Page 2 of Breaking Rules

I narrowed my eyes, leaning closer to him. “What. Happened.”

“Someone said it was firecrackers.” A woman next to me spoke up. “But those weren’t firecrackers.”

“Are you a parent?” I asked the question even though I doubted this woman had the means to send a child to this particular institution.

“I’m a janitor,” she said, lifting her chin. “Afternoon shift. I was one of the people who called 911. I know gunshots when I hear them. I grew up in Youngstown.”

I squeezed her arm, thankful for the information and her quick thinking. “How many gunshots did you hear?”

“Six.”

“There were three.” An older man with an ascot stood off to the side, a sour expression on his face. “And I’ve been informed that the suspect is in custody.”

It took me a moment to place who he was. “Mr. Arkham, right?”

“You’re the McCrae boy.”

I was in my early thirties, which meant I couldn’t really be a boy, but I wasn’t about to argue that when I wanted answers. “Alec McCrae, aye. You have answers about what happened?”

“No one knows anything,” the cop interrupted. “You have to wait until an announcement is made.”

“I am not waitin’ to see my daughter,” I said firmly, working to keep my voice even. “Or to find out if she’s hurt.”

“I heard two people were taken to the hospital.” A well-dressed woman was wringing her hands as she paced. “At least tell us if they were kids or adults. My Spencer is in there. Please. Tell us something.”

“I have a friend on the force,” Mr. Arkham said. “The ambulance was for a teacher who fainted and hit their head.”

For a moment, Lumen’s face popped into my mind, but I pushed it away. If she was hurt, it wouldn’t have been from passing out. The lass was one of the strongest people I’d ever met.

When the cop still refused to speak, the people behind me started shouting.

“We need to get in there!”

“Stop stalling!”

“What the hell’s going on in there?!”

“Those are our kids!”

“Do you know who I am?!”

“I’ll have your badge!”

The cop shifted, glancing around him as if looking for assistance, but all the way around the perimeter, cops were dealing with the same thing.

I wasn’t getting through here, but I wasn’t giving up either. I hadn’t gotten to where I was today by dropping things that were too hard. I started down the line, keeping close enough to the police tape that it moved as I walked. More than one person shouted at me for cutting in front of them, and the cops kept warning me back, but I ignored all of them. I ignored the stories flying around me too, not really caring what were rumors and what were facts. I’d learn what happened when I found Evanne and Lumen.

I finally spotted where the elementary students had been gathered and quickened my step. All my attention focused on the little figures, scanning for long, dark brown curls and the blue bow I’d put in her hair this morning. She was tall for her age, but still only eight, so I worried that I wouldn’t be able to see her over the older kids and adults.

Then I saw a familiar slender body and thick, honey-blonde waves pulled back from a face I’d had in my mind for nearly two full months. As she turned, I spotted a figure clinging to her, and everything else disappeared.

“Evanne!”

Two

Lumen

I jottedmyself a note to put green peppers on the grocery list that Mai and I had hanging on our fridge and then added to the note that we needed to decide who was going grocery shopping this week. I supposed it’d come down to whether I’d spend more time with Alec and Evanne, or if Mai would spend more with Hob. Then again, the less time I was at the apartment, the more time my roommate could have with her boyfriend in the privacy of our home.