘Take her out, then!’ Donata moved in front of us to clear a path, her arms outstretched on either side of her. ‘Let’s go!’
Jack spun me around and twisted my arms behind my back. He marched me towards the exit, just as another gunshot rang out behind us and my heart ratcheted up my throat.
Donata glanced over her shoulder, her thick black brows pulling together. ‘Zola.’
‘She’ll have to follow us,’ Jack shot back. ‘There’s no time.’
I tried to wriggle free, tried to scream, but everyone around me was screaming and running. Hundreds of students losing their shit at the exact same time. It was the perfect distraction. Jack twisted my arm harder, and a flash of agony made my knees go weak. I cursed at him, and Donata turned around and punched me in the side of my cheek. I spat in her face.
She recoiled, let her temper fly again, but this time I ducked, and her fist caught Jack on the chin. He loosened his grip for a split second, and I slammed the heel of my shoe into his foot and then dropped to the ground. The crowds surged around us, and he tripped, his foot catching on my ankle as I slid away from him. Everyone was still clamouring for the exit, and we were in a funnel of people now. I crawled through them, putting as many bodies between us as possible as shouts of ‘Police! Police!’ rang out.