“Don’t apologize about Phoenix again, January,” he warned with a glare.
“I wasn’t. I was just going to say goodnight.”
He didn’t respond for a second. “That’s it?”
“That’s all I had to say.” I opened my door as he opened his.
As I walked to my bedroom, I patted my leg, calling Bailey to me. She bounced on her front paws, staring at the door, so I called, “Bailey, come on. He’s not coming in.”
Bailey walked a few feet and then stopped halfway, ears perked, and she looked back.
I kept calling her, and Bailey finally trudged into my room. My giant fuzzy shepherd finally settled, lying down beside me with a huff. I hugged her to me, and Bailey shifted until her cold nose pressed to my cheek. Several hours later, sleep finally let me escape the worst Monday of my life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Ropes scratched my aching hands as my sides burned. My mouth tasted like bathroom cleaner, and every inch of my body ached, but I kept moving.
“Thirty more seconds, Miss Moore! Pick up the pace,” Professor Whitney yelled from the blacktop.
Pretty much the entire freshman class was waiting for me there, panting and holding their sides. Most of them were covered in blue liquid from the dummies they stabbed long ago.
“You can do it, January!” Richard called from one side of the crowd. “January! January!”
Mia took up the chant, and the rest of the crowd followed.
I glanced down from the top of the tower at the remainder of the ropes course. There was absolutely no way I’d make this climbing.
“Fifteen seconds!” Professor Whitney called.
I leaped off the structure. My feet hit the ground hard, sending pressure resonating through my legs all the way up to my jaw. My teeth ached as they clenched around the stake.
“Keep going! Ten, nine…”
I leaped to my feet, ignoring the sensation burning through all of my muscles, and sprinted for the dummy. Spitting the stake from my mouth, I wrapped my hand around it.
“Get it in the heart…” Mia held up crossed fingers.
I stabbed down, and the stake plunged into the dummy. A satisfying squirt of blue liquid poured out onto my hands.
“And, one!”
A cheer rose up among the freshmen who’d all finished the midterm long ago.
“And, everyone passes the midterm. Nice work.” Professor Whitney marked my score on her clipboard. “Alright class, you’ve already been excused, so leave.”
Mia threw an arm around my shoulders. “Look at you. Passing your midterm.”
“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” I said through heaving breaths. The midterm had taken up my entire morning, and honestly, I was so disappointed that it was over. For three whole hours, I didn’t think about the fact Justin was gone and Mitch hated me.
“Hey January,” Richard called over from where he was sitting in his wheelchair and looking at his phone. He leaned forward and smiled, showing his crooked front tooth. “Susie wanted me to tell you to respond to her texts. I’m assuming it’s about the outfit she made for you.”
“What? When did she text me?” I asked, because I hadn’t heard from Susie in almost a week.
“I think it was recent—maybe last night or this morning. She’s been really anxious about midterms and…” Richard trailed off.
“She’s dealing with some stuff,” Mia said.
“What? Is everything okay?” I asked, looking between them.
Mia winced. “We’ll let her tell you.”
“Honestly, she might have just texted while you were in the midterm, but do me a favor and text her back soon?” Richard ended the statement with a smile.
“On it.” I nodded back toward the school, planning to ask if they wanted to actually go to lunch together since I was done for the day, when Principal Chambers, my social worker Mr. Walters, and three Hawthorn Group soldiers in tactical gear rushed down the path toward us.
“Miss Moore,” Mr. Walters called out. His white hair had the same slicked down style, and his suit was pressed, but the tower of a man looked even more exhausted than usual, if that was possible. “Can you come with us to Principal Chambers’ office, please?”
“Why?” I asked, looking between him and the guards.
Principal Chambers held up her hands. “We only need you to answer some questions, Miss Moore. Your guardian and lawyer will be present the whole time. We have guarantees that it won’t be like last time.”
“Professor Sharp is just arriving now,” Mr. Walters said with a nod.
“Can I talk to her before this starts?” I asked. “Can I talk to you?”
