Page 30 of A Curse So Cruel

“Yes well, Thane is clearly as deranged as Knox, and obviously a masochist.”

Kenzie gasps so loudly even I startle. “What?”

“You…you can’t say their names without their title, and you can’t insult them.” She peers around nervously and scans the walls.

Elgen and Tarlaz stand with a group of shadows on the wall to our right. They’ve been following us since we left the dining hall. Like they’ve just been waiting for their chance, the shadows band together, acting out a dramatic scene that ends with one of the characters dying. At least, that’s my interpretation going by the way a shadow figure drops to the ground and pretends to writhe before falling still.

“Let me guess, that’s supposed to be me?”I send to the shadows.“Lovely.”

“It should have been you,”Elgen’s raspy voice replies in my head.“But here you are, little human.”

“Very curious,”Tarlaz adds.

“Do they always do that?” I ask Kenzie, pointing to the shadows.

When she’s satisfied the professors aren’t going to hunt us down for what I said, Kenzie tilts her head. “Do what? Follow students around?”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes,” she replies. “Other times they disappear for a while. Looks like they’re curious about you. Not that I can blame them.”

“Great.” We start down the corridor again with me hobbling beside Kenzie, and I’m busy thinking about the students in the dining hall when I ask, “Exactly how many students were here when you started?” I haven’t forgotten what one of the students whispered:New girl won’t last a night.People keep saying that, and I want to know why.

Kenzie gets a blank look before she answers. “Out of the new arrivals we’re down to half. We lost the most during the first three nights.”

A chill crawls down my spine, and I swear the air cools around me. “But…why? How?”

“A few chose to leave, but the rest…” She sucks in a breath. “Some were taken in their dreams by shadow creatures, a few violated the rules or were killed during classes, some were murdered by other students, and they are only the ones I know about.”

“What do you mean? How can you not know what happened to the others?”

She shrugs. “Some of them just never turned up to class. There have been rumors among the students about what happened to them, but I never believed them. I always assumed those students must have chosen to go back to the human realm, but then Leira disappeared. I still think it has something to do with the professors.”

“But you can’t think they all found out information and were silenced for it?” I question.

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean it’s not all connected.”

I peer at the shadow figures who are still following us. “You’re not afraid of the shadows hearing you say that?”

Her smile is a crooked, dark thing, so at odds with her doe eyes. “I was afraid, but after seeing how you stood up to Professor Knox, I want the professors to know how I feel about Leira’s disappearance.”

I want to point out to her that I’m a terrible role model, because I wasn’t intentionally standing up to him, but she forges on.

“I can’t be sure that Professor Thane uses the shadows as spies, but if he does, I’m happy for him to hear this. I went to him in the days after she disappeared, you know.” Kenzie sniffs.“Professor Thane is tough, but he cares for the students. At least, I think he does.” She blows out a breath. “But he said he knew nothing about Leira.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I tell her. “We’ll find out what happened to her.” I don’t point out that I know the shadows can’t directly speak to the professors. I guess there could be other ways the shadows might communicate.

Kenzie gives me a grateful look, but it’s clear she’s not convinced. Either way, her lips curve up slightly. “Maybe you should focus on trying to stay alive first. It’s nice to have someone around who seems…normal.”

I snort. “Normal is not the word I’d use to describe myself.”

“Exactly,” she beams, running her eyes up and down my attire as if to make a point. “You’re strange, meaning you’re completely normal. Well, you are to me, anyway.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“You should.”

I grin, not sure how I got so lucky having her as a roommate. I open my mouth and I’m about to tell her that when shadows wrap around me. I squawk as I’m pulled backwards down the corridor.