by Zara Zenia
"I don't know what you're talking about," I told him like a politician might say. Being diplomatic was something the children in my family were spoon-fed right from the first moment we could even understand how.
He kept up that judgmental look, almost like he was expecting to see something that had remained hidden until that moment. "Well, they're saying that someone use mind magic to cause the girl to, well, you know what happened. There's no need for me to say it."
"Her name was Lisa," said Marina. "She wasn't just some girl."
Colin's reaction to that was a hurt facial expression. He slumped his shoulders a little and looked between Marina and me like he'd only just realized we were holding each other. I felt vindicated as he walked over to look out the window again. Taking the high road could work out very well in tricky social situations like this one. I guess an orphan boy who'd been rejected by most humans he'd ever met probably wasn't given the benefits of good breeding. Maybe I should remember not to be too hard on him, I decided.
"So, the police have been involved?"
"We don't know any more details yet," said Laurie after no one else answered.
Marina let go of me and tried to hide her reddened, tear stained face as she moved to Laurie's bed and assumed a fetal position beside her friend. She just wanted comfort, so I didn't take it the wrong way at all. Instead, I sat down on Marina's bed so I could face the two girls.
"Social media and IM are going haywire though," Laurie continued. “I guess you raced right over here without checking out any of that. I'm trying to stay away from it all, to be honest. It's just bad karma getting involved in that train-wreck-watching kind of stuff. Some people are acting truly inhuman about it, like it's all just some show on Netflix."
My stomach began to churn. Sure, my family was cutthroat in the business world, but I had also been raised to have some respect. "That's horrible. So, what did you hear about who did it? Was it really an accident?"
"If you want the details on this, I'll save you from having to look yourself," said Laurie with a wan smile.
"Thanks," I replied, looking from her to Marina who was just listening and hugging one of Laurie's pillows while resting her head on the other. She seemed to have calmed down now that we were all here. I thought my presence was a big factor there.
"Okay," started Laurie, "you're not going to like this though. It has been all but confirmed, as far as I'm concerned, that they detected mind magic. This has led them to suspect foul play. At first it was thought to be a suicide, like Lisa couldn't handle the pressure or something. But now that's been essentially ruled out."
"So, they think it was a murder?" I asked, knowing the answer.
"That's right."
"And they think you were involved," said Colin without looking away from the window. He didn't raise his voice so we could hear him better from the other side of the room either. It was almost like he was just stating an everyday fact. Like he was just saying, Oh, look, it looks like rain. And by the way, you're a murderer, Tom. But the androgynous seelie didn't have the guts to say that outright. It was getting harder to try to like him. So, I just ignored his comment and continued talking to Laurie.
"Anyway," Laurie said, "we're not allowed to leave our dorms right now. There's not a whole lot they're telling us either. This is all still just rumor that I've heard, apart from the basic facts that have come from the campus police about the suspected cause. As far as they're concerned, none of us are in any danger right now."
"Bullshit," I said, feeling suddenly angry. "They just expect you to wait around here when they think someone's caused a death?"
"The official story is that they don't know it wasn't a suicide, so yes, that's what they expect."
"You are not popular either," said Colin. "And can you really blame the Sleepy Hollow student body for being suspicious of their number one rival school's golden boy? You start visiting and suddenly someone dies right during finals? That's going to completely throw off everyone's results."
"Stop it," said Laurie.
"Okay, I will. Sorry, Marina," he said in a clear display of virtue signaling to try to keep on her good side. The gangly silver eyed bastard wasn't worried at all.
"Anyway, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you can't stay here for long," said Laurie.
"Oh, that's right," Marina suddenly said, looking at me. She sat up. "I should have told you. I just wasn't expecting you to rush over. Please let me walk you out, baby. I don't want you to get in any trouble, or fights."
Laurie agreed with a nod. "If people see you on campus now? I just seriously hope you have yourself an alibi, Tom. Please tell me you do."
"I, I don't know. I was just at the hotel room near campus. I guess some people must have seen me."
"Well try not to let anyone see you on your way out, okay?"
And with that, I said goodbye and left, doing my best impression of a ghost to avoid any trouble.
5
Marina
I honestly wanted to stop the boys from fighting. But seeing that poor girl's dead body, burned up like it was a piece of meat. And the smell, oh, I would never be able to get that terrible smell out of my mind for all of my life. I knew that as soon as it happened.
"Colin, why did you have to go and say those things? What's gotten into you?" I scolded after Tom had left. I didn't want to do anything that might cause arguing between them, and letting one see me upset with the other was a sure way to build grudges between them for sure.
Colin shrugged and drew his attention away from the window. He hadn't even bothered to turn around to say goodbye to Tom when he left. Instead, the redheaded Fae just remained facing the window. I wondered if he was even looking at anything out there or interested in doing so. He might have just been sulking to be honest.
Walking over to me, he said in that lulling voice that always drove every girl wild, "It's nothing personal. I have no issue with Thomas as a person. But you saw all the rumors yourself. Even the campus police seem like they might be suspicious of him."