“We do not have that privilege.” Mr. Walters didn’t sound whatsoever happy about it.
“Am I being arrested for something?” I asked.
Principal Chambers waved a hand in the air. “Of course not… but we need you to come now.”
“Can she at least shower and change?” Mia asked from beside me, and I remembered that she and Richard were still there, watching. “If you’re not arresting her, then she has a choice.”
Principal Chambers cleared her throat and tapped her high-heeled shoe a couple of times. She wore another pantsuit, this one black. Stiffly, she turned to me. “Miss Moore, I think it would be better if you’d just come with us. These soldiers have been instructed to take you by force, and I don’t want things to escalate that far.”
The soldiers moved forward, and I raised my hands. “I’m coming.”
Mia kept pace with me. “She has rights, you know.”
“Ms. Acosta, I would hate to have to demote you,” Principal Chambers said on a sigh.
“What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t speak up when I saw a student’s rights being violated?” Mia snapped.
“Mia, I’m okay. Thank you for standing up for me, but I don’t want you to get involved.” The soldiers closed around me, and Mia fell back to stand with Richard.
Blood pumped in my ears as I followed the principal up the path back to Blackburn. Dark clouds hung low in the sky, and there was a buzz in the air, like the whole world was tensing for what was about to happen. The hallways were empty, and signs marked most doors, asking for silence during testing. In the principal’s office, I found Professor Sharp talking in furious low tones to Mr. Yates.
A familiar device sat in front of one of the chairs. It was a small half circle with finger grooves and a strap. I knew that if I put my hand in that contraption, this group here would instantly know if I was lying. After my entrance trials, three of the professors held me down and forced me to give up my secrets using that machine.
Mr. Yates broke away from Professor Sharp and turned toward me. “Miss Moore, as you are classified as a highly dangerous creature and are a ward of the Hawthorn Group, you are not allowed to refuse interrogation under any circumstances.”
I glanced over at Mr. Walters.
“Unfortunately, this is true, though the provisional law was not passed with January Moore’s interrogation in mind.” The tall man took the seat beside me and laced his fingers together. “Mr. Yates proposed it and the Elite Council voted it into law this morning.”
“Take a seat, Miss Moore, or you will be forced to comply,” Mr. Yates snapped.
I glared into the man’s dark eyes and pushed my fingers into the grooves. The lie detector was smooth and cool to the touch.
Mr. Yates scooped up a tablet and cleared his throat. “Let’s begin. Did you help Justin Roberts escape the Hawthorn Group?”
“No,” I said as my heart galloped in my chest. I wasn’t sure how that would read, but Professor Sharp nodded.
“There. She wasn’t part of it.” Professor Sharp said as she watched the tablet over Mr. Yates's shoulder.
“Far from conclusive.” The wrinkles around Mr. Yates's eyes tightened.
“Were you in any way involved with Justin Roberts’ escape?” Mr. Yates asked.
“I had no idea th
ere were escape plans for last Monday, no.” I wasn’t sure that my words would read as true until Professor Sharp nodded again.
“Did you know that Justin Roberts was a strzyga demon, Miss Moore?” Mr. Yates snapped.
“Mr. Yates, it’s not a crime to know information,” Mr. Walters said as he drummed his fingers on the table. “Your questions can only seek to confirm legal transgressions that my client may have committed. That is part of this new law.”
Mr. Yates’ gaze burned into mine. “Withholding vital information that caused numerous deaths may not be a crime we can arrest you for, but you did more than that, didn’t you? What were you and Mitch Holter doing last night between the hours of your departure at seven-fifty and when you checked in late for curfew at…” Mr. Yates pulled a sheet of paper from his coat and read, “Ten twenty-three. Leave nothing out, Miss Moore.”
“Mitch and I were hanging out in my room, and he told me that Justin passed him a note that made it seem like something was going on.” Under the table, I squeezed my hand into a fist until my nails bit into my palm. Very carefully, I said, “We went to Justin’s house, but when we got there, it was full of Hawthorn Group vans. We backed out of the driveway and drove away.”
