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Summer

T he pain is unbearable.

Alice. Alice is… dead.

Alice lies in front of me. Red blooms from her, slowly seeping around the silver blade embedded in her back. I move forward, my feet moving of their own accord. I fall to my knees beside her, landing in the pool of her cooling blood. My heart feels like it is stuttering in my chest as I reach a shaking hand toward her. I can’t help my cry of despair at the stark cold of her body.

Alice.

Alice.

Alice.

I try to think, try to do something, but she’s gone. What do I do? What do I do? Fuck!

I sit up, unsure at what point I lay down. I scramble, my hands sliding through her blood as I try to find my phone. Suddenly, I’m lifted from the floor, and I look up to see the headmaster’s icy gaze locked on me. He’s saying something, but I can’t hear him. All I can hear is my heart breaking. All I can feel is overwhelming grief. The headmaster says something else, but I can’t hear. I can’t even see with the tears blurring my eyes. Fuck, when did I start crying?

“Miss Tuatha De Daanan. Stop.”

I try to blink away the tears, but they won’t stop. The headmaster guides me to the bed and sits me down before he moves to Alice. I wipe my eyes, getting a moment’s reprieve from the blurriness, but it comes back tenfold when I watch him pull the blade from her back. I swipe impatiently at my tears again. It’s not a blade. It’s a stake made specifically for destroying a vampire. I slide off the bed, needing to be closer to Alice.

“There’s no need for hysterics,” the headmaster growls, and finally, I can hear him. I crawl closer to Alice and blink up at him, too afraid to hope.

“W-What?” I ask, my throat raw as if I’d been screaming for hours.

“Get up,” the headmaster snarls, and I look away before shakily getting to my feet.

The headmaster wipes off the stake, but my gaze remains on Alice, my perfect best friend, lying lifeless on the floor.

I whimper, looking down at my hands, coated in her blood. This is wrong. It should have been me.

Alice’s body jolts suddenly and violently. I yelp in surprise and fall back onto the bed. Her body spasms again, and then once more before her chest rises, and she releases a deep groan. “Fuck,” Alice moans, her fingers twitching a little. I watch with wide eyes, counting her breaths. “Motherfucker,” she growls, reaching behind her to touch the gruesome wound left on her back.

“A-Alice?” I whimper, sliding back down onto the floor. The rug squelches, saturated with her blood.

“Owwwwww,” Alice groans, shifting a little.

I sob loudly and pull her to me.

“Only twelve left, Miss Legosi. That was careless,” the headmaster admonishes.

Alice gently pushes at me, obviously in pain, and my tight hold on her isn’t helping. “What happened?” she asks, but I can’t stop kissing all over his face, the tears falling freely. “That fucking sucked.”

The headmaster leans against the wall, inspecting the stake. “Do you remember anything?”

Alice strokes my hair and hugs me back, finally realizing what a mess I am. “Summer, I’m okay. I have thirteen lives.”

I cling to her and sob.

“One benefit to being your father’s heir,” the headmaster adds.

I keep smothering her in kisses and hugging her tightly.

“Sum, come on. I only died a little.”

The headmaster clears his throat pointedly. “Miss Tuatha De Daanan. Miss Legosi. Can we focus on the matter at hand?” We both look up at him, responding to the command infusing his voice. “The murderer will not know about this… side effect of Miss Legosi’s lineage.”

I struggle to my feet and help Alice up. We are both as wobbly as newborn deer. Alice looks down at her shirt in dismay. It is covered in blood and has a huge hole in the back. “This was my favorite shirt.”

The headmaster pins us in place with his silver gaze. “The killer must not know about her survival. They must believe they succeeded.”

I look down at my bloody hands. “We can use this to our advantage,” I say, understanding. Up until now, the killer has been a step ahead, but this may even the odds.

The headmaster looks at me, his gray eyes molten. “You must act as if she is dead. They will be watching you closely.”

I nod once. “I can do that.”

“We have to make it look like they succeeded in their assassination attempt,” he says, looking at Alice.

Alice shrugs. “My comeback will be divine.”

“You’ll need to hide somewhere.”

“She can go to the Morningstar House,” I offer.

“They will need to be discreet,” the headmaster says.

“They will be,” I assure him.

The headmaster waves his hand, opening a portal. “Stay out of sight until I say otherwise, Miss Legosi.”

