Chapter 1

ONE

Samantha

Night has fallen over the woods that surround us, and the sound of the wheels hitting the pavement is calming. The bus takes yet another curve on the winding mountain road, shifting my spot on my seat for the thousandth time. A few students are still talking, but most of the conversations have lulled as people drifted off to sleep.

The sleeping students are the smart ones. They're sleeping in preparation for reaching the Phoenix Institute, the prestigious college program we've all been accepted to for the summer. They want to be at their sharpest, which I don't blame them for. If I could sleep, I would, but my nerves won't allow it.

Next to me, Dahlia groans and puts her phone down, her expression frustrated. "Still no connection. I'm going to lose my freaking mind!" Dahlia is many things, including dramatic, a phone-obsessed Gen-Zer, a genius, and one of my closest friends.

I grin at her antics. "Afraid to be alone with your thoughts?" I love her, but it's hard to imagine what she'd look like without the glow of her phone illuminating her skin.

She gives me a half-hearted glare. "You know my thoughts are dumb bitches. You wouldn't want to be left alone with them either." Dahlia combs her long, dark hair back from her face and wraps the back until it's in a low bun.

It's magic. I swear. Between her hair and makeup, she must have sold her soul to the devil to be so skilled. "Seriously, how the hell do you do that?"

Her laughter is like bells ringing. It's one of the many deceiving things about her. This beautiful woman with a laugh like bells is tough as hell and will probably make the best game warden that anyone has ever seen. "Some of us weren't raised in the woods with wolves and stinky boys."

I scoff playfully. "I'll have you know there was only one wolf."

Dahlia has teased me since the first time she met me about my obvious lack of feminine charm. At first, I really think she was worried I was one of those pick me girls who are just "not like all the other girls," but then she realized that although I didn't understand anything traditionally feminine, it wasn't for lack of trying or lack of interest. I'd grown up in a small town racing around the woods with my two best friends, Granger and Aydan. By the time I realized that every other girl seemed to know how to flirt, do her hair, and dress cutely, it was too late for me.

Although, I've tried to discover those feminine sides to myself so hard it hurts my soul.

"Want me to help?" she offers, casting my hair a knowing look.

I nod, and shift on the seat while she grasps my unruly, curly red hair. I wouldn't trust just anyone to do this. With curly hair, you're more likely to end up with your hair in a knot than a bun, but Dahlia has magic fingers. In seconds, she releases my hair, and it stays.

"You're a witch," I tell her with a sigh. "In the best possible way."

She laughs. "Thanks. Just know you'll make it up to me when it's test time!"

Dahlia is a hell of a lot smarter than I am, but because I'm dyslexic, I'm a hell of a lot better at studying. I've spent my entire life, from elementary school through college, learning ways to appear as smart as everyone else, which basically required really good study skills. I haven't completely figured it out, but the fact that I got into this program means I must be doing a damn good job of fooling them.

She's back on her phone, tapping away and glaring. If glaring could get her what she wanted, Dahlia would have everything she ever wanted. That girl has the kind of glare that could burn through walls if you get her pissed enough.

I pick up my phone, unlock it, and check. No messages from Granger and Aydan yet, which means they're still both stuck on this damn mountain without reception. Like me. Only my bus is ahead of theirs.

Biting my lip, I glance around the bus, then open my pictures and find the one of Aydan. It's a few years old, before we left for college, but it's one of my favorites. He's laying beside a pool, hands behind his head, grinning at me.

My cheeks heat as I stare at the picture. He might only see me as a friend, but I've seen him as so much more since we were young. My only hope of getting my crush under control is if he's gotten a hell of a lot uglier in the past few years.

Which is doubtful when he looked this good.

"This obsession is getting sad."

I jump, and glare at Dahlia as she looks over my shoulder at the picture. "It's not an obsession."

She laughs and touches the screen. "You know, I wasn't saying that in a judgy way. If you hadn't peed all over him, I could get a little obsessed about him, too."

My jaw drops. "I didn't pee all over him." I'm not an animal claiming him as my own, and she knows it. I'm more like a good friend who will beat down any girl who so much as looks at him. A friend who would be more, if he let me.

She lifts a brow. "Are you saying he's up for grabs?"

I mimic her words in a weird voice. "Are you saying he's up for grabs?"

Then, we're both laughing

She touches the screen again, zooming in on his abs. "He's in Fire Sciences, huh?" She sighs dramatically. "Firefighters. Fuck me, I've got a weakness for them."

