Unraveling Selena by Marisa Maichel (black female authors TXT) 📕

try, but I’ve been scared of freakier things. For example, real vampires don’t have fake accents. All of our accents are real. I’ve seen a real werewolf in wolf form, and they don’t have human legs. Oh, and zombies are extremely hard to find, as they are dead beings who have been cursed to walk again even though their bodies are decaying or have decayed.”

“That’s nuts,” Duke said. “Are the werewolves you’ve seen like the ones in Twilight?”

“They’re bigger, uglier, and stinkier,” I said. “And a lot more vicious. They can’t control themselves in wolf form. They are totally controlled by the moon, and they can’t control when they change. They also can’t control their actions or thoughts. My father’s dating one. He stays away from the rest of us because when we smell each other’s blood, we go nuts. There’s no stopping us if we want to kill each other.”

“He? Is your dad gay?”

“He’s bi, like me. Many vampires are sexually ambiguous. They don’t care who their sexual partner is. Finding a real relationship is extremely hard because there’s a limited number of matches for each vampire. Some vampires date other species, including humans, Elves, fairies, and so on. I even knew one who married a centaur.”

As Nick Cave started singing “Red Right Hand”, we reached a woman laying on a table with her heart missing. Her heart was under a glass bell jar. I gasped as someone grabbed me around the waist. I turned and saw one of the skeletons grinning at me.

“Very funny,” I said, prying his clothed hands off of me.

“I said, it’ll be hard to scare him,” he said. “So, my friend says that I couldn’t scare you. I tell him he’s on, and now he owes me five bucks.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I lied. He laughed. I shook him off.

As soon as the guys and I reached the end, the terror became real. I was roughly shoved into a metal vault along with Duke and Noah. Noah cursed loudly.

I did a belly flop on the hard cement floor, which hurt like hell. Duke and Noah landed on me, Noah being the first one to scramble to his feet. The door was shut behind us. Noah pushed on the door. I aided him, kicking the door as hard as I could. The door barely dented. I tried again. The door dented again, but hardly budged.

“We’ve tried,” said a voice behind me. I turned around. There was Cole Powers, Amara Ruick, Elliot, Caden Cartwright, and a few other guys who went to our school.

“He dented it, though,” said Dante. “That’s something.”

“Who the hell are these people?” I demanded.

“Martin Luther King students,” said Tiffany Schulton, a gossip and cheerleader. “They think it’s funny.”

“How? We don’t even have a rivalry with them,” I said. No one answered. I turned and kicked the door again. Then I pulled out my cell phone.

“We’ve tried that already,” Caden said. “No one can get a signal.”

I tried to text Father, to no avail. Unable to send. Damn.

Father? I tried mentally to contact him. Father?

Reese? What is it? I was watching you, then everything went blank. What happened?

Some people apparently decided it would be funny to kidnap me and some other people who go to North Hampton High.

Okay, stay put. I will try to locate you.

I’m at North Hampton Haunted House in some kind of vault.

I’ll be there as soon as I can.

“I managed to get a hold of my father,” I said. “He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

They all looked relieved at this.

“Damn, how’d you do that?” Elliot asked. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answered.” I enjoyed the look of confusion and fear on his face.

“Not cool!” A shriek pierced my ears as a female was shoved in. It was Sarah. She kicked the door, her heel breaking on contact. “These are my best shoes!” she complained. She turned around, her eyes widening as she took her high heels off. “Okay, my story is that I was looking for my friend Mia, and some asshole skeleton grabbed me and shoved me in here. What’s everyone else’s story?”

“The same thing happened to me, Duke, and Noah,” I said. “Except for looking for the friend part.”

A voice came over. “Welcome to the High School Games. You are all students of North Hampton High School. Each of you has a secret. Each of you must tell the others your secret if you want to leave.”

Sarah stood next to me, tearing up. “I’m scared, Reese.”

“I know, baby. I am, too. I contacted my father. He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

“This is fucked up,” Mason said, speaking up for the first time. “Reese, Sarah and I already know each other’s secrets. Why do we have to tell everyone else?”

“Because we keep each other’s secrets,” I said.

“Some friend you are,” Noah snapped. “I’ve been your best friend for how long? And you turn around and lie to me!”

“Fuck you, Noah. I don’t have to tell you anything!” Mason shouted back. “Who else thinks this is lame?”

Without waiting for an answer, he got up and kicked the door. It didn’t budge.

“Let’s just tell each other something about ourselves,” Caden said. “I’ll start. My father’s name is Puck. Like in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That’s as much as I’m willing to say. Who’s next?”

“I’ll go,” Sarah said. “My father died from stomach cancer two years ago. My mother is an alcoholic. He was the only one who could control her. When Daddy died, we all kind of went off the deep end. I was raped by Michael Nales. I had his baby. Reese’s mother and stepfather adopted the baby. I get to see him every day, because I live with them. My mother is in rehab.”

Everyone looked surprised and shocked at this revelation.

“I’d heard that Michael hurt you,” Elliot said. “You had a baby?”

“I named the baby Cirino,” Sarah said. “I’m glad I didn’t abort him, but I want that option to be available to every victim.”

“Abortion is evil,” said Clarissa Brawn. “Only Jesus can decide what to do with a fetus.”

