Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
She could’ve gone anywhere, but she chose this place, this island, her tomb. Straight As, debate club, field hockey, class president, valedictorian. Lucy was the model student, the sort of girl any institution would’ve gladly recruited, except all she wanted was exclusive, little-known Saint Parras. It was the only place she applied and nobody was surprise when she got in. Mom was over the moon, and even Dad showed a glimmer of pride—which is a lot from a man that never smiled.
I’m the opposite of my perfect, dead sister. My grades were fine, I can’t play sports, I’m not interested in debate or chess or clubs in general. I wanted to go to a state school or somewhere close to home back on the East Coast, but the second the call came about Lucy’s death, I knew I had to do whatever was necessary to get accepted to this place.
It became my mission, my obsession. I’ve done nothing but think about Saint Parras, obsess about the trails and the history, research the staff and the teachers and the students.
Because for all the stories the administration spun about what happened the night my sister fell off a cliff, I know it wasn’t an accident and Lucy wasn’t suicidal.
The island grows as we get closer. The ferry docks along a low jetty that juts out from a series of white-sand beaches. The glow I saw earlier is a bonfire with several students gathered around it, talking and laughing and roasting marshmallows. It looks like something from a movie. Beyond the trees lining the edge of the dunes, buildings appear against the darkening sky, whitewashed stone facades with red colonial roofs and old Spanish architecture. My future. Saint Parras College.
The dock hands tie the ferry off and the other students begin to disembark; several dozen filter down the gangway and onto the planks and toward the college that would be their life for the next few months.
“Once you’re on the island, there’s no leaving until semester break,” Nathan says, nudging me with his elbow. “We’re trapped out here, all alone. Kind of scary, right? What if some giant wave appears and just—” He gestures like he’s smashing a tiny village. “You know what I mean?” He grins, showing straight white teeth. I wonder if my sister ever felt trapped, or if this was her idea of freedom.
“He’s teasing you,” Dom says from my other side. “There are no waves like that out here. And the school gets shipments twice a week and they let students head to the mainland on weekends. There are at least another couple ferries with more students on their way over the next few days if you change your mind and want to run away.”
“Don’t spoil all the mystery,” Nathan says with a sigh. “I like to imagine we’re living in our own little society, totally disconnected from the rest of the world.”
“I’m not running away,” I say softly, but the boys don’t seem to hear. They’re too busy excitedly looking around.
“We have high-speed internet and cable TV.” Dom frowns at his cousin, head tilted to the side. “It’s not exactly a remote location. And anyway, it’s an accredited institution of higher learning, not some backwoods private party resort. We’re here to study.”
“Right, study.” Nathan rolls his eyes and both guys laugh.
I smile a little as the cousins banter back and forth and start to scan the people waiting to greet the new students. I drag my suitcase and heft my backpack, nerves jangling through my stomach. I wish I had more stuff, but the college only allows two bags and nothing else—everything necessary is provided, and other personal items can be shipped out over the coming weeks.
As soon as I step onto the solid wood, the rolling ship left behind, I feel like a tether holding me back to my old life snaps. I wonder if Lucy experienced the same thing: I’m truly here, truly trapped, and even though Dom’s right, the students are allowed trips to the mainland for weekend excursions, I still feel like Nathan’s idea of this place is more accurate.
It’s a secluded, dark, mysterious, lonely world all alone out in the middle of the ocean, and there’s nobody coming to save me when I finally find the bastard that killed my sister.
“There he is,” Dom says, pointing toward a mass of waiting people. Some of them are students, and others are clearly teachers and staff directing the new arrivals toward a registration booth set up on the beach.
He catches my eye right away: taller than everyone around him, with the same dark olive skin as Nathan and Dom, but with intense blue eyes and tousled light brown hair, like a sun-bleached version of the cousins. He’s good looking, almost absurdly so, and I notice several of the girls nearby are also staring at him and whispering. For a second, I’m too engrossed by his good looks to think about who I’m staring at, like my mind short-circuits and overloads.