A Study In Shifters

by Majanka Verstraete

  Yesterday. That’s right, Elise Felton was only murdered yesterday. Usually, it took at least a few days before we started investigating, during which the Conclave took care of formalities and helped provide field agents with any necessary intel. In this case, however, because Elise Felton was a royal, the whole procedure was expedited, and we’d received our information and “fake” identities in record time.

  I could only begin to imagine what her sister must be going through right now. Losing my little cousin was agonizing, but Reyna had lost her sister, her twin.

  Indra put a hand on his shoulder. “It always is. I don’t think any words count as the right ones. How did it happen?”

  Wyatt tore his gaze away from Reyna who had just disappeared behind the corner, and turned back to Indra and me, smiling halfheartedly. “She was murdered. But let’s not talk about that right now. We have a tour to finish.”

  “Who was the girl who was with Reyna? What’s her name?” I asked. “I’m trying to remember everyone’s names,” I added quickly.

  “Aria Forbes. She and Elise, Reyna’s sister, were best friends since forever,” Wyatt said. “She and Reyna get along too, and now they have…shared grief.”

  Indra lowered her voice. “Are they both leopard shifters?”

  Wyatt nodded. “Aria is a viper, and Reyna is a leopard. I’m an otter, by the way, in case it wasn’t obvious.”

  “Do you know what we are?” Indra asked.

  “Your records said it, and well, Holmes…” Wyatt purposely looked away from me. “Everyone knows the names of the royals.”

  I wanted to crawl under one of the carpets and die. Sure, everyone knew the names of the royals, I was the one half-blood royal in existence. Of course everyone knew my name. Not in a good way, though. From the way Wyatt said it, looking away from me, I figured he, too, knew I wasn’t a real royal. Not real as in, not full-blood. Just some filthy half-blood.

  My jaguar whined, telling me I shouldn’t think that way. Still, I couldn’t help it.

  In awkward silence, we made our way to the library. Even Indra seemed incapable of finding the right words for once.

  The library was a truly magnificent space. As soon as I walked in, my jaw dropped to the floor. Speechless, I twirled around so I could take it all in, momentarily forgetting all my troubles.

  Mahogany bookshelves reached to ceilings at least six meters high—you’d need a ladder to climb and grab the books from the top shelves. An enormous fireplace dominated the center of the room, and long desks filled the space in between. Reading lights burned at the desks where students sat doing homework, and chairs creaked as they were pulled back from people getting up and sitting down.

  My jaguar projected an image of lying in front of the fireplace at me, enjoying the heat of the fire.

  This entire place felt like home. Like coming home. The smell of books so familiar, the sheer number of volumes strangely comfortable, the noises of pages rustling as people read them sounded like music to my ears.

  “Impressive, isn’t it?” Wyatt was smiling from ear to ear; he obviously felt as at home in the library as I did. “You can find just about anything about just about anyone or any subject here. The library is open until ten o’clock in the evening. You can come here to research papers, study, do homework, and for group assignments. I’m in charge of locking up the place at night, so if you’re out here past curfew, you’ll have me to deal with.” He winked after he said that.

  “It’s amazing,” I breathed out, enamored by the sheer enormity of the place. “I could live here.”

  “I actually believe you could,” Indra said, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t take you for such a bookworm.”

  “Books carry knowledge, and I happen to be fond of knowledge.”

  “It opens at seven, in case you want to sneak in some reading before classes start tomorrow,” Wyatt told me. “So, do you have any questions? Any other places you want to visit? We have a tennis court outside, but it’s dark out already, so I can show you that tomorrow if you want. Or if you want to look for it yourselves, it’s hard to miss.”

  “Could you show us to our room again?” I asked before Indra could say something. “I want to make sure we don’t get lost on our first day.”

  “It’s easy. Just follow the stairs, second floor, then to your left,” Wyatt explained.

  I didn’t move or speak, so he rubbed his neck. “Um, I can show you, I suppose.” Was I imagining it, or was he blushing a little?

