They forced them out of their bedroom without any care for their appearance. Luckily, Violet had chosen a pair of boy’s shorts and a singlet before bed, unlike her usual pants and shirts. With the cold weather, the others had opted for pajamas as well, though the thin fabric clung to their damp skin as the rain continued to pour.
The storm hadn’t relented since the night before. If anything, it pounded harder now, soaking them to the bone as they walked through the downpour. The sky crackled with lightning crashes, emitting silvery lights like unyielding stormy tears, while thunder boomed above like the distant growl of some sorrowful beast.
Violet instinctively knew this storm was Alaric’s doing. The thunder boy’s heart was broken, and it was her fault. The guilt weighed heavy in her chest, making it hard to breathe. Her vision blurred with tears mixed with rain, and her foot slipped on the wet ground.
"Watch where you step, bitch!" snarled one of the girls gripping her arm, jerking her upright.
Violet glared through the rain-soaked strands of hair clinging to her face.
"What are you staring at?" the girl snapped.
Violet’s lips curved into a wicked smile. "Why don’t you let go of my hands and find out?"
"Don’t fall for that," warned the girl on her other side, tightening her grip. "She just wants a fight. Heard ghetto bitches like her know how to fight dirty."
The first girl snorted with laughter. "Good for her. She’ll be doing a lot of dirty fighting from now on."
Violet’s smile vanished, her gut twisting at those words. She knew their fate from now on was going to be bad — she just didn’t know how worse it be.
The walk dragged on, each minute stretching longer as they trudged past all four houses. With it being Saturday morning, it was no surprise that all the students were out and about—and none of them missed the chance to capture the scene.
Although the cardinal alphas were not at the scene, they were probably watching this from their rooms. Even if they didn’t, enough pictures and videos had been taken by the students for them not to miss a thing.
Violet kept her head high despite the humiliation, though her heart hammered with dread as they neared the woods bordering the Silver Glade. The sight of the dark tree line sent a shudder crawling down her spine.
Violet frowned. Surely, they wouldn’t expel them to go live in the woods like savages or something like that. They were still students at this school, right?
But instead, Elsie led them down an unfamiliar path, the rain-drenched grass squelching beneath their steps.
The air grew colder. The distant rumble of thunder reverberating through the woods like a warning.
Elsie finally came to a stop. Turning on her heel with a flourish, she spread her arms wide as if unveiling a grand surprise.
"We’re here," she announced, her smile dripping with cruel anticipation.
"Oh God..." Violet whispered, her voice drowned out by the pounding rain. She stared up in horror at the house before her, every inch of her body going cold with something far worse than the chill.
A jagged flash of lightning split the sky right at that moment, illuminating the house in stark, eerie clarity. It was a decrepit bungalow half-consumed by time and neglect.
Moss clung thickly to the walls, crawling across the cracked windows like nature’s attempt to swallow the place whole. Rainwater dripped from the sagging roof, which bowed under years of rot, and the gutters hung in jagged pieces, clinging stubbornly by rusted nails.
Even Alaric’s secret lab in the woods felt like a paradise compared to this. This? It looked like something torn straight from a nightmare.
"What the hell is this place?" Daisy whispered in horror.
"No way I’m going in there," Ivy added, hugging herself against the chill.
Violet’s heart hammered against her ribs as she took in the peeling paint, now nothing more than faint, weather-worn patches clinging to the warped wooden panels.
Whatever color the house had once been was now a distant memory, replaced by the murky greens and browns of rot and mildew. The front porch sagged dangerously, its wooden planks warped and splintered, as though one wrong step would send them plunging through the floor.
Even the front door was crooked on its hinges, as if it barely clung to the frame. One of the windows beside it had been cracked into a spiderweb of fractures, the jagged lines spreading out from a single, violent impact. Beyond the grimy glass, the interior was nothing but suffocating darkness.
"This can’t be real," Violet muttered, shaking her head.
"Oh, it’s very real," Elsie said with a smug grin, stepping beside Violet. "Welcome to your new home, Rogues. We call it ’The Shack’, though ’haunted death trap’ might be more fitting. Don’t you agree?"
The other girls giggled at what they thought was a funny joke. Except the situation was not funny to Violet and friends.
"This place should’ve been condemned," Lila whispered through clenched teeth.
"And yet, here you are!" Elsie’s eyes gleamed with dark satisfaction. "But don’t worry. I’m sure the rats will make excellent roommates. Oh—and watch out for the floorboards. Step wrong, and you might just fall through." She laughed.
Violet’s stomach twisted into knots, but she forced herself to meet Elsie’s gaze with a shaky defiance. "I’ve faced worse things than a haunted house." She downplayed it.
"Have you, though?" Elsie’s smile widened. "Because this is just the beginning."
She added, "Now, should any of you rebel and return to the pack houses, let’s just say your fate would be way worse than this. You want to go rogue, this is what it means to be a Rogue. Have a good time together, Rogues!"
Without waiting for a response, Elsie turned on her heel, her entourage following with a final chorus of laughter as they disappeared into the rain.
Silence fell on the forsaken ones, broken only by the patter of rain and distant thunder.
"Well..." Ivy swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on the porch fearfully. "We’re not actually going in there, are we?"
"We don’t have a choice," Violet replied, her throat tightening.
To be honest, Violet was scared, but she put them through this shit and couldn’t cower at a time like this. She stepped forward and the wood groaned beneath her weight.
"Careful," Lila warned. "This place feels like a death trap."
Violet swallowed the lump in her throat and reached for the rusted door knob...except it broke in her grasp.
Lila and the others groaned.
Violet sighed.
Perhaps Elsie had been right. She has not faced anything like this.