by W. J. May
That being said, not everyone was having such a miserable time.
The sound of quiet laughter filtered through the air, and she turned to see Benji and Sofia sitting much closer than was required. Their heads were bent together, their arms were lightly touching, and their legs were crossed ever so casually beneath the desk. Every now and then, one would lean into the other as they whispered conspiratorially and laughed at some nonsense joke.
Typical Benji.
Best way to win his affection? Just attack him in the dead of night.
Alexander perked up when they laughed again, features sharpening like a dog on the hunt. A strange sort of growl rumbled in the back of his throat, but if Sofia heard it she certainly didn’t pay any attention. She’d turned every bit of focus to the boy sitting across from her, the one with the easy smile and the sparkling blue eyes.
“Okay—two minutes! You should all be finishing up!”
Aria let out a sigh of relief as the students started gathering up their things. Thank the Maker.
“What did you pick?” Jason asked, glancing over the paper. His brow creased with a frown as he scanned down the side. “Construction?”
“Yeah. Construction.” She swung her messenger bag angrily between them, making sure to hit his recently healed chest. “It seemed the safest bet, under the circumstances.”
His gaze rested on her before he ripped a blank paper from his notebook and started scrawling hastily along the front. “Nah, let’s do the security question instead.”
Aria watched in astonishment as he framed it quickly as a thesis statement, adding all their names. Even Alexander paused beside his desk, glancing down in surprise.
“Really?” he asked dryly. “You want to investigate the murder?”
Jason’s lips curved with the hint of a smile as his hand flew across the page. “Why not?”
The shifter clenched his jaw, trying to rein in his temper. “I don’t know, maybe because the three of us are the prime suspects?”
Jason finished quickly and slipped the notebook into his bag.
“We were cleared,” he said simply, eyes lingering on Alexander just a second too long. “We were all cleared of everything.”
With that, he swept down the center of the room without a backwards glance—placing the paper on Dorian’s desk before vanishing outside. Benji was still lingering with Sofia, purposely taking his time, but Aria and Alexander stared after him with matching looks of shock.
...post-traumatic insanity? Is that a thing?
She saw Dorian glance down at the paper, murmuring distracted farewells to the students passing by. His lips parted as they swept over the question, but by the time he lifted his eyes Jason was already gone.
...and so was Alexander.
Aria whirled around with a gasp, astonished that anyone could move so quickly. She hurried after him, sensing trouble, elbowing people out of her way.
He wasn’t in the corridor. Neither was Jason.
He wasn’t on the next floor. Neither was Jason.
Then she spotted them both on the lawn.
“Hey!”
She burst outside just as Alexander flew up behind him, grabbing him roughly by the coat. A group of freshmen stopped to watch but she waved them furiously onward, racing forward herself.
“What the hell is going on!” Alexander demanded, spinning him around so they were standing face to face. “First, you don’t tell anyone what happened. And now—”
Jason yanked himself free, staring back with perfect calm. “Did you want me to tell them?”
Alexander’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He just stood there, glaring and trembling at the same time.
Jason held his gaze a moment, then shook his head. “Then why do you care?”
Aria reached them a second later, sliding to a stop between the two. Benji and Sofia had seen the confrontation from the class window and were paused by the door. Eric was just a step behind.
Alexander’s hands balled into fists as he snarled between his teeth, “I don’t owe you anything.”
A flash of amusement brightened Jason’s eyes. “Sure.”
Another stalemate. Another impasse.
But this time there would be no retreat.
Alexander leaned even closer, just inches away from his face.
“You want to know how to murder someone on this campus?” he taunted. “You want to know how I’d do it? Meet me by the supply shed after midnight and we’ll find out together.”
Jason cocked his head with a chilling smile. “It’s a date.”
“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Aria snapped, throwing a handful of sparks.
Benji jerked back on the bed, personally offended whenever his own power was used against him. “How the hell is it my fault? I’m not the one who spent an entire class taunting the guy.”
Her eyes narrowed as little spirals of smoke drifted from her hands.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Leave Benji alone,” Jason ordered gently. “He didn’t do anything.”
Unlike the others, who’d been on high alert since hearing the words ‘murder on campus’, he was strangely relaxed. Throwing crumpled bits of paper into the bin with deadly accuracy.
“He did,” Aria insisted, “but that’s not the point. It’s you I should be yelling at!”
He lifted his eyebrows with a look of adorable innocence.
“I don’t see why there has to be yelling at all.”
At that point, sparks started flying from Benji’s hands as well. He abandoned his defensive position on the bed and came to stand at Aria’s side. Together, they towered over him.
“Let me get this straight,” he demanded. “First you turn us all into pariahs by insisting we pretend not to know the guy tried to maul you to death. Then you decide to let him kill you anyway by volunteering to go on a murder mystery adventure in the middle of the woods.”
Jason’s smile faltered with a hint of annoyance. “What makes you think he could kill me?”
There was a beat of silence.
“I had the privilege of being there the last time.”
