Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia

was growing more distant by the second. The music I had heard from the shoulder had definitely been misleading. I assumed we were close to the rave but I was sadly mistaken. This was taking longer than it should have. I became very edgy as I realized we were walking farther and farther away from civilization.
    I would have made a run for it if it hadn’t been for the tail end of our party keeping a tight watch on me. Brynn guarded my every step, as though predicting I would disappear from our group in a heartbeat. I imagined plans to escape, dreaming that the night would get ridiculously darker and I’d slip away into it; or, maybe I’d get lucky and a branch would snap back and whack Brynn in the face, allowing me to run for it.
    My hand itched like crazy to find that branch, but no such luck. I felt Brynn’s icy stare carve a permanent hole in my back. How could Claire possibly think she could bring me here and have me actually enjoy myself? Just when I’d had enough of tripping through the dark and scraping myself silly on thorn bushes, an old warehouse came into view.
    The concrete fortress took on a chilling presence as flashing lights and pulsating music bled from its openings. A good crowd had already gathered, forming a line, and to my relief I didn’t recognize anyone from school. Leave it to Brynn and her crew to be the only ones from Carver High to make an appearance at something like this.
    Brynn stopped babysitting me long enough to push her way to the head of the line with uncanny ease. She was now busy flirting with the bouncer at the top of the steps while the strange glow from a strobe light flickered through the open doorway and bounced off her skin.
    With seconds to spare, I tried to take advantage of her absence. “Claire! Come on, let’s get out of here!”
    Claire turned to look at me with a blank expression that made me want to shake her and drag her back to her car. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself trying to conserve some body heat. I wondered if I was coming down with something.
    “Claire, please. I want to go home.”
    But as she opened her mouth to finally answer me it was Brynn’s velvet voice that I heard, not Claire’s. “She’s not ready to leave yet. Are you Claire?” She stepped closer, linking her arm possessively through Claire’s.
    I reached out and touched Claire’s arm only to recoil at the touch of her skin. It was like ice. Maybe I wasn’t coming down with something. Maybe Claire was sick.
    “Claire, let’s just go back to your car and get coffee like we planned. My head just isn’t up to this.” I pointed toward the pulsating building.
    “Aww. Do you have a headache, Teagan?” Brynn interrupted. “Or are you just concerned about protecting your stellar reputation?”
    I hated her mocking tone so I chose not to answer her. This intrigued Sage, Emily, and Lauren, all of whom suddenly stopped ogling the others in line and became interested in what was now taking place on the grass.
    Then Ryan came closer and I realized he was the leader of our little group, not Brynn. That misconception alone caught me totally off guard and made me apprehensive about what might transpire here deep in the woods. As seconds became endless, agonizing minutes, it crossed my mind that we were here for something other than a ridiculous rave.
    Ryan set the lantern down at his feet where the light seemed to exaggerate his proportions. I felt myself take a step back. In the eerie glow of the lantern his eyes appeared even darker than Brynn’s, with no distinction between pupil and iris. My breath caught in my throat. His eyes looked lost…vacant…soulless, yet eerily intelligent. As the others stood around anticipating Ryan’s call, I was being silently sized up. Claire had said something the other day about Ryan rubbing off on her intellectually. I wouldn’t have believed it until now. There was something about the way he stared, dissecting me to my core. He was reading my soul