Demonspawn Academy: Trial Two
Page 20
I watched him for a moment, debating how to proceed. He certainly didn’t look like someone on the run, or even preparing to run. He seemed like a guy on a shopping trip. I decided to play it safe and not rush in with daggers at the ready.
“Jessup?” I called, quickening my pace.
The nephilim turned around and I saw confusion ripple across his features.
“Cassia, remember? We met with Rafe.”
“Oh, right. The dead demonspawn.” His eyebrow twitched and he suddenly seemed uncomfortable. “Doing some shopping?”
“I like to browse,” I said. “I find a lot of this stuff too expensive.” And unnecessary, but that was irrelevant.
“Yeah, I feel you,” Jessup said. “Still, it’s nice to treat yourself once in a blue moon.”
“Rafe and Liesel are here with me,” I said. “Why don’t you come and hang out with us?” Although I tried to act casual, I knew it was a long shot that he’d buy the innocent act.
“They’re here?” He glanced over my shoulder. “Where are they?”
“Right here.” Rafe seemed to materialize out of thin air. His arm appeared around my shoulders and I felt an innate sense of relief. “Where’ve you been hiding, Jessup?”
“I’m not hiding,” he said. “I’m shopping.” He held up the bag. “I needed a birthday gift for my mom. I’m seeing her in a few days.”
“So your room always looks like a bomb went off?” I asked. The Elders would never have tolerated that kind of mess at the academy.
“You were in my room?” His expression grew panicked.
Rafe ignored the question. “Why didn’t you answer your phone? I’ve been calling and texting you.”
Jessup looked sheepish. “I forgot to charge it. Battery’s dead.”
“We need to talk,” Rafe said.
Jessup surveyed the shops around us. “Here? Must be pretty important for you to hunt me down at the mall.”
Rafe’s mouth formed a thin line. “Yeah, I’d say it’s pretty important.”
“We know it was you,” I said.
Jessup blinked. “What was me?”
I folded my arms. “The book, Jessup.”
Shoppers streamed past us, oblivious to the mounting tension in the middle of the row.
He spun on his heel, ready to bolt in the opposite direction, but Liesel was already standing there, ready to block his path. He took one look at her small armory and a nervous laugh escaped him.
“What now?” Jessup asked, turning back to us. “Are you going to bring me in for sanctioning? Because I don’t think the higher-ups in Dominion will let that happen.”
Rafe’s body tensed. “Which higher-ups?”
I looked at Rafe askance. Who would be protecting Jessup and why? Did someone in Dominion know about the academy?
“Are you talking about your mother?” Liesel asked. “Because last time I checked, she was nothing more than a servant. Seraphim that scrub floors aren’t exactly what I would call higher-ups.” She was baiting him, I realized. She wanted to see if her words would elicit a strong reaction and, just maybe, the information we were after.
He whirled back to face her. “My mother does not scrub floors. She’s a trusted confidante and…” His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he crumpled to the floor in a heap. It took a moment for the situation to register.
“Jessup!” In the blink of an eye, Rafe was on the floor beside him. There was no blood. Nothing to indicate what had just happened. Jessup was simply…dead.
Liesel stared, wide-eyed. “It wasn’t me.” Her weapons remained intact.
“I know.” Rafe checked for a pulse and I could see from his defeated posture that there was nothing more we could do. We couldn’t even find him in the Nether to question him like we did with Luke, not that the king would grant such a favor again. Jessup was one of the nephilim. His shade would go elsewhere.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “How could he just drop dead in front of us?”
Rafe’s gaze was fixed on his former ally. “I don’t know.” He tore his focus away to look at me. “Whatever just happened, it’s not a coincidence. Someone didn’t want Jessup to talk.”
“And what?” I held up my arms. “They’re watching us on security cameras from their evil lair? We’re in the middle of a mall in the mortal realm. How could anyone know what was happening here right now?”
Rafe placed his hands on Jessup’s shirt and began to feel around his body.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I scanned the area and was grateful that shoppers were oblivious to us right now. Cloaking had its advantages.
