The Raven Game by Jessica Sorensen

Raven

The moment the song started playing, bits and pieces of my past came rushing back to me. Stuff I couldn’t remember, stuff I didn’t even think of to try to remember. I realized at that moment that a lot of my memories have been blocked out. And while I still can’t remember a lot, I can remember a time I never knew existed.

A time when I knew Zay, Hunter, and Jax.

My dream wasn’t a dream, after all. It was a memory. A nightmare-ish memory.

When I was younger, I would come to this town and be forced to participate in a fucked-up game where kids of powerful men hunted each other.

I still can’t remember everything, but I remember enough to know I was part of this. I’m not sure why. My parents weren’t powerful or wealthy, at least from what I remember. But I’m starting to question how reliable my memories are. Still, some hold truth to it.

Like how I was lied to my entire life.

How nothing was real.

How everyone betrayed me.

How I am a monster.

I really am.

I also know that, once upon a time, I played this game with Jax, Hunter, and Zay, and from what I can tell from the images surfacing in my mind, they hunted me once.

As soon as I remember this, I drag my ass off the floor and run for the door to leave this house, but all the doors are locked.

“Shit,” I mumble, trying not to panic as that song floats through the hallways of the house.

I glance at the cameras mounted all over the walls, knowing the guys can probably see me. And if memory serves me right, that song playing means the game is starting, which means they’re about to start hunting me.

I need a weapon.

I find my way back to the kitchen and grab a knife. It feels strange in my hand, almost like it belongs there. In fact, I feel more powerful at this moment, like I know how to kick some ass. And maybe I do.

I guess we’re about to find out.

I suck in a breath and exit the kitchen, moving quietly. I can hear the guys talking from somewhere. I could hide, but I don’t think that’s my style, because I move toward them instead, much quieter than I thought I could move.

When I reach them, they look like they’re panicking. Good.

So am I.

In fact, my mind is racing a million miles a minute as horrible memories play on repeat inside my mind.

Kill them.

Blood on my hands.

Become a killer.

Think like a killer.

Kill them, Ravenlee.

The last thought is whispered in my dad’s voice.

I want to cry, break the fuck down, and maybe I would’ve, if I weren’t in the house that belongs to three guys who once hunted me.

Have they known the whole time?

Is that what everything was about?

To trick me so they could kill me?

Even if it was, they’re not going to win this time.

I sneak up behind Jax and touch the tip of the knife to the small of his back. He immediately stiffens, and then Hunter spots me. His eyes widen while Jax lets out a string of curses.

“Little Raven,” Hunter starts, cautiously inching toward me.

“I told you not to call me that,” I warn him. “And if you take another step toward me, I’ll stab him.”

Hunter freezes, hands to his sides.

The scary part is that I’m not sure if I will stab Jax or not, not sure if I’m capable of stabbing someone.

Zay straightens as his gaze locks on me. He doesn’t say anything. He merely looks at me like he’s struggling to figure something out. Perhaps how to disarm me?

“Don’t even think about it,” I warn him.

“You don’t even know what I’m thinking,” he says, narrowing his eyes.

“Maybe not, but I’m pretty sure I can put it together,” I snap. “You’re trying to figure out how to disarm me so you can … Well, whatever the hell you guys did to me the last time that stupid song played.”

He contemplates something. “You say that like you can’t remember.”

“She might not,” Hunter tells him with his gaze trained on me. “Remember how she told us she can’t remember much from her past.”

“She seems to be able to now,” Jax drones out in that stupid nonchalant tone, like he doesn’t care that I have a knife pressed to his back.

Like he doesn’t think I’m going to stab him.

Jokes on him, because I just might.

I press the knife harder against him until it pokes him through his shirt.

He lets out a hollow laugh. “I should’ve known this entire time that you were playing us.”

My jaw ticks. “You think I played you? Fuck off. I could barely remember anything about my life up until moving to this damn town. And even then, it was just bits and pieces until I heard that stupid song playing from a phone that you guys gave me.”

“We may have given you the phone, but I promise you we’d never play that damn song,” Zay snaps, but then puzzlement creases between his brow. “How is it even playing from your phone, anyway?”

I lift a shoulder. “Some unknown sender started sending me messages about you guys earlier. I think they hacked my phone or something.”

Zay gapes at me. “Then why do you think we did this to you?”