"You don't seriously think that he would have done something like this do you?" said Laurie.
"That would be such an extreme thing to do to another person just to stir up trouble in a rival school. And it's not like Tom has that much competition to worry about anyway. Why risk his place at the top?" I said, trying to talk Tom up. I thought it might have just made Colin more resentful though, judging from the look on his face.
"Yeah, I know, he has it all: rich family, all the connections, a great school record. You never see spoiled rich kids from snobby families doing anything wrong like this, do you?" He walked toward me, but I looked away.
I could tell that Colin wasn't going to be much help, so getting him to act like the voice of reason was a lost cause. That's when we heard shouting from outside and all three of us rushed over to the window to see what the cause of the ruckus was. It was Tom! The campus police were holding him, one on each side firmly gripping his arms so that he wouldn't be able to try to run away or do anything to them. Like he was some common criminal!
"What!" I shouted, wanting to bang on the window but settling for placing my fist against it with a dull thud. My face was so close to the glass that I was beginning to fog it up with my heated breathing. "No, what are they doing?"
"He only just got here. There's no way he could have actually had anything to do with this," Laurie said.
Colin was standing behind each of us, easily able to see over the tops of our heads with his impressive height. I could almost feel his satisfaction emanating from him even though I couldn't see his face. That was all in my head, I knew, since I wasn't exactly adept at any mind related magic like Tom was. But it was almost certainly how he would have felt.
"I'm going down there!" I cried out, even while knowing how stupid the notion was.
Colin placed his hand on my shoulder firmly. He didn't do it hard enough to physically restrain me or with too much pressure, but the gesture made me feel uncom
fortable. I wasn't a possession of his, nor of any other man or person. I told him, "You need to let go of me, Colin, now."
"You can't go out there," said Colin. He seemed to be a little embarrassed with himself, but that might have just been a response from being told off. Taking his hand away so that I was able to move slightly away from him, I went to stand beside Laurie. He continued, "Don't you remember what they told us? If you go out there, it could land you in trouble, maybe a lot of it. Plus, you don't want to be implicated in this murder just because—"
"There's no evidence that it was a murder yet, just like there is absolutely no reason for them to be taking Tom away! Stop acting like this, please. Can't you understand that I care about him too?"
Laurie looked at me with an expression of respect on her face. "She's right," my lovely roommate added. "Although, going down there would be a big mistake."
I knew she was right. I even knew that Colin was right even though he was going about it the wrong way with how he was acting right then. "It's a risk I'm willing to take," I said as I ran out the door. The two of them made to follow but I quickly shut the door behind me, and they gladly knew well enough to just let me do what I had to do.
There was no one in the hallways, which made it easy to run down to the area they had been taking Tom by our campus windows. He was no longer there, so I assumed they must have taken him away to their detainment area. That was in the campus police headquarters, so that's where I went. I went as fast as I could and heard someone shouting out to me something about gettin back to my dorm. I didn't listen, barely even paid attention to what the person had said.
Just as I came up to where the campus police headquarter were, I saw the two big campus police members leading Tom along toward the door to their headquarters building. But I was too late. The door closed behind them and they turned to see me running, then quickly locked it. I tried to shout before they got him inside, but it was no good.
He did hear me though, and he turned around the moment he realized it was my voice. "Marina? What are you doing here?"
There were so many things I wanted to say, but I knew there wasn't enough time for all of them. "It's going to be okay!" I shouted as loud as I could so that he would definitely be able to hear me through the thick glass door. He nodded like he didn't really believe me but was just trying to put on a brave face to make me feel better.
Somehow, I managed to keep myself from falling apart until I got back to the dorm. On the way, the lecturer who had told me off for being outside of my dorm was still there. I didn't know his name or have him for any classes, but I recognized him from seeing him teaching others. "I know you must be worried about your, friend," he said. The words were clearly chosen carefully. Maybe he was trying to avoid upsetting me anymore, which was actually very nice given the already difficult situation.
"Please don't tell me I'm in trouble for being out of my dorm," I said in a sweet, pleading voice. Okay, I was putting it on more than normal. If there was ever a time to use my girlish charms to get some sympathy points, I think staying under the radar when there's a suspected murder on campus might be it.
"No, you're not. I do want you to promise that you'll go straight back to your dorm now and stay there until told to do otherwise. Okay?" He had a bit more of a stern tone of voice now.
"Yes, sir," I said, not wanting to say anything more that may jeopardize this lucky break I was seemingly being given. "Thank you!" I said as I turned and hurried off.
"Oh, and no running through the common areas, thank you," he said after me as though trying to maintain a facade of being a hardass when he knew he'd just given me a big break.
The second I was through the door of my dorm, which was locked and required me knocking, I let myself fall apart all over again. "This just can't be happening," I said. It was selfish to act like this was all something terrible that was happening to —me. A student had just lost her life. She had friends, family, possibly a boyfriend or girlfriend of her own. That's when I resolved to stop acting so narcissistic and pull myself together.