  My jaguar nodded her head; he was definitely blushing.

  As we left the library and headed to the hallway, I asked, “How long was the library open again, did you say?”

  “Until ten o’clock.”

  “Is there anything else open later than that?”

  Indra frowned at me, but I was finally starting to get somewhere, and I wasn’t ready to stop questioning Wyatt yet.

  “No,” he said. “On the weekends, we often have gatherings in the basement. It’s kind of like a common room. You can play billiards, darts, and sometimes we have theme parties like for Halloween and Valentine’s Day. Those run till one o’clock, but that’s only on Saturdays. Nothing else is open past ten because curfew is at ten.” He turned toward me, and the left corner of his lips curled into a smile. “You’re not thinking of breaking curfew on your first day, are you?”

  I wasn’t one to break curfew, but my jaguar certainly liked that idea. She leapt up at the thought and started pacing around.

  “No, no, wouldn’t dream of it,” I said, trying to keep my tone casual. “It’s just that I’m somewhat of a night owl. Insomnia, you know, and then I like to walk around, stretch my legs a little.”

  “As long as the prefect doesn’t find out, you can walk around your hallway, I suppose. We do have teachers checking up regularly, at least once or twice a night. But I wouldn’t wander around the rest of the school, or you’ll be caught, no doubt about it. One strike puts you on detention, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  “Are you a prefect?” Indra asked.

  “Yep.” Wyatt’s cheeks glowed proudly. “There are two, one for the boy dorms, which is me, and one for the girl dorms, which is Aria Forbes, the girl who was with Reyna earlier.”

  Now, that could be useful…

  “Does it come with any privileges other students don’t have?” I asked just as we reached the second floor. “Like, getting to break curfew or something?” I smiled, trying to make it sound as if I was joking rather than prying.

  “We check the rooms at ten o’clock, but then it’s the teachers who come for the night checkup, so no, no extra privileges. We do get to help decide on things like extracurricular activities, themes for our parties and other events, that kind of stuff.”

  “Ah.” I nodded. “Well, looks like we’re here.”

  We had just reached the door to our dorm. Wyatt looked at me suspiciously, his eyes slightly narrowed, and I hoped he wasn’t on to me—that I’d just asked him to come along so I could bother him with more questions.

  “Well, good night,” Indra said as she pushed the door open. “See you tomorrow, Wyatt.”

  “Yes.” He smiled at Indra and then looked at me.

  I was still standing in the hallway, unsure what to say. Good night? Goodbye? Thanks for the tour? Condolences on the loss of your friend?

  The silence stretched on into awkward territory. “Good night, Marisol,” Wyatt said eventually, saving me from further embarrassment.

  “Yes. Good night.” I pushed past him, into the room, and slammed the door shut behind me.

  I hoped my lack of social skills hadn’t made Wyatt suspicious. If he was somehow involved, and he found out I was investigating Elise’s murder, then that could thwart any and all attempts I made to uncover the truth.

  Chapter Nine

  “You’re so socially awkward I’m starting to wonder why or how your mother ever took you along to formal occasions,” Indra complained after Wyatt had left. She grabbed the san
dwiches from the fridge and handed one to me.

  I dropped down on my bed. “I didn’t know what to say to him. Offer him my condolences? Say goodnight? See you tomorrow? I’m not good at talking to people.”

  “You’re kidding.” Sarcasm rolled off Indra as she sat down on her bed cross-legged and took a huge bite from the sandwich. “I think he’s a bit of a fanboy of your ancestor, though. And subsequently, of you. Meeting you is probably like one of his childhood dreams coming true.”

  This made my jaguar quite happy, but it made me nervous. “You think so?”

  “Sure.” Indra frowned at me. “Why is it so hard for you to think people can actually like you?”

  “I…” I opened my mouth and closed it again. My jaguar purred softly and sent me a mental image of rubbing her head against me.

  “Is it because of what happened in your last case?” Indra asked before I could answer.