“You know what? We all have different opinions,” Sarah said. “It’s deciding which one is fact and which one is the right thing that’s hard. Republicans and Democrats fight all the time over what’s the right thing. Not just them, but every religion, every politician, every party, even us. Most of us want to do the right thing.

“I also didn’t abort Cirino because my grandparents wouldn’t have liked it. My nonna and grandpa are Orthodox Jews.”

“You should have said something,” Dante said. “Patrick was saying all those offensive things about Jews.”

“You’re right, and I wish I had. And I wasn’t the only one who was offended.”

“I’ll go next,” Noah said. He looked at Amara. “Amara, I’m in love with you. I’m sorry it took me this long to figure out, but it’s the truth.”

Amara, surprised, said nothing. But Cole did.

“Dude, do you honestly think that she’s going to you just because you said you liked her? She’s my woman. You had your chance.”

“I know, and I screwed it up. I’m sorry, Amara.”

“I have been in love with Sarah since freshman year,” I said, amid gasps and intakes of breath. “I got together with her last year after I helped her after she was raped by Nales.”

“I love him,” Sarah said, to more gasps. I hugged her and kissed her hair. “He’s my boyfriend.”

“I tried to kill myself several times,” Mason said. “My father or Reese always stopped me before I could go through with it, though.”

“I lost my virginity to a guy,” Dante admitted.

“Dude, so did I,” I told him. “I’m bisexual.”

“Bisexuality is wrong,” Clarissa continued. “You are betraying the opposite sex when you-“

“Hey Clarissa,” Sarah broke in, “It doesn’t bother me one bit. I actually think it’s kind of hot. Honestly, no one expected this to come from you. You’re one of the most goth people in school.”

“I’m not goth,” Clarissa said. “I went to a Christian camp last summer and found Jesus. I realized that I’ve been a sinner all my life.”

“All of us have sinned, even Jesus,” Sarah said. “Did He or did He not say ‘Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone’?”

“He said that,” Clarissa said. “And I thought you were Jewish.”

“I’m half-Jewish,” Sarah corrected. “On my mother’s side.”

“Yet you say your mother drinks like a sailor.”

“She does. She abandoned Judaism earlier this year. She’s now an atheist.”

“She’s going to hell, then.”

“Hey, Clarissa,” I said, “A stab sounds the same in every language. Shut up and leave her alone.”

“It’s okay, Reese,” Sarah said. “I’m used to offensive comments.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Amara said, speaking up for the first time. “The truth is, I’m also bisexual. I didn’t know or admit it until recently when I realized I was attracted to you, Sarah.”

“A chick, really?” Cole said. “Super lame, Amara.”

“You’re a pug-nosed asshole,” I told him. He stood up and got chest-to-chest with me.

“Want to fight, weirdo?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t want to fight anyone tonight.”

“I’m dying,” Elliot said. We all looked at him. “I’m a compulsive overeater. I gain weight quickly, and it stays. My stomach has actually almost burst because of it. Now I have diabetes and thyroid problems.” He paused. “Also, I’m in love with Sarah. Sarah, you are the kindest, sweetest, most incredible person I’ve ever met. I am completely and totally head over heels for you. The truth is, I’ve been using our study group to spend time with you. I know you have a boyfriend, and I respect that.”

“What about Britt?” Sarah asked.

“The only reason why I’m with Britt at all is because she practically begged me to go to Homecoming with her. Now she clings to me like glue. I was trying to get away from her when I got thrown in here.”

“I claim to be a vegetarian,” Dante said, “But the truth is I eat meat. Mostly pot roast. My dad makes the best pot roast. Also, my sister thinks she’s white. She called herself white sexual. I don’t even know what that means. It’s annoying.”

“My family is rich,” I said. “We’re up there with the Rothchilds and Trump.”

“It’s true,” Sarah said. “I get a part of the family pay.”

“Then why do you go to our school?” Caden asked.

“My father wanted me to be as far removed from his world as possible. Also, I wanted everyone to like me for who I am, not my money.”

“These are all good secrets,” said the voice over the intercom. “Let’s see if we can dig deeper. Reese, who is your father?”

“Mordecai Emerson, son of Eilief Emerson and brother of Soren Emerson,” I replied. “Grandson of Emery, uncle to Louis Emerson, and father to Reese Emerson.”

“He’s a prince, is he not?” said the voice. All eyes went wide as my classmates focused on me.

“Fine, yes, he’s a prince. Not of a country, but of a race. I…am a vampire.”

Some of my classmates laughed nervously, others looked downright scared.

“Did you know?” Elliot asked Sarah. She nodded.

“I did. I’ve known for a while now.”

“Demon!” Clarissa Brawn shouted. “Spawn of the devil!”

“I’m not Satanic,” I said. “I’m actually a believer in the old Norse and Olympian gods and goddesses. And the Christian God, of course.”

“Do you drink blood?” Elliott asked me.

“I do, mostly donated blood. My family has several bloodbanks all around the world. We use that instead of hunting humans,” I half-lied. “My father’s family is from Denmark. My mother is from Greece. She’s three hundred years old. My father is over two thousand years old.”

Sarah slid down onto the floor. I sat beside her, holding her. Elliot got up and sat on her other side. She leaned against him. I bit back jealousy and assumed that he was warmer.

“So, do you turn into a bat?” Dante asked.

“No. I don’t turn into animals at all, actually. Some vampires can shapeshift, but no one