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50

Summer

W e land back at the Morningstar house, tension still radiating from Luke. It escalates when Rafe steps onto the porch. Deciding that I can’t handle another confrontation between the brothers, I excuse myself and head home. I barely make it back onto the quad before I’m tackled by a small, solid body. She takes me to the ground, clinging to me.

“I missed you!” she shrieks, nuzzling against me. I groan, trying to shift off the large stone, digging painfully into my back.

“Hi, Alice.” I smile. She disentangles from me and stands up, pulling me with her. There is pure joy on her face, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her look so elated. It seems the supposedly murderous, loner vampire missed her psychotic, broken best friend.

“I missed you, too,” I say with a sincere smile, hugging her tight.

“You owe me. This place is painfully boring without you,” Alice whines, her voice conveying her utter despair at having to endure Avalon without her partner in crime. Oh, man, I hope she didn’t actually commit any crimes…

“If you want, we can watch that trashy show you love so much tonight?” I suggest.

Alice immediately brightens, but her face pulls into a look of reproach. “That trashy show has won not only the hearts of over forty million viewers, and it has an array of awards!”

I quirk a brow, glancing at her as we walk back to our dorm. “Alice, the last episode we watched together revolved around a female mortal trying to become a vampire. So she signed a contract with the Emperor, who promised to turn her if she signed her soul over to him for eternity.”

“Okay, woah. Do not diminish Demetrius’s and Carolina’s love like that. It’s called an arranged marriage trope. Look it up.” Alice crosses her arms over her chest, pouting.

“Oh, my apologies,” I say, unconvincingly.

Alice glares at me. “How was it anyway?”

I sigh, my lips tugging up at the corners. “It was good, actually.”

“Good?” Alice asks.

I nod. “His parents are kind of incredible.”

“And did you and Connor work things out?”

“We did. It turns out what nine-year-old Connor and what thirty-year-old Connor wants are two completely different things.”

Alice laughs. “Who knew?” She nudges me. “So… did you reach the Heaven High Club?”

I blink, glancing at her. “What?”

“Did you and Connor…” She pauses for a moment, looking around in a show of secrecy, but I can tell it’s simply dramatics. “Sex in a stratus? Cunnilingus in a cumulus? Cock in a cirrus? Anal in?—”

“Alice!” I interrupt.

Alice nudges me again. “Well?”

I give her a look and then sigh heavily. “Yes, we had sex in Eden. Okay? Happy?”

“Ew, no, that would be weird. Did his parents walk in on you?”

“What an odd question,” I say, wrinkling my nose.

“Well, I know his brothers already caught you on the couch.”

I gaped. “How did you know about that?”

Alice shrugs. “Zane.”

“I’m going to staple that boy’s mouth shut.”

Alice snorts. “He’d learn sign language just to spite you.”

“I need to find out about this secret girl Zach is seeing. If I blackmail dumb, the dumber will also fall into line.”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Alice snorts. “He’s fucking Ashley.”

“Ashley?” I frown.

Alice nods. “Ashley Troy. You met her the other day.”

I look down, trying to place her, and then it clicks. “The cheerleader?”

“Cheer captain . You’d better get it right if you’re serious about wanting to join the squad.” Alice opens the main door to Kelpie, and we climb the stairs plotting against the twins.

When we open the door to our dorm, every instinct I have goes on alert. There is something wrong. Alice, too wrapped up in chatting about Zach and Ashley, doesn’t notice and just walks through to her room, continuing to talk. Her voice fades into a faint hum as I zero my senses onto the strange energy in the dorm. Slowly, I walk toward my bedroom door. It is sitting ajar, and a pang of fear sinks into me as I brush my fingers down the wood, following the grain. The hinges squeak as I cautiously push it open, my heart racing in my chest. As my room comes into view, my stomach sinks. It is completely destroyed. Drawers have been dumped, my wardrobe has been emptied, and my clothes are strewn across the floor. Pictures have been ripped from my walls, some of them torn to pieces. I step into the room and pick up one of my shirts. There is a huge slice along the back of it.

“So I was thinking about cheerlea…” Alice’s words trail off as she rounds the corner into my room. “What the fuck?” She inhales deeply like I have seen her do when trying to get a scent. “Nothing. Fuck, Sum. What do we do? Call the authorities?”

My hands start to shake, and I drop the ruined shirt. “I think we should notify the headmaster first.” I grab my phone and open my school email account.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Sorry to bother you, sir. Someone has ransacked my dorm room. Should I contact the authorities about this, or is it a school matter?

-Summer.

The second I hit the send button, regret churns in my gut. “Fuck, he already hates me, Alice. Now, I am emailing him on a Sunday. He is going to expel me for sure.”

I’ve barely finished my thought when someone knocks on the door. It’s a familiar knock, sure and strong. I already know who it is before Alice opens the door for him. The headmaster steps into the dorm wearing a casual version of his usual professional attire. His steely eyes rake the living room, taking in every detail.

“Miss Tuatha De Daanan, Miss Legosi,” he says. His voice is clipped, but there is no unkindness in it.

“Headmaster Emrys, thank you for coming.”

He nods once. “Your room was ransacked?”

I nod, leading him into my bedroom. He steps just inside the door, looking around at the mess. “Was anything taken?”

“I’m not sure, sir.”

He steps deeper into the room, taking care not to trample any of the destroyed clothes that litter the floor. I appreciate the gesture but also don’t understand the point of the courtesy.