  I hated how everyone knew—at least everyone in the Conclave. How they knew I had been used and betrayed in the worst possible way.

  “Can we not talk about that?” I asked.

  Indra looked at me for a moment, as if trying to figure out what I was thinking, before she nodded. “Okay, fine. So, time to put our heads together. What did we learn today?”

  “Is this like some kind of debriefing? I’m really not in the mood.” I swallowed a bite of sandwich. It was rather dry, and I had to chew a lot on the bread.

  My jaguar pulled a disgusting face. If even she didn’t like it, that was saying something.

  Thoughts and theories swirled around in my mind, and I rather focus on the case in silence. The events of today had pushed me to the brim of exhaustion, and even opening my mouth to speak seemed too much to ask.

  “It’s us putting our heads together. A meeting of minds,” Indra said. “Listen, I’m your supervisor, and we have to work together on this, but don’t feel ashamed of voicing any thoughts. Any observation is good; we can discuss anything. All suggestions are welcome.”

  “You sound like an advertisement for the Girl Scouts, or one of those Bible groups.” I threw the rest of my sandwich away, tired of having to chew through each bite like it was made of rubber. “Not all observations are useful observations, not all details are equally valuable, and not every thought is worth voicing it out loud.”

  Indra sighed at me. “You sound a lot like that famous ancestor of yours now, Holmes. Fine, think of it as me being a soundboard then. Just speak your mind, and we can ponder about it together.”

  I took a deep breath. “Fine. Sounds reasonable. Besides, if I don’t, you’re just going to bother me until I do anyway.” I gave her a wry smile to let her know I was joking—slightly.

  “And if you don’t, I’ll write a bad mark on your report.” She smiled, and her tone sounded light, but I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. “So, spill the beans. What did you notice about our case? What stood out?”

  My jaguar’s tail shot down, and she moaned a little as I forced her to the back of my mind and shut her behind the cage door so I could go into Sherlock Mode.

  “Fine.” I stayed quiet for a moment, ordering my thoughts in my mind. My mind palace opened up in front of me, revealing a gigantic hallway with dozens of doors, each of them containing possible clues about the case. “The library is open until ten. Wyatt last saw Elise in the library, near closing time. Considering he’s a prefect and a bibliophile, that sounds very plausible. Sneaking out at night without being caught is tough, according to Wyatt. Tough, but perhaps not impossible. We can only conclude this if we conduct the experiment for ourselves.”

  “You want to sneak out at night?”

  “And see if we can manage to get outside without getting caught. Whoever killed Elise either lured her outside first or killed her here and then dragged her body outside. The last one in particular is no easy feat, not without someone hearing them, so I want to check if what Wyatt said is true.”

  Indra sighed again. “Fine, but not tonight. It would be too suspicious to start breaking the rules on our first night.” She stuffed half the sandwich into her mouth.

  “Agreed. Besides, I want to get a good feel of the place first,” I added.

  My jaguar wasn’t too pleased—she’d perked up at the thought of being able to roam around—but with the door of her cage still tightly shut, she laid back down, sulking.

  “All right, so, what else?” Indra leaned back against the pillow resting against the wall. “Do you think he’s involved?”

  “Until I can prove he’s not, anyone can possibly be involved. I don’t want to rule out any suspects just yet.”

  “Hm. He seems like a genuinely friendly guy, though,” Indra said.

  “That could all just be a mask. I don’t trust anyone who might be a possible suspect. People are often not what they seem.” Speaking that thought out loud reminded me of Mannix and of my past mistakes. Mannix, too, hadn’t been what he seemed, and trusting him was a mistake that had cost me a lot.

  A mistake I didn’t care to repeat.

  In fact, I’d sworn off guys completely thanks to him, his lies, and the way he betrayed me.

  “What’s your feeling on Reyna?”