Alice squeezes my hand before walking through the portal. The headmaster waits for it to snap shut behind her and then waves his hand again. Alice’s body reforms on the ground. My stomach drops at how realistic it is, but I steel myself.

Alice is safe. Alice is with Connor. Alice is safe.

“I will need to play a role as well,” the headmaster says, and I force my gaze away from the illusion. “I cannot be here as your headmaster.” He closes his eyes, and his body starts to change. When he opens his eyes again, they are blue instead of his gray, and his dark hair has been replaced with blond. I blink as I look up at Connor instead of the headmaster.

“I understand that this will be strange. But it is necessary,” he says, and I wrinkle my nose, deeply disturbed when the headmaster’s voice emerges from Connor’s lips. I’m very aware it’s not Connor standing in the room with me. There is none of the comfort or warmth that Connor elicits in me.

The headmaster turns toward the mirror, trying to mimic Connor’s playful smirk. He tries on a few of his other expressions and softens his face a little. “I do not enjoy falling one step behind the killer. I need a reason to stay close to you. Mister Morningstar will have to remain in hiding with Miss Legosi.”

“Oh, right. Well, I’m going to go shower, and then?—”

“You cannot wash off the blood, Miss Tuatha De Daanan. Every minute counts at the moment.”

“Okay, tell me what to do,” I say with a weary sigh.

He nods at Alice’s corpse. “As you were a moment ago.”

I swallow down the bile as I look back at Alice’s body, chanting in my head, Alice is safe, Alice is with Connor, Alice is safe. I kneel beside her.

The headmaster picks my phone up off the floor. It is covered in blood, and it coats his hand as he dials. He holds it to his ear, and this time, when he talks, it’s almost a perfect imitation of Connor.

“Hi, I uh… need to report a murder. It’s my fiancée’s roommate. Her name is Alice. She’s been staked.”

I force myself to cry so that I can be heard in the background, and I know when they come, I’m going to have to actually cry. I’m going to have to unlock that unbearable pain I felt when I first saw her.

“Please, hurry,” the headmaster says as Connor before ending the call.

He paces around the room until he hears the authorities arrive, and then he kneels beside me and wraps an arm around me. “It’s time, Miss Tuatha De Daanan,” he whispers as they come through the front door.

I close my eyes and let the shock and trauma surge through me, feeling every fucking ounce of agony from finding my best friend lying here dead. The tears come even easier than I expected, and soon, the sobs are so powerful that I can barely breathe. The headmaster, as Connor, presses my head into his neck, guiding me to lean into him.

“Let’s let them take care of this, babe. We should go to my house,” the headmaster says again, and I let Connor’s voice soothe me even though I know it’s not him.

I shake my head. “I can’t leave her,” I sob, clinging to Alice.

The headmaster stands, lifting me with him. “Come on, babe.” My knees buckle, but he supports me, leading me out of the room. We keep the facade up all the way to the Morningstar House. I’m hyper aware of the attention we’re garnering. We are both covered in blood, and I am sobbing so hard I can barely walk.

“Almost there, babe,” he croons.

The moment we enter the house, he releases me and drops the glamour. He slices his finger, drawing a rune on the back of the door. It’s clever and pretty complex. It’ll keep anyone from spying through the windows or listening in.

“Well done. You did well,” the headmaster says, turning back to face me.

Connor pounds down the stairs, his face paling when he sees me covered in blood. “Babe.”

Another sob bubbles from me, and I run to Connor. He wraps his arms around me and lifts me against his chest. “Fuck. When Alice arrived covered in blood, I–I thought the worst,” he says, his hands roaming over me, trying to convince himself I’m real and unhurt.

“You need to stay home for a while, big guy,” I say, mumbling the words against his neck.

The headmaster pushes off the door. “I trust you have this handled, Miss Tuatha De Daanan. I should make myself seen.”

I turn my head to look at the headmaster. “Tomorrow morning?”

“I’ll be here,” he says, opening a portal and disappearing through it. I wrap my arms and legs tighter around Connor, clinging to him as if he might disappear. “Fuck. Is Alice all right?”

Connor exhales a laugh. “She’s fine. Pissed about her shirt.”

I pull back a little, trying to force myself to let him go. “I desperately need a shower.”

Connor tightens his hold and carries me up the stairs, refusing to put me down. I am grateful. If he lets go, all my pieces may fall apart.