Chapter 50 – Ghosts of That Night
Sam's POV
I didn’t want to remember.
But my brain didn’t care what I wanted.
After that dream of Lily and Elias’s quiet probing, the memories came back like a flood, unstoppable. I lay awake, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, Elias’s even breathing across the room the only sound grounding me.
And then I was back there, not in the dorm, not in the present. Back with her.
Back to the night that changed everything.
She came to me after midnight.
I’ll never forget it—the way she tapped on my window instead of the door, like she was sneaking away from ghosts. Her hair was a mess, her hoodie zipped up to her chin even though it was warm.
When I pulled her inside, I nearly choked on the sight of her face. She looked… shattered.
“Lily?” I whispered. “What happened?”
“Don’t freak out,” she said immediately. Her voice trembled, though she tried to make it sound steady. “I’m fine. I just… I need to talk.”
“That’s literally the worst way to tell me you’re fine,” I shot back.
She sat on the edge of my bed, picking at the hem of her sleeve. “I went to a party tonight.”
I folded my arms, raising an eyebrow. “So? You’ve gone to parties before.”
Her lips pressed tight. “Not like this one.”
Something in her tone made my stomach twist. “Where?”
She avoided my gaze. “At the dorms.”
The dorms. My blood ran cold. “Lily, tell me you didn’t—”
“I didn’t know!” she snapped, voice cracking. “I thought it was just an upperclass party. Music, drinks, stupid games. But then…”
Her hands shook as she tugged at her sleeves. “Then they showed up.”
“Who?” I asked, but I already knew.
She swallowed hard. “Declan. And his friends.”
I sat down beside her, every muscle in my body tense. “What did they do?”
Her eyes darted to mine, wide and wet. “They cornered me. They started saying things, calling me ‘pretty little thing,’ asking if I wanted to know what it was like to be with a real man.”
I clenched my fists so tight my nails bit into my palms. “And you left. Right?”
She gave a hollow laugh. “I tried.”
Her voice broke on the word, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“They blocked the door. One of them grabbed my arm. They just kept laughing, Sam. They said no one would believe me if I told. That they could do whatever they wanted.”
I grabbed her hand. “What did they do?”
Her lips trembled, her voice barely a whisper. “Everything.”
Silence. Thick, suffocating silence.
I pulled her into me, heart pounding like it was trying to escape my chest. She shook in my arms, and I wanted to kill them. Right then, right there.
“I’ll go to the police,” I said, my voice raw. “I’ll tell everyone what they did.”
She jerked back, panic flashing in her eyes. “No! You can’t.”
“Lily—”
“You don’t get it,” she snapped, tears spilling. “They own this place. The cops. The teachers. Everyone. Do you think anyone’s going to touch the Wards? Or the Cross? Or any of them? No. They’ll laugh in your face, and then they’ll come for you.”
Her words stabbed into me, each one sharper than the last.
“Promise me you won’t,” she begged. “Promise me you won’t go after them.”
I shook my head. “How can you ask me that? After what they—”
“Because I can’t lose you too!” Her voice broke, and the sound of it tore me apart.
I stared at her, at her swollen eyes and trembling mouth. My sister. My only family that mattered.
I pressed my forehead against hers, my voice low and shaky. “I’ll protect you.”
But the truth was, I couldn’t.
Because days later, she was gone.
The memory twisted, rewound, replayed.
This time I wasn’t in my room with her. This time I was outside the dorms, searching.
I remembered her last message to me: “If I’m not back by midnight, something’s wrong.”
It was almost two when I reached the building.
I shouldn’t have been there, but adrenaline shoved fear out of the way. The halls reeked of alcohol and smoke. Laughter echoed, loud and cruel.
And then I heard it.
Her voice.
Muffled. Pleading.
“Please. Stop. Don’t—”
And another voice, deep and mocking. Declan’s.
“No one’s coming for you, sweetheart. You’re ours now.”
Rage surged through me. I ran toward the sound, but a door slammed shut before I could reach it. I pressed my ear against the wood, fists shaking.
Inside, the voices tangled.
“Hold her down.”
“She’s crying—listen to her, she loves it.”
“You’re going to remember us forever, princess.”
My body shook. I pounded on the door, screaming her name. “Lily!”
The voices went silent.
Then someone laughed. Low. Sinister.
When the door finally cracked open, the hallway was empty.
And Lily was never the same again.
The memory ripped me out of sleep, my chest heaving like I’d run a marathon. I sat up, heart pounding, tears burning at the corners of my eyes.
Across the room, Elias shifted. I froze, praying he hadn’t heard me cry out.
But his voice was soft in the dark. “Sam?”
I swallowed hard. “Go back to sleep.”
“You were talking again.”
I turned away, scrubbing at my face. “It was just a dream.”
He didn’t push, but I could feel his eyes on me, steady and searching.
And that’s when I heard it—the faint creak of a floorboard by the door.
My blood ran cold.
Someone was there.
A shadow lingered beyond the crack, silent, watching.
I held my breath, every muscle tense.
And then the door clicked shut.