"Are you alright?" asked Colin. He was earnestly concerned now and all the petty jealously had drained from him, or that was how it seemed at first anyway. He was an attractive guy, somehow handsome in a masculine way and beautiful in a feminine way at the same time. How could you stay mad at someone who was that damn good looking when he hadn't really done anything so wrong? It was disarming to say the least, and I started to let myself fall for it too in that moment.
Laurie came over and gave me a friendly hug. She was taller than me and it was comforting like having a bigger sister, even though we were actually the same age. "I know it's upsetting to have someone you care about put in that situation. Just remember that he didn't do anything wrong, okay?"
"That's for the courts to decide now, isn't it?" said Colin.
Oh, so he wasn't actually over his whole being-a-jealous-ass routine. Great.
"I thought you were going to stop with that," said Laurie with an angry tone.
"Yes, you told me to, I know.” Colin wasn't the kind of guy to be like this usually. It was strange, but I knew that he had been hurt in the past. It was harder for him to trust people in the first place, and he'd been dating a girl on campus who used him then dumped him. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. To both of you." He was sitting on my bed. With his impressive height, his knees were angled up so high that it made him look like he was sitting on a kid's bed. That, and the combination of my girly bedspread and stuffed bear, made him look pretty adorable.
"Please just let it go, for me," I said as I went to sit beside him. "I know you've been hurt. I'm not going to do that to you though."
"It's not that. I just think that maybe it's for the best that they're being careful is all."
Laurie made a scoffing sound like a dry, sardonic laugh mixed with a cough. "Oh, it would be for the best if your lead competition was taken out of the picture, wouldn't it? What's to stop me now from accusing you of masterminding this whole thing? You have a lot to gain from Tom being blamed for this right?"
"That's crazy," Colin replied.
I swear I could practically feel his heartbeat pick up speed as I sat right up beside him, our bodies sharing some warmth that would have made me feel good in any other situation.
"I know you're just trying to make a point, but that still isn't cool." He put his arm around me and drew me back so we were lying beside each other with our legs off the side of my bed.
Laurie had gone over to her bed and started using her phone in a half lying down position. I lowered my voice to both give her some time to herself and to keep our conversation private. "Look, baby, I know you're still healing from what Nala did to you—"
"I don't want to talk about my ex with you," he replied shortly.
"I respect that. But you also need to remember, and respect, the conditions of our relationship. We all agreed to them. Even though I would never cheat on someone if we were in a monogamous relationship, this isn't that. There are different rules here that you need to respect."
Colin sighed and seemed to sink down into the mattress even more.
"Don't forget that you're still seeing other people too."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Marina." He sounded sincere enough too.
6
Thomas
The past two days were absolute bullshit! First, I was locked away for two days in their tiny holding cell. There was nothing in there apart from a hard steel bed attached to the wall that had a flimsy mattress stinking of BO. I had never given much thought to what the campus police were like at Sleepy Hollow. In fact, the idea of ever being locked away like that had never even crossed my mind. My family would never have allowed that if it had happened at Salem University.
When I'd gotten back to my hotel, the first thing I wanted to do was peel off these sweat-stained, stinking clothes. That would have to wait though, I told myself while calling Marina.
"Tom?" she answered as though now sure it
could really be true.
"Hi, baby. I'm sorry for not being in touch. They took away my phone and wouldn't let me have more than one call."
"I guess you probably wanted to call your parents, or a lawyer?" She said the last part like it was a question. "Do you think you'll need a lawyer?"
"No, luckily nothing like that's going to happen, not for now anyway. They had no evidence. You better believe my family is furious. I wouldn't want to be those campus police after my parents have finished siccing their lawyers on them. Mom was particularly upset."
"I bet they blame me," came a forlorn voice through my cellphone. She felt so distant even though I knew she was so close to my hotel room. "And I don't blame them for thinking that," she added as if you confirm what I was thinking.
"They don't blame you. Not really anyway..."
Marina laughed a little. "You're an awful liar when it comes to me, you know that?"
"Hey, what makes you think I'm a good liar when it comes to other people?"
"Please, we were rivals for most of this year. I know you're an honest person, but you're just so great at being diplomatic that you have that politician way about you. I guess that's a good thing in the modern world. But I trust you. You're a good guy."
"Thanks," I said in earnest. "So, I suppose you have already assumed that I'm banned from Sleepy Hollow campus for the immediate future at least. I'd be surprised if I'm ever allowed to set foot there again no matter how this turns out."
Marina was silent for a moment. I could imagine all the things she was possibly thinking. Things like, how would we be able to keep seeing each other when she was banned from visiting me and I was now banned from visiting her? What would life be like when everyone was probably against me being around her now? Would I still think it was worth the effort to stay together? Her breathing was heavy enough now that I could hear it through the phone in the midst of the otherwise silent moment.