Mr. Yates looked up from his tablet sharply. “Why did you flee the scene?”
“To look for Justin,” I said. “I saw the soldiers arresting the Roberts and Henry and searching the grounds. We guessed that Justin managed to escape.”
Mr. Yates slapped a hand down. “Did you work with your father to help Justin escape?”
Mr. Walters tapped his long fingers on the table. “She already stated that she didn’t help the young Mr. Roberts escape, Mr. Yates.”
“Then she won’t mind answering again.”
“I did not help Justin escape the Hawthorn Group,” I articulated each word slowly. “After Mitch and I left Justin’s house, we drove around looking for Justin.”
“Nothing else happened?” Mr. Yates asked.
The images of hundreds of mottled wings flying away played through my mind. “I saw Justin fly away with the strzyga demons.”
The attention of everyone in the room snapped to me.
“Where did you see this?” Mr. Yates asked.
“While Mitch and I were out looking for Justin,” I said. “I don’t know where the demons flew off to. I don’t know where Justin is. I don’t think he wants me to know. But I know Justin, and he left with those demons so Brightside would be safe again.”
“The fact that the strzyga demons left Brightside with Justin Roberts as part of their flock has been well documented. My client can’t be charged with seeing Justin leave,” Mr. Walters said. “No crime was committed here.”
“Except Miss Moore did commit a crime. She conspired with Supernaturals to release Justin from his family home and paid them with Hawthorn Group secrets.”
I didn’t know how Mr. Yates figured it out. Maybe it was informants or surveillance or maybe he was just smart, but the man knew exactly what I had done. I felt as though with every word I was tiptoeing over broken shards of glass and just a little closer to getting sliced. Mr. Yates could already know everything, and he was herding me into tripping up and incriminating myself.
“Answer me, Miss Moore.” Mr. Yates slammed his hands down on the table.
I jumped. “I’m sorry… what’s the question?”
“You didn’t ask her a question, Mr. Yates.”
Mr. Yates's eyes blazed. “Did you come into contact with any other Supernaturals on Monday night, Miss Moore?”
“Yeah, I did,” I admitted. “My night vision picked up vampires crawling away from us in the woods near Justin’s house. I yelled out at them, but they didn’t stop.”
“Did you go after them?”
“No,” I said. “Mitch and I got back in the car and drove away to find Justin.”
“Did you interact with any Supernaturals?”
I was so nervous that sweat was gathering at the back of my neck, and my palm was growing slick in the lie detector machine. “What do you mean by interact? I told you that I saw Justin and those vampires.”
“Let me clarify…” Mr. Yates brows rose, and I could see hunger igniting in his gaze. He had me right where he wanted me and he knew it. “Were you involved in a fight with anyone last night?”
“No,” I said.
Mr. Yates glanced up from the tablet, and I could see in his triumphant smile that he caught me in a lie. “What aren’t you telling us about the vampires, Miss Moore? You admit that Justin was in the woods. You admit that your father’s vampires were in those same woods, and your floor guard reported that your clothing was dirty, bloody, and torn when you arrived. Clearly, you were there when the demons attacked your father and his vampires, and then Justin decided to leave with his kind. You planned this with your father. Just admit it!”
By the end, Mr. Yates was roaring the words across the table. All of his composure was gone, and his face was so flushed, he looked unwell. But his outburst finally slowed my racing heart.
“That’s not what happened,” I said.
“You are a liar,” Mr. Yates yelled as he pointed into my face. “Magical correspondence was passed between you and your father before. You’ve been passing information to the vampires at your mother’s rehab center. The magic left traces. You gave information to your father in exchange for him breaking your boyfriend out of his house. I will throw you into the adult prison for Supernaturals. I have that right, and believe me, you won’t last a week there—”
“Mr. Yates! Your tablet clearly says she’s telling the truth. Look at your tablet.” Surprisingly, it was Principal Chambers who came to my defense. She pointed to the tablet in the temporary CEO’s hand. “Miss Moore, please just clarify on what happened Monday night?”