I don't mention she has a weakness for almost every good-looking guy, because I'm not a bitch. "It's not like I'm going to do anything about it. I might scratch the eyes out of any girl who goes after him, but, otherwise, I'm powerless."

She huffs. "You're hardly powerless. I can show you how to give him a blow job that will leave him begging you for more."

The guy in the seat across the aisle from me, a guy I thought was asleep a second ago, leans over. "Uh, you could practice on me." His gaze is locked with mine, and I swear I want to melt into the seat.

Dahlia looks him dead in the eye and says, "Come here."

His eyes widen, and he leans in closer.

She smacks him on the forehead. "Bad nerd! Gross nerd! Go back to sleep!"

He slinks back into his seat, and I look at her in shock. "Bad nerd? Aren't we all nerds?"

"If you don't punish them, they won't learn."

She's talking about men. I've heard this rant before, so I cut her off, lowering my voice, since apparently the big-eared guy next to us has super hearing. "What do you think I should do? Seriously?"

Glancing back to my phone, she zooms in on his crotch. "I think you should ride that thing until he stops thinking of you as a friend, and starts thinking of you as a tight va–"

"Dahlia!" I grab my phone and close the photo, trying to think about what the hell to say now.

Suddenly, something changes in the air, and I stiffen. Everyone is still talking or sleeping. Nothing appears any different, and yet, I can sense it . Like the second before an animal attacks. It's like the world around me is holding its breath while trouble approaches, and every muscle in my body has grown tense in preparation for it.

"What's wrong?" Dahlia asks, her voice uncertain.

I shake my head, staring all around, trying to figure out why my instincts are screaming. And then, I know. I feel it.

Racing for the front of the bus, I slide across the floor, worried about being standing when it hits. "Earthquake," I whisper to the driver, trying not to startle him or freak out the bus full of college students.

"Earthquake?" he repeats to me, his big gray brows lifting, like he doesn't believe me.

Before I can answer, it suddenly feels like a giant has pounded the road. The driver slams on his brakes, and the bus fishtails. The road is slipping and sliding in a circle around us, and everyone is screaming. I'm holding onto the metal that connects the seat to the floor, my body snapping around like a flag in the wind.

And then we stop.

The sound of my heartbeat and the panting from everyone on the bus fills my ears, but I leap to my feet, my gaze darting all around me. This mountain is infamous for its quakes. It's the reason half of us are on this bus. But that gut feeling that something is still wrong is churning in my stomach.

Grabbing the door handle, I open the door, needing air and silence to think. The driver is slumped over in his chair, although he doesn't look injured, just in shock. I climb out of the bus, staring around the quiet road and then up at the mountain. Some of the space around me is highlighted by a street light, the rest by the moon and stars, but still, I'm squinting, trying to figure out what the hell is bothering me.

There's a rumbling. The ground shakes beneath my feet. Is it the aftershock?

No, this feels… different. Wrong. My damned instincts are screaming like mad. I see a tree bend above us. Birds rise into the sky, their shadows dark against the moon and stars.

And I know .

Racing back into the bus, I shout, "Go! Go! Rock slide!"

The driver doesn't move. So I pull him out of his seat, practically tossing him into a seat, take his place, put the bus into drive, then slam my foot on the gas. Glancing at the door, I curse. In my hurry, I'd left it open. The wind whips through the vehicle, tearing at me while I try to keep us going, and the students scream, clinging to their seats.

Rocks come shooting from the mountain, rolling behind us, crashing over the edge of the road and down into the abyss. The rocks are all around us, and I'm steering the best I can, trying to avoid the dangerous obstacles. A big one comes so close I think it'll go right through the open door and kill me, but I maneuver around it, sending the bus turning and sliding again, everyone crying out in fear behind me as they're thrown about the bus.

Then I'm not thinking. I'm just doing. Slowing. Shooting faster. Playing Leapfrog with our lives. The air fills with screams of terror.

I have no idea how much time passes before the rocks pass. The road changes, leveling out in front of us, and the screaming in the back of the bus silences. It seems that we're safe.

Hell.

I slow us down, put the bus in park, and walk back to my seat, legs shaking.

Collapsing into my spot beside Dahlia, I listen as the bus driver radios the Phoenix Institute with what happened and our location. We're to pull off the road and wait for the all-clear that the road is safe to travel. They reassure us. They have an incredible crew who will have the road checked over and safe in no time.

Like this literally happens all the time.

All. The. Time.

Fuck. I hope I'm ready for this.