Private 8 - Revelation (23 page)

"Your what?''' Constance blurted, bringing me back into the here and now. The world rushed back in on me so fast I thought I was going to faint. And on top of that, the realization. The complete realization of the truth.

"It was you," I said quietly, my hand and the photo finally dropping. Sabine had killed Cheyenne. Sabine had been the one haunting me. She had done it all for Ariana.

"It was all you."

Sabine simply stared at me, but I saw the light of triumph in her eyes. She didn't even seem upset at having been caught. She seemed... excited.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Trey said, stepping up next to us. 243

Slowly a crowd was forming around us. Trey. Noelle. Astrid. Gage. "What do you mean, it was all her? What was all her? Reed, what the hell is going on?"

I couldn't answer him. All I could do was stare at Sabine. "Why did you have to kill Cheyenne?" I asked her, my throat suddenly aching. "If you wanted me, then why didn't you just come after me? Why did you have to hurt her?"

My voice broke on the word hurt, which pissed me off. Trey and Gage looked at each other, grim understanding creeping into their eyes.

"Because I wanted you to feel it," she said fiercely, her teeth still clenched. "I wanted you to feel what it was like to slowly lose your mind. I wanted to put you through exactly what you put my sister through. An eye for an eye."

"What?" Trey said. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

"Let her talk," I said, holding a hand out to Trey. "It feels good to talk, doesn't it, Sabine? Just like Ariana did. Doesn't it feel good to get it all off your chest?"

"Don't talk about my sister like you know her!" Sabine snapped, getting right in my face. "You ruined her!"

There were a few gasps around me as the crowd thickened. Up until now, it had been difficult for anyone to hear us over the noise, but now that the other partygoers were starting to take notice, I could hear the whispers running already, disappearing into the heavy bass of the music.

"Ariana's sister?" 244

"Sabine?"

"Reed just said Sabine killed Cheyenne...."

I saw Josh slip into the front row of onlookers, his gorgeous face creased with concern and confusion. I felt stronger just seeing him there.

"Fine. Let's just say I ruined Ariana," I said sarcastically. "What did that have to do with Cheyenne?"

Sabine let out an evil laugh. "Don't pin that on me," she said, shaking her head. "I would never have had to go there if it hadn't been for Josh. All I wanted to do was help Cheyenne steal him from you the way you stole Thomas from Ariana. Easy as pie. But no. Not Josh. He loved you too much. He was too strong. I had to drug him within an inch of his life that night just to get him to hook up with Cheyenne in the Art Cemetery."

All the air rushed right out of my lungs. Astrid's face went ashen and Constance let out a small whimper.

"What? That was you? "Josh demanded, coming forward. "You fed me those pills? You could have killed me!"

Sabine laughed. "Please. You're fine. Get over it already."

I couldn't stop staring at her face, trying to find some semblance of the girl I'd known all year. The girl I had trusted. But there was no trace of sweet, innocent Sabine left. She was all darkness. "Besides, the pills didn't even do the job! You two still got back together. It made me sick, the way you just forgave him," Sabine said, looking at my feet as if she wanted to spit on them. "That was when I realized I'd have to take a more extreme approach."

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"So it's true. You did kill her just to get to me. To make me feel responsible," I said, my palms sweating. A hard rock of guilt settled in over my heart. Once again I was indirectly responsible for murder. First Thomas, now Cheyenne. Both dead because of me. I felt Noelle step up behind me. Getting my back. Just like old times. She put her hand protectively on my shoulder.

"Collateral damage," Sabine said with a sneer. "Necessary in all wars. And let's face it, Cheyenne was kind of a bitch."

Wars? Wars? She was clearly out of her mind. Completely and totally gone.

I could barely think. Barely feel. Barely process anything that was going on around me. There was no space. No air. But I needed to know. "And what, your battle plan was to haunt me? Make me think Cheyenne was dead because of me?"

Sabine laughed, her eyes wild. "You should have seen yourself. Every time I sent you an e-mail or left you a little 'present.' Things I stole from Cheyenne's room that night her parents so generously let us paw through all her stuff. You were always on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

Someone, somewhere, finally cut the bass-heavy music, and all around were whispers and elbows nudging elbows. I felt tears of anger and embarrassment well up in my eyes. I couldn't take much more of this. All this time I had trusted her. All this time I had thought she was one of my only true friends. But all the while I had been living with the enemy. Sabine had tortured me for months and I had never once suspected her.