“I already told you. I didn’t get into a physical fight. If it showed up as a lie on that tablet, it’s because I got in a fight with Mitch Holter when we were driving back to campus. He almost drove off mad. And, yes, someone gave me a letter that my father wrote to Justin, but I delivered it and never saw the message contained inside of that letter.”
I had a strong suspicion of where Mr. Yates was getting his information. Parker. She was absolutely terrified of the strzyga demons the last time I saw her, and she never contacted me to get the money for bribing her brothers. The Hawthorn Group found out about Justin from someone. She probably cut her losses and spilled everything she knew.
“January, let’s just settle this once and for all,” Professor Sharp said as she glowered at the back of Mr. Yates's head. “Are you passing information about the Hawthorn Group or Blackburn Academy to your father?”
I swallowed the sigh of relief that wanted to escape me. “No,” I said. “I have never passed any information to my father or his vampires.”
“Your father broke your boyfriend out of his mother’s house! How could you not know that was going to happen?” Mr. Yates pounded his fist with every word.
“Because Justin lied to me,” I said. “He told me lies upon lies all the time. Justin and my father were in contact long before I met either of them. You know that. It’s all well documented in the Hawthorn Group’s records.”
Professor Sharp glared at Mr. Yates and snapped, “It says she’s telling the truth. It’s been saying true this whole time except for one inconclusive that she clarified for us. You wanted to prove that she’s been passing information to the Supernaturals in order to save her boyfriend, and clearly, you got it wrong. I’m her legal guardian, and I say that this is either over, or I will be taking this to the council.”
“I’d have to agree, Mr. Yates.” Mr. Walters stood and started to pile his papers into his briefcase. “You might have been given new powers, but you still don’t have the power to change the truth. I was asked by the Elite Council to ensure that you did not go too far in this interrogation, and unless you have specific, evidence-based questions that you are ready to put forward, I will have to repor
t to the council that you overstepped the authority they granted you.”
“Do not pull your hand out of that lie detector.” Mr. Yates pointed to my hand, even though I hadn’t moved. “I have one more question for you, and I guarantee the Elite Council will have no objections to me asking it, Mr. Walters.”
My caseworker sighed and settled back into his seat. He threaded his hands before him. “I guess we’ll see. Proceed.”
Mr. Yates cleared his throat and loosened his collar, which wafted out a noxious cloud of the nose-itching, stomach-churning scent of his cologne. He peered over his tablet at me and rolled back his shoulders.
“Are you planning to run away from the Hawthorn Group, Miss Moore?” Mr. Yates's change of subject was so abrupt, I found myself blurting out an answer.
“No,” I said.
The CEO turned the tablet toward me. The screen was red, and on it was the word “false.”
I stared at the screen until my eyes unfocused and the lines blurred. “Since I started at Blackburn, scions, vampires, demons, and the CEO of the Hawthorn Group have all tried to kill me. Sometimes, I make plans to run away from Brightside, but the truth is, I have nowhere else to go, Mr. Yates.”
The word “True” lit up on the tablet screen. Only after I saw the display, did I know that it really was a fact. Brightside was all I had.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The Hawthorn Group conference center was an enormous space with folding chairs lined up in rows of one hundred or more, and there were so many people standing, Professor Sharp and I could barely see the dais up front. What we could see were the two giant television screens that displayed an empty chair.
Mitch was somewhere in the crowd, but I’d only spotted him walking through the doors before he disappeared into the throng of people milling around.
A low murmur and sound of rustling echoed around the space as the last minutes ticked away before Sebastian Holter’s speech. Almost everyone in here were soldiers, many of them the size of bodybuilders, but the room smelled like tension and fear, or maybe that was all in my head.
Broken Elites (The Vampire Legacy Book 3) Page 27