I shrug again. “In the first message, they said I shouldn’t trust you—that you guys have secrets. And clearly, you do, since I can remember some of them now. You know, in my forgotten memories.”

Jax shakes his head. “So, you think we’re the ones who forced you to remember? Why the hell would we do that?”

“I have no freakin’ idea!” I snap. “But probably for the same reason you brought me into your group and lied to me about knowing me.”

“No one lied about that,” Jax replies, his calm tone pissing me off. “We didn’t realize who you were until now. Did we have a suspicion? Sure. But that’s all it was. And honestly, I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to come back to this town.”

“I didn’t choose to come to this town,” I growl out, poking him with the knife and for sure drawing blood this time. “My aunt and uncle forced me to move here.”

“Seems like a pretty damn convenient story,” Jax replies, his hands twitching at his sides. “Just like your story of not being able to remember anything.”

“That’s not a story,” I seethe. “It’s the truth. And quit moving your damn hands or I’m gonna stab you.”

“You know what?” Jax says with a hint of taunt in his tone. “I don’t think you will.”

Then, in the snap of a finger, he whirls around and smacks the knife out of my hand. It hits the floor with a clank, and he stares at me with this almost arrogant look in his eyes.

Something snaps inside me, something that I didn’t know existed, and before I can even decipher it, I bring my hand up and smack him across the face. And I’m not talking like a girlie slap. My hit has a technique to it, as if I’ve been taught to hit. Maybe by my dad and mom? They did teach me self-defense, but I don’t know, this feels different. More experienced.

Jax feels the smack, too, his head turning to the side, but he doesn’t reach up to clutch his face.

Hunter curses under his breath, while Zay steps toward me to do who the hell knows what?

I turn to him, fists raised. “You wanna be next?” I ask with a challenge in my tone.

My heart is racing so fiercely in my chest that the noise is almost all I can hear. And the amount of adrenaline coursing through me right now makes me feel like I could run a damn marathon. Or, you know, kick three guys’ asses.

Zay’s nostrils flare, his lips parting, but Jax straightens and holds up his hand in Zay’s direction.

“Let it go,” he tells him while keeping his gaze fixed on me.

His cheek is bright red and already swelling. It seems like I should feel bad, but I don’t.

Zay shakes his head in annoyance. “Let it go? Look at her. She’s about to come unglued.”

Jax continues to look at me. “No, she’s not. Because she’s going to start looking at this rationally and realize that she’s clearly outnumbered and doesn’t stand a chance if she decides to fight us.”

What I do next is based on several different things. 1). Things from my past that I’ve been taught. 2). Fear. 3). A bunch of repressed anger that stems from being bossed around and abused for way longer than I even realized until today. All of that lashes through me and, not giving a shit about the consequences, I lift my hand and strike Jax again. However, this time he’s prepared for it and grabs my hand mid-hit.

For a heart-slamming moment, we both stand there, staring at each other and breathing heavily. Then I snap out of it and move to hit him with my other hand. He catches that one, too, then swings me around and backs me up into the wall.

He pins my arms to the wall beside my head, his breathing rushing out of him, his eyes wild, and for the first time since I met him—or well, the adult version of him—he looks out of control. And I’ll admit, it’s kind of terrifying. But not enough for me to back down.

“You know, you just put yourself in a very vulnerable situation,” I say in a low tone. “One lift of my knee, and you’re going to be down on your knees in front of me.”

His nostrils flare, the muscles in his jaw ticking.

“Jax,” Hunter says with worry in his tone as he steps toward us. “Take a deep breath and try to calm down.”

“Maybe you should be saying that to her.” Zay looks at me. “She’s the one who’s instigating this.”

“She’s just scared,” Hunter tries to stick up for me.

“No, I’m not,” I tell Hunter then glare at Jax. “At all.”

It’s a lie. I’m scared and jacked up on a lot of adrenaline and not thinking very clearly.

As Jax leans in, I prepare to knee him in the balls, but what he whispers in my ear causes me to pause. And question everything.

“I’ll never hurt you, Raven.”

My heart momentarily stops beating.

Those words are just what he said to me in my memories.

Is it just a coincidence, or is he the one who said that to me all those years ago?

He slants back and looks me in the eyes. For a flash of an instant, I see it.

Vulnerability.

My lips part. I’m not sure what I’m going to say, whether I believe him or not, but I never get to find out. Before the words can leave my lips, a window breaks from nearby.

And then all hell breaks loose.