Rafe turned Jessup’s head to the side. “I’m looking for this.”
I bent over to peer at whatever this was. The mark was small, almost imperceptible. “A tattoo?”
“No, it’s an enchanted mark,” Liesel said, coming to stand over the body. “Someone was using it to observe Jessup in this realm.”
“And the moment they realized he was under pressure, they killed him?” My stomach turned. We’d put Jessup in danger by trying to question him. No, not just danger. We’d gotten him killed. “This must be what happened to the pey demon at the museum.”
“They must have missed the mark during the autopsy,” Rafe said. “It’s designed to be unnoticeable so I’m not surprised.”
“I bet Jessup hired the pey demon to steal the stone,” Liesel said. “He was trying to help break the ward on the book. Only he didn’t realize that Luke had no intention of handing it over once it was open.”
“But Luke said he told the one that hired him that he never found the book,” I said. “That it was a myth.”
“Seems like maybe Jessup didn’t believe him,” Rafe said. “Maybe the plan was to take the book once he had a way of opening it and leave Luke to safeguard it in the meantime. Takes the pressure off Jessup to do both.”
“He always did like his shortcuts,” Liesel said with disdain.
Rafe must have noticed my pained expression. “It’s not your fault, Cassia.”
My hand clutched my stomach. “Are you sure? Because it feels like it is.”
Rafe stood and offered an outstretched arm. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“What about the body?” I asked.
“I’ll take care of it,” Liesel said. “There’s an official procedure.”
Of course there was. The Watchers had all kinds of rules and regulations, not unlike the academy.
I accepted Rafe’s hand and we skimmed the ceiling, swooping down to the lower level, over the fountain, and finally to the automatic doors where we’d arrived.
“I’m sorry about Jessup,” I said, as we left the artificial lights of the mall and returned to broad daylight. Guilty or not, he and Rafe had been brethren of a sort, and I knew his loss would still be difficult to bear.
Rafe squeezed my hand. “It’s kind of you to say that, given the circumstances.” He breathed in the fresh air. “I can’t believe he would betray us, betray our rules. There had to be a good reason.”
“He didn’t know we were coming,” I said. “Didn’t even know we discovered the truth from Luke.”
“Which means his connection wasn’t likely in the Nether, not that I would have expected it to be.”
“Maybe someone was threatening him.” My mind was racing with possibilities. “Maybe he acted under duress.”
“Then why didn’t he say that when we pinned him down?” Rafe asked. “He had nothing to lose at that point.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Apparently he did.” Jessup was dead now and he wasn’t part demon. There would be no answers from him. “Is there any way to find out who marked him? Where it came from?” I wondered whether Jessup had known it was there. It was on the side of his neck and so small—there was every chance he was in the dark. After all, I’d sported a tiny birthmark on my torso for my entire life and hadn’t noticed it until recently. It was possible.
“It’s a place to start,” Rafe said.
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We launched ourselves skyward. The journey back to the city was quiet, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I’d have to return to the academy and tell the Elders what had transpired. It seemed that each time we had a lead, we lost it again. They probably wouldn’t be as surprised as Rafe and Liesel to discover that one of the nephilim was involved. They didn’t have the same trust in seraphim, even half seraphim.
My wings caught a strong gust of wind, propelling me forward. I took a moment to admire the scenery below. The steady stream of cars. The buildings filled with ordinary lives. Part of me wished for that kind of normalcy. Parents and security and sweet oblivion. But it wasn’t to be. I was Cassia, daughter of darkness and death, and soon I would leave the academy forever. There would be no permanent sanctuary for me.
At least the Book of Admissions was back in safe hands, although I knew this wasn’t over yet. Jessup’s murder proved that there were others conspiring against the academy. I felt it in every fiber of my being. We were being played for fools and we had no idea who was responsible for pulling the strings.
And worst of all—we were still in danger.
Click here to preorder Demonspawn Academy: Trial Three, the final book in the trilogy.
Also by Annabel Chase
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