“Did you touch anything after finding your room like this? Move anything?” He asks, scanning the room.

“Just that shirt,” I reply honestly, pointing to the one I had picked up. The headmaster glances over his shoulder, noting the shirt. He nods once and slides his forefinger along the inside of his ring, slicing the skin. Turning on his heel, he walks to the door and presses his bloody fingertip to it. He drags the pad over the painted wood, leaving a precise line in its wake. I notice he is careful not to lift his finger as he loops the line in a series of curves. To finish, he presses two dots in the center. It’s not a rune I’m familiar with, but from the way it’s rounded, I think it’s supposed to show motion.

The rune glows softly and pulses three times before a ghostly figure appears in the room. A ghostly figure moves through the room, carelessly tearing through my belongings. The projection isn’t perfect, and obviously, the being took precautions to avoid being identified. It flickers in and out, sometimes showing them yanking items of clothes out of my wardrobe, sometimes throwing papers around.

My throat tightens, and I wrap my arms around my torso, surprised at the sense of violation. Unable to watch anymore, I instinctively turn toward the headmaster. He is watching the scene, trying to get as much information as possible from the grainy, incomplete projection. I glance back at the scene just in time to watch the being lift something.

“Sir! There! Stop!”

The illusion pauses immediately, and he moves closer. “A notebook?”

Even from the poor quality of the projection, I can tell what it is. It’s a book with a small daisy on the front and a soft pink background. “It’s my journal. Though, I never use it.”

The headmaster rubs his hand along his jaw, and I notice his stubble is a little heavier than usual. “They must have known you were away for the weekend.” He turns his piercing gaze on Alice. “And you didn’t hear anything, Miss Legosi?”

Alice blushes a little. “I uh… I wasn’t here last night.”

I blink at her.

The headmaster just nods, turning his formidable attention back to the scene. “They knew the dorm was empty.”

“Do you think they’ve been watching?” I ask, my mind flashing back to the feeling of someone watching me through the window, the way the unnatural wind pounded against the glass.

I feel the headmaster’s icy stare settle on me. “Yes, which makes little sense. If they knew who you are, why Gia?” he ponders, though I’m not convinced the question is for Alice or me.

Alice gasps, drawing our attention. “Miss Legosi?” he asks.

“Gia looked like you, Sum!” She smacks her palm against her forehead. “I just remembered. When I was young, there was this rogue vampire who went around killing the same person over and over.” She pauses at my confused expression. “Well, not the same person, but people who looked very similar, but he never targeted the object of their obsession. The OG lookalike.”

I stare at her blankly, trying to put it all together.

Alice rolls her eyes in exasperation. “Maybe this person killed Gia because she looks like you, and they are obsessed with you.”

My brows draw, and I continue to stare at her, a little dumbfounded.

The headmaster hums thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

“That’s ridiculous. No one is obsessed with me.” I wrap my arms tighter around myself. Well, except for the obvious, but Torin is not so much obsessed with me as he is obsessed with controlling me. Or, more specifically, he wants to control my power. I consider whether I should mention Torin to the headmaster now, but it seems pointless, and I’d rather no one else know about my murky past.

“We should not be quick to discount Miss Legosi’s theory.” The headmaster frowns and then waves his hand. I watch in amazement as my bedroom puts itself back together. “No one should know about the break-in. Not yet,” he says, the command in his voice stealing my will. “Understand?”

We nod, and it feels like the air has thickened, making it difficult to breathe.

“The AIB have been less than collaborative with this whole situation.”

I stare at him, overwhelmed with the information, the danger, the unknown.

“I will find them, Miss Tuatha De Daanan,” the headmaster says, watching me.

“Yes, sir,” I reply, though I can hear the fear in my voice.

“Be careful. Both of you.” The headmaster summons a portal and steps in. It snaps shut behind him, but I continue to stare at the spot where he disappeared. Without his powerful presence, my fear turns to terror, the metallic taste of it coating my tongue.

I sit down on the bed, and Alice sits next to me. She looks around and whistles softly. “That male can clean .”

My lips twitch, and I look down at the floor, thinking. “We can’t tell Con,” I say, already feeling the unease and seeds of guilt from keeping this from him.

“Sum?”

“Yeah?”

“This could still be a coincidence. Or a prank,” Alice says, hopefully.

“It could be.”

Alice wraps her arms around me. “They won’t get you. They don’t realize you’ve got a murderous vampire wife, and I will remove their spine through their asshole if they hurt you.”

My lips twitch again, and I lay my head on top of hers.

“I’m glad you have that necklace,” Alice whispers.

I close my fingers around the pendant, feeling it warm under my hand.

“Sleep in my room tonight?” she asks.

I nod. “I’m going to take a shower first.”

“I’ll make popcorn!” Alice announces.

“You don’t eat.”

Alice shrugs. “I like the smell, don’t hate. Plus, you eat, and I need to feed my wife.”

I laugh softly and squeeze her before going to the bathroom to shower. I set the water temperature to scalding, trying to rid myself of the violation I’ve felt since I realized someone had been in my room, rifling through my things. It feels like an oily patina over my skin. It isn’t an unfamiliar sensation, just another layer. I am so tired of constantly looking over my shoulder, feeling as if I am being watched and hunted. After all these years, I should be used to it by now, but this feels like a whole other level. I scrub my skin until it’s bright pink and sore and desperately try to push the feelings away, containing them deep in the recesses of my mind.