246 My God, she must have gotten such satisfaction out of seeing me slowly losing it. Seeing me lock myself in the bathroom. Watching me tear my dress off before the fund-raiser because the perfume on it was Cheyenne's. She was one of only three people even to know that photo of Cheyenne and me existed, so she must have dug through my stuff until she found it and used it against me. I had treated her like my best friend and all the while, she had been plotting with Ariana.

Ariana. That was how Sabine had known about the blush beads and the bedding, Ariana must have told her. It was all so perfectly, sadistically planned. Sabine probably gave me that stupid rug just so she could crush the blush beads into it later.

Noelle gripped my arm tighter. "You're out of your mind, Sabine."

Sabine just laughed. "Oh, Noelle. Perfect little Noelle. You were the hardest to deal with. You kept getting in the way. Protecting Reed. Explaining it all away. Keeping her sane. Acting the part of the good friend."

Everyone was listening now. Everyone silent. I frantically searched the crowd for Ivy. Where was she? Had she called the police? Why weren't they here yet?

"It wasn't acting," Noelle said, her glossy hair falling over her shoulder. "Unlike you, I don't have to pretend to be someone's good friend."

"Yeah? So I guess you were a good friend to Ariana, then? When you kidnapped her boyfriend and then became best friends with the slut who stole him away."

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Noelle narrowed her eyes. "You have no idea what you're talking about." "But you know what that feels like now, right? To lose your boyfriend to Reed Brennan." Sabine's eyes flickered between me and Noelle. "Although it looks like you've already forgiven her. I have to say, I expected more backbone from you, Noelle."

My blood boiled. "Shut up, Sabine."

"Reed, you're so pathetically loyal to Noelle I could vomit," Sabine sneered. "Driving a wedge between the two of you was like pulling teeth. But I did it. That video of you from the Legacy was priceless, wasn't it? Girl like you could have a future in porn."

A gasp escaped my lips. One that was echoed by plenty of onlookers.

"That was you?" I said.

"Of course it was me," Sabine said, looking proud of her accomplishment. "I slipped Ecstasy into your drinks and into Dash's all night long. I wrote the note that got you up to the roof in the first place."

Suddenly an image of the note flashed through my mind. The girly handwriting. I had noticed it at the time, but had been too out of it to care. Out of it because of the Ecstasy, it seemed.

"And it all worked like a charm," Sabine continued. "The two of you were so far gone and all over each other you didn't even notice me filming."

The room's strobe lights continued to flash. Sabine's face turned red, then pink, then red, then pink.

"You psychotic, sniveling little bitch," Noelle said from over my shoulder.

248 "Now, now, just because you totally fell for it, there's no need for name calling." Sabine smirked at Noelle, her eyes wide in faux innocence. "It's amazing how fast you turn on your friends. First Ariana, and then poor little Reed. You ripped her right out of your life without even giving her a chance to explain."

"You're insane, you know that?" I said. "You belong in the same padded cell as your sister."

At that moment we all heard the sirens wailing in the distance. Sabine turned away and my heart flew into my throat. Everyone froze. Everyone but Josh and Trey, who lurched forward, grabbing her to keep her from running. For a split second, I felt nothing but grateful relief, but then I saw the look of terror on their faces. They released Sabine and backed away as she pressed the barrel of a gun directly against Trey's heart.

Everyone around us gasped. There was a scream and a crash as some people raced for the door. I tried to back up but found that I couldn't move. My feet would simply not budge. Suddenly I was freezing cold. So cold I couldn't breathe.

Sabine turned the gun on me.

"Once you were out of Billings, I thought I finally had you. I thought I had finally succeeded in ruining your life. No friends, no boyfriend, no Billings, no future. But you just keep fighting, don't you?" Sabine said, her hand as steady as granite. "After that sappy little speech you made last night, I knew it was time for drastic measures. You're never getting back into Billings, Reed. You can't have the life you stole from Ariana. You just can't."

