Read Dance of the Red Death (Masque of the Red Death) for Free Online Page A

gone.”
    Elliott is on his feet immediately. “Go tell Kent and April. We need to arm ourselves,” he says. “He’s dangerous.” Thom’s eyes dart back to the corridor. He’s hiding something, but Elliott doesn’t see his face. He’s looking at Will, who has entered the room behind the boy. Thom hurries away.
    Will stops, considering Elliott, but before he can say anything, Elliott lunges at him. “You did this,” he accuses. “You let him go.”
    Will struggles to hold him back.
    “You were going to kill him.” Will’s voice is quiet but no less accusing.
    “Yes. I was. How long ago? How long has he been gone?”
    Will shrugs out of Elliott’s grip and crosses his arms as he answers.
    “He left during the storm. His only crime is having the disease and trying to get away from the city.”
    I think it’s Will’s nonchalance that pushes Elliott over the brink. He slams into Will, shoving him against the wall. Elliott’s fist connects once, and then Will is fighting back. He hits Elliott right above the eye, and Elliott’s head whips back.
    Elliott wipes a thin line of blood from his eyebrow and says, “He manipulated you. His crimes were much worse than that. I recognized him—he used to work for my uncle, before he caught the contagion. And then he started doing Malcontent’s dirty work. Ravaging the lower city. Killing children and feeding them to crocodiles.”
    Will pales. “The Hunter?”
    “Ah, you’ve heard the stories?”
    Will nods.
    “He’ll wait until the right moment to kill us,” Elliott says. “The moment that it becomes a challenge. If I were you I’d stick close to your siblings until we get out of here.” Will reacts to this like it’s a threat, shoving Elliott backward.
    “Why didn’t you tell us who he was?” he shouts. Elliott scoffs, more than ready to fight.
    I throw myself between them, facing Elliott. My arms are out to my sides, as if we are all children playing some game. But the anger in this room is far from childish.
    “They want to kill us all, you know,” Elliott says. “He told me about Malcontent’s plan. They were told to attack, to come into contact with as many people as they can. They are going to infect everyone in the city.”
    Will is shaken. “He told me about his family. He couldn’t live with them, because of the disease, but he was worried . . .”
    “You are a fool.” Elliott steps forward so my hand is pressed against his chest, and he speaks to Will over my shoulder. “We won’t be safe until Kent can get us out of here, and even then, you’ve released a killer back into the swamp.”
    A bruise is forming around Elliott’s eye from Will’s punch, in the same spot I hit him after he dangled me over the river.
    “You tortured him.” Will slumps against the wall.
    “I got information,” Elliott says. “You heard a pack of lies. Which of us is more noble?”
    I push Elliott farther from Will. “That’s enough.”
    “Elliott,” Kent calls from the room above. “We’re missing a musket. We need to get out of here—”
    “Did you give him a musket?” Elliott’s voice is so low that it’s practically a growl. “Did he tell you that he was afraid of the swamp, so you stole a gun for him?”
    “No.”
    Will looks away from Elliott’s stare. I can see by the way that his shoulders slump that he realizes the extent of his naïveté. And Elliott’s anger is only building. The tension is making him practically vibrate.
    Standing between them isn’t enough. I take Elliott’s hand. He is the one angry enough to attack. But my gesture goes deeper than that, and I know it. He looks down, and I meet his eyes. Once, I thought Will would save me. From myself. But he couldn’t even do that. I pull Elliott to the ladder, and he climbs up to help Kent.
    I glance back. Will knows. And he knows he doesn’t deserve to feel hurt, but he does. I can see the conflict in his face before he turns and walks out of the room.
    I hesitate a