  I exhaled loudly. “I don’t deal in feelings. I deal in facts. I don’t have feelings about people or let those feelings guide me. I can’t…” I took a deep breath. The one time I’d truly let my emotions decide, the one time I truly felt like I could trust someone… I’d put my faith in Mannix, and people had ended up dead because of it. And not just people…

  The image of Amaranth’s torso being torn open, of her eyes staring into mine pleadingly right before they rolled to the back of her head, came back to haunt me.

  A day before he’d killed her, Mannix had still been with me, and he had acted normal, like any other day. We were outside at night, watching the stars. The weather report had promised a lot of falling stars that night, and we’d sat on the roof of my apartment building, on a blanket as we gazed at the sky.

  “Whenever you spot a falling star, you can make a wish,” he’d said as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his green eyes staring into mine. I wanted to tell him that whenever I looked into his eyes, I saw a thousand falling stars, but it sounded so corny I didn’t want to say it out loud, even if it was the truth.

  “Look,” he said, pointing right behind me. I turned and followed the direction he was pointing in. A star burst through the night, tumbling down.

  “Make a wish,” Mannix whispered in my ear.

  I closed my eyes and made my wish. I wished that he would be with me forever. That he would love me until the end of time.

  Then, I opened my eyes again… And stared right into Amaranth’s dead eyes.

  A roar from my jaguar pulled me back from the memory. Shivers travelled all over my spine. Sometimes, when memories mixed together, it seemed like I was stuck in a horror movie that would never end.

  “I can’t properly judge people,” I said, realizing I still hadn’t responded to Indra. “Maybe no one can. She cried today in the gardens when we were walking toward school, but that could all be an act. Until we have more facts, nothing is certain.”

  “More facts, then. Got it.” Indra sounded slightly annoyed, but she didn’t discuss it any further. “What do you think of the school? You seemed quite fond of the library.”

  Great. Another person making small talk. I’d had enough of talking for a day; it was way too exhausting.

  “I like books.” I got up and walked over to my suitcase to grab a pair of pajamas. “And I’m tired. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go to the bathroom and then get some sleep.”

  Indra glanced at the clock, which showed it was barely nine, but then, apparently deciding not to make a fuss about it, she shrugged it off. “Not an entirely bad idea. What’s the plan for tomorrow? If you want to talk to Morant, I can reach out to her.”

  “Hmm.” I pulled my pajama top over my head while I thought about it. “Sure. Elise’s b
ody is still the biggest lead we have to go on, so why not start there?”

  “I’ll arrange for us to meet Morant after school hours.”

  School. I’d forgotten that I would have to wade through six hours of classes tomorrow before I could finally go back to doing some real investigative work. This was turning out to be the most dreadful assignment the Conclave had ever thrown at me.

  Without saying anything else, I went to the hallway. I wasn’t sure if Indra would follow me or not, but seconds later, she did, sticking to me like glue. I’d gained an extra shadow, and I certainly didn’t like it. Indra wasn’t too bad, but I was used to working on my own. Used to being on my own and making my own decisions. Having someone here to monitor my every move put me on edge, and relying on anyone but myself didn’t come naturally anymore.

  Noises greeted us from the girl’s bathroom, and when we turned the corner, two girls were busy brushing their teeth. One of them was Aria, Reyna’s friend. Her light brown hair was now brushed back into a ponytail. She looked so frail, although, if she was a snake shifter, she was anything but frail. The other girl I didn’t recognize.

  “Oh, you’re the new girls,” Aria said, not without any malice. She made it sound as if she’d rather we disappear and return to whatever stone we’d crawled under from.

  Either Indra didn’t pick up on the hostility or she didn’t care, because she extended a hand toward Aria. “I’m Indra Marraux.”

  Aria stared at the hand for a few seconds, then shook it. “Aria Forbes.” The prefect of the girl dorms, as Wyatt had said yesterday, and a friend of Elise Felton, I remembered from the file Indra and I had studied on the train.

  “And I’m Stephanie Decker,” the other girl, a redhead with curly hair and gigantic freckles on her face, interrupted. “Nice to meet you.” She shook Indra’s hand, too.

  “Marisol Holmes.” I introduced myself, holding out my hand.