“That’s enough!” Aria shouted. “There will be no killing, because there will be no murder mystery adventure to begin with. You’re not going. That’s final.”
Jason turned from one to the other, all with that unshakable calm. “Is that right?”
Benji shocked him just on principle, while Aria kicked out the base of his chair.
“Stop doing that!” she demanded. “You know I hate it!”
“What?” he panted, picking himself up off the floor. When Benji aimed for him again, he countered with a trio of icicles that pinned the cheetah’s sleeve to the wall. “You hate what?”
She rolled her eyes and paced across the room, melting the ice with a wave of her hand. “Your dad’s weird calm thing. It doesn’t work on you—you didn’t grow up below ground.”
Jason smirked, knowing very well it did work. “I wasn’t aware that was a prerequisite.”
She turned around slowly. “Don’t make me set you on fire...”
The three friends had decided to ditch the rest of the afternoon classes, after the first turned out to be a disaster. Instead, they’d relocated to the boys’ shared dorm and proceeded to tear into each other for the next hour and a half. Granted, she and Benji were the only ones doing the tearing. Jason had made himself some microwave popcorn and settled at his desk to watch.
“What do you think Lily’s going to say about this?” Benji asked innocently.
Aria turned in triumph as the smirk melted off Jason’s face.
The friends gave each other a lot of latitude, and their indulgence knew no end, but Lily Decker had a special place in his heart. Disappointing her was a kind of pain he’d rather avoid.
“Lily will understand...” he muttered.
The door swung open and a petite girl stood in the frame.
“W
hat will I understand?”
Jason’s lips parted before he shot a look of betrayal at the others.
It wasn’t the first time they’d set him up in such a way. As the only two shifters in the group, they used their heightened sensitivity shamelessly to their own advantage.
“I, uh...I decided to make peace with Alexander,” he began diplomatically. “No more fighting, Lilybell. Isn’t that nice?”
She folded her arms slowly, dark eyes narrowing with suspicion. “It might be.”
“It’s even better than that,” Benji added with a wicked grin. “They’re dating now.”
Another beat of silence.
Jason turned to him with a strained look.
“Why must you always be so helpful?”
“Hang on.” Lily help up her hands, stepping in between them. “Somebody tell me what’s going on right now. I hadn’t even gotten through my math class before one of the shifters started yelling that Alexander Hastings and Jason Alden were about to have a fight on the front lawn.”
Three people opened their mouths to answer, but she only had eyes for one.
“But you see, that didn’t make any sense,” she continued in a dangerous voice. “Because I told Jason that I was going to meet him right there in the hall—remember that, Jase?”
He drummed nervously on the side of his leg, looking for allies but finding none.
“Alexander invited him to come out tonight,” Aria interjected, keeping her piercing gaze locked on him the entire time. “Apparently, they’re going to discuss how to commit the perfect murder on campus. Or rather, Alexander volunteered to show him.”
Lily stared a moment in shock, then rotated slowly to Jason.
“...are you flippin’ crazy?!”
He sank onto the bed, rubbing his temples. “It certainly looks like it.”
Another bolt of lightning was aimed and prepped, but she quickly stepped in between.
“I’m serious, Jase—what are you thinking?” Her eyes widened and her lovely face went pale. “Unless...unless you want to get him alone.”
Aria looked at him with a surge of panic—she hadn’t even considered that possibility.
“This has nothing to do with that,” Jason said calmly. “If he’s going to be staying here, then he’s going to be staying here. We might as well make the most of it. And if that means having a midnight showdown to bury the hatchet, that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
“But why?” Benji insisted. “Why are you interested in burying the hatchet at all?” He shook his head disapprovingly. “You have to admit, it’s not exactly our style.”
Jason flashed a tired grin. “Yeah, but a showdown is.”
Lily shook her head briskly, straightening her coat. “We’ll just have to make sure it’s one he’ll never forget.”
The others nodded slowly, but Jason leapt to his feet in alarm.
“Wait—no! You guys aren’t coming. He and I are supposed to go alone.”
Benji rolled his eyes, as if it was never even a question, while Aria leapt on the bandwagon with a sarcastic glare. If his mind wasn’t to be changed, they’d just have to join them.
“Of course we’re coming,” she snapped. “You can bet his friends will be there.”
“They won’t,” Jason argued, with a certainty that couldn’t possibly be real. “They wouldn’t.”
“And how do you know?”
“Because that’s not the way these things are done!”
“I could just ask Sofia...” Benji said tentatively, pulling out his phone.
Aria stared in shock for a moment before thundering at the top of her lungs. “You got her number?!”
The walls shook as the shouting continued anew. Lightning flashed back and forth, and the students watching from the lawn shook their heads with the same knowing smile.
The Kerrigan kids might not have openly invited scandal.
But it sure seemed to follow wherever they went...
Chapter 8
That night, the trouble started before it could even begin.
Aria crept down the first flight of stairs without a problem, meeting Lily in her room. The plan had been to sneak outside together. One would scan ahead with advanced senses for faculty prowling the premises, while the other would keep an eye on their retreat—simultaneously trying to access the future at the same time. Thus far, tapping into her newfound clairvoyance had been a problem. But between the murder and the fight, it wasn’t like she’d had a lot of time to try.