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"Sabine," I heard myself say, breathless. "Don't do this."

"I held this very gun to Cheyenne's head to make her take all those pills," she said evenly. "Now I'll finally have the chance to fire it." I took a step back. "Sabine--"

"Maybe I am just like my sister, Reed," she said, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "But unlike Ariana, I am going to finish this."

My life flashed before my eyes. Josh, Noelle, Thomas, Constance, Natasha, Kiran, Taylor, Dash, Scott, my parents, my grandparents, even my dog. This was it. This was the end of it all. I would never see any of them again.

"Reed! Oh my God! No!"

The sirens swelled. Josh shoved Gage aside and leapt toward me. Sabine closed her eyes and pulled. The shot went off, as deafening as a blast of thunder.

And then, everything went black.

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BEFORE REED BRENNAN CAME TO EASTON ACADEMY...

BEFORE THOMAS PEARSON WAS MURDERED...

BEFORE NOELLE LANGE RULED BILLINGS HOUSE... BEFORE ARIANA OSGOOD BECAME EASTON'S MOST NOTORIOUS STUDENT...

SHE WAS JUST ANOTHER GIRL AT BOARDING SCHOOL.

DISCOVER THE SECRET THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING IN

LAST CHRISTMAS

THE PREQUEL

Turn the page for a sneak peek of LAST CHRISTMAS, coming October 2008.

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253

THE GOOD GIRL

Ariana Osgood just wanted to go home.She knew it was insane. She was, after all, standing at the edge of the ballroom at the Driscoll Hotel, playing witness to the most decadent party of the year. The party she had circled in red on her social calendar three months ago and had been looking forward to every day since. But now that she was at the Winter Ball, watching all of Easton Academy mingle and chat and dance, all she wanted to do was go back to Billings House and be with her friends. Her sisters. Inside Billings it was simple. Inside Billings she could just be. Ariana reached up and touched her light blond hair, making sure for the fiftieth time that the chignon she'd worked so hard to achieve had held. How could she have forgotten how these events always put her on edge? Always made her feel hot and clenched and breathless. She was going to say something stupid. Or do something wrong. And everyone would see. Everyone would know.

254

Which was why she had spent the past fifteen minutes leaning against a grooved marble column on the outskirts of the room, just out of view of the table where her friends and boyfriend, Daniel Ryan, were sitting. Sooner or later they were going to notice her marathon bathroom trips and the current column-hugging, and she was going to have to rejoin their reveling. Better make these last few minutes of invisibility count.

Taking a deep breath, Ariana let the sounds of laughter and clinking silverware fade into the recesses of her mind and watched the scene around her unfold like a movie on mute. She committed every detail of the black and white marble room to memory as if her life depended on it. Noting details, cataloging a scene, always made her feel calm, in control.

There were her classmates, stiff and formal in their suits and dresses. The twelve-piece band singing pop versions of Christmas carols on the stage up front. The light December snow falling outside, the large flakes kissing the leaded windowpanes. The waxy mistletoe and the candlelit wreaths that--if she squinted her eyes just so--looked like explosions of gold.

But the curtains... well, those she had to remember down to the last filigreed stitch so she could report back to her mother about them. They were exquisite, all burgundy velvet with shimmering gold-thread fleurs-de-lis. Her mother, a New Orleans native, loved fleurs-de- lis. When Ariana was nine, her mother had given her a gorgeous gold fleur-de-lis necklace for Christmas. That had been Ariana's favorite Christmas. The last happy one she could remember. The last one before her father started taking those extended business

255 trips. Before her mother started to fade away. Ariana had never taken the antique necklace off, as if it could somehow tie her to those happier times.

"Whoops, sorry!" A drunk junior in a rumpled Betsey Johnson dress knocked into Ariana on the way to the bathroom, giggling and slurring and groping with her acne-scarred date.

With a blink, Ariana returned to her body, and the sounds of the ballroom rushed her ears at full volume. The band was playing "All I Want for Christmas," and a girl let out a shrill shriek as her boyfriend lifted her off her feet and spun her around. Ariana sighed and pushed away from the cool comfort of the column, giving her teeth a quick flick with her tongue to clear away any wayward lip gloss as she wove her way through the crowd.