The second she reached the door Aria turned invisible, then pressed her mouth to the frame—cooing twice in her best impersonation of a dove. Lily’s roommate opened the door with a sarcastic grin.
“Considering who your parents are, you guys should really get a better signal.”
Aria melted back into sight with a cool glare, glancing inside to where Lily was lacing up her boots in the corner. “Considering who my parents are, you should really shut up.”
She slipped inside a moment later, closing the door behind her as her gaze drifted impatiently around the room. It was just as fantastical as her own—only a good deal cleaner. Thanks to Lily’s rather indulgent parents, both she and her roommate Hallie boasted in-floor heating, an impressive library, and a half-hidden jacuzzi. Her coat was hanging beside a Rembrandt on the wall.
“You’re late,” she chided. “We were supposed to meet at eleven-fifty. And it’s—”
“—exactly eleven-fifty?” Lily finished zipping up her coat, then swept out her long ivory hair. Unlike the rest of the girls living in Aumbry Hall, she was able to look upon the famous Aria Wardell without a hint of fear. “Yeah, I saw that too.”
Hallie dropped her eyes with a smile, while Aria pretended not to hear.
“Anyway, we should get going.”
Lily nodded and slipped a few seemingly innocuous things into her pocket. A tube of lipstick that didn’t match the color she was wearing, a paperclip, a nail file...
Aria frowned when she saw the file. “You planning on giving yourself a little manicure tonight?”
The girl shrugged innocently. “You never know.”
Aria hesitated in the doorway, eyeing the jacket warily. “You know, I read that interrogation report of your mom’s, too—”
“We should get going. Don’t want to be late.”
Hallie waved them off, settling in for a night of movies and popcorn. After so many years, she was well-used to her roommate’s eccentric friends and late-night adventures. If the need for an alibi ever arose, she was usually Lily’s first call.
The girls were already down the first flight of stairs by the time Aria sat down. In escapes like this, speed was key. There might not have been any sign of Madame Elpis so far, but the woman was as much a part of the women’s dormitory as the ancient stone. Shortly after she died, they could be sure to find her haunting the place. It was only a matter of time before she saw them now.
“This is ridiculously unfair,” Lily hissed, sliding to a stop at the base of the third floor. “Until you can make all of us invisible, I don’t think you should be allowed to use it for yourself.”
Aria flashed a grin she would never see. “Feeling nervous?”
The psychic smacked blindly at her shoulder and happened to make contact. “Feeling like, when this woman rounds the corner, I’ll be the only one getting expelled.”
Aria rematerialized beside her, slipping into the fennec fox tatù. There wasn’t a whisper of sound on the stairwell, but both girls knew how quickly that could change.
“Maybe if you could manage a vision, we could avoid things like that.”
Lily shot her a glare. “Oh—like you were so great the second you got ink.”
“I was magnificent.” Aria tilted back her head with a nostalgic smile; her father’s fox tatù had been the first she’d been able to mimic. “Tales will be written of my greatness.”
Lily shot her a look.
“I remember you falling down a lot.”
They continued racing down the stairs without another word—startling at every noise and peering anxiously around the corners. They were supposed to meet the boys on the lawn at exactly midnight, but the boys wouldn’t have this kind of problem. The man in charge of Joist Hall was about five hundred years old, and split his time between naps and pinochle. After Benji and Jason bribed him with a bottle of Scotch their freshman year, they virtually had the run of the place.
“Just a little bit farther,” Aria panted, glancing out the window to see a pair of dark figures already moving across the lawn. “Once we get to the landing, we can just jump—”
A sudden creak echoed up the stairwell.
Both girls froze, holding their breath and listening. At any moment they expected to see the frigid housemistress sweeping up the stairs, but nothing happened. After a few drawn-out seconds, they relaxed their position and let out a simultaneous breath.
“Just the wind,” Aria murmured. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
They picked up the pace, rounded the curve, then let out a silent scream as they nearly collided with someone racing up in the opposite direction. There was a frantic tangle of legs and arms before the three girls were able to separate themselves.
“Sofia?” Aria gasped, pulling herself straight.
The girl looked just as surprised as they were—with saucer-like eyes, pale skin, and a jacket thrown haphazardly over one arm. She opened her mouth, then threw a glance over her shoulder.
“That woman who oversees the dormitory? Madame...something?”
“Elpis,” Aria and Lily answered in unison.
“She’s coming!”
Together, the three girls spun on their heels and headed straight back up the way they’d come—leaping the stairs three at a time, mentally calculating how long it would take a woman five times their age to complete the same journey. They’d just made it to the landing between the fourth and fifth floor, when Aria grabbed both girls by the wrist and yanked them into the bathroom.
“Won’t she check in here?” Sofia panted. Shifters had a natural endurance, but the sight of the woman rampaging around in curlers was enough to steal anyone’s breath.
