Page 48 of Eat. Prey. Love. (Apex Academy Capers #5)
Panting, my heart pounds against my ribs as I skid into the library, the scent of old books and dust hitting me like a physical wave. Thursdays are supposed to be uneventful for me, a day buried in paperwork in Rockland’s office while I wish I was anywhere else in the world. But today is different—something is definitely afoot with the nasty corpse sniffer, so I paid as close attention as I could without drawing scrutiny. Afterward, my cheetah instincts screamed for urgency, but I had to take my leave for the day nonchalantly so she wouldn’t suspect what I overheard.
Spy shit is a pain in my ass—my Angel and Fitzy can have the glory. I hate this kind of shit.
“Where are they?” I mutter under my breath, scanning the labyrinth of bookshelves for Aubrey and Renard. My gaze catches the usual corner where they huddle over texts and scrolls, but it’s empty. I weave through the aisles, my breathing still uneven, and my ears twitch at every sound, hoping to pick up their voices and not faint grunting. Finding out they’re a couple has made their occasional disappearances less like hide-and-seek and more like a coin flip as to what they’ll be doing when they’re found.
“Chester, why are you running in my library ?” Finally, I spot Aubrey, his head popping out from behind a stack of ancient mythology volumes with a glare that could scare the tentacles off a kraken. “You know the rules about my?—”
“Yes, yes. No fucking—except you and our girl or Ren, which is completely unfair. No running, no red food or drink. No unapproved food or drink. No rap music. No video games…”
He looks amused for a second, then goes back to scowling. “Fine. You know the rules and yet you are moving at a pace that may not be cheetah running, but on normal preds would be considered running.”
Ra save me from the pedantic leanings of a librarian dragon in his element.
“Damn it, Aubrey.” He blinks at my curse and I duck my head as a flush comes over me, then I have to shake it off. “I’m hurrying , not running , because I have news for you and Renard. Where is he, anyway?”
“Right here.”
I scream like a girl when he backflips off the top of a shelf, landing in front of me with the Giselle of my kind and the silence of a ninja. “Holy fucking shit… How is it that garoyles are enormous, rock hard, winged giants when they shift, but in humanoid form they’re like fucking panthers? It’s really goddamn ridiculous. ”
Ren shrugs, giving me his very French, very lassez-faire smirk. “ We are a very exotic species, mon ami . No one knows why we are the way we are, only that it serves our purpose well.”
Great. I see we’re feeling prone to riddles today.
“I still want to know why you were hurrying through the most delicate part of the archive with little care for anything you might damage, Chester.”
Sucking in a slow breath, I try to calm my urgency a bit. These two are obviously in one of their contrary old fart moods and it won’t help any of us for me to get them to dig in further. I need them to listen, after all, and when they go into Waldorf and Statler mode, it’s impossible to get more than sarcasm. “I overheard some tidbits in the office today that I feel are important.”
I watch the realization dawn on Aubrey’s face, his eyes widening slightly. He gets the gravity of the situation without another snarky rejoinder and that’s what I wanted. Any whisper from Rockland’s lips could mean ripples of trouble or waves of disaster—but we have to prepare for both.
“Sit down, and we will talk about it,” Ren says, pointing to the cluster of chairs in the corner. They added them so Dolly can do homework comfortably while they research, and I’m suddenly glad.
Nodding, I follow the two of them to the small sitting area and get situated. They look at me expectantly and I swallow nervously. I’m not entirely sure about what I heard and I may have just been completely overly dramatic. “Rockland’s scheming, and it’s all hush-hush. I’m not sure exactly what I heard and how it relates, but it feels like it’s bad news. After Dolly’s triumph at the Pred Games...and that therapy session win...the woman’s got to be boiling over and ready to get revenge. She can’t stand for our girl to be happy even if it has nothing to do with her.”
Unspoken fears flit across Aubrey and Renard’s faces. They know this chick is ten pounds of crazy in a two pound bag, just waiting to burst open and get her mess all over everyone. It’s not a question of ‘if’ she goes nuclear, only ‘when’ she’ll blow. The difficulty in cleaning up the fallout will be decided by how much we can protect our girl against the explosion.
“Get Fitz and Felix here.” Aubrey grumbles. “We all need to hear this and then strategize from there.”
My fingers fly over my phone screen, sending a summons into the digital ether.
CSpot: We need you two back at the lair.
TigerWoody: I don’t have time for a deep dicking for lunch, Chessie. I’m dick deep in these stupid projects.
Tiger King: For fuck’s SAKE, Fitz…
CSpot: That’s not why. I have news about Rockland in her office today and Aubrey and Ren thought we should share.
I barely finish typing before I hear stomping. The twins materialize in the library with an urgency that mirrors my own. My eyes narrow at them, unclear on how they were able to thunder down the damn stairs that fast if Fitz was working on some projects.
“Why didn’t you say it was this important, baby?” Fitz asks, his gaze scanning me as if he might find answers written on my skin. “I would have been here faster.”
“You got here pretty damn fast,” I reply drily. “One would think you two were up to something.”
Felix arches a brow. “Even if we were, this is too precarious to put off. What do you know, Chess?”
“Whatever’s coming has Rockland giddy. She was swanning around the office, humming to herself, and not being careful about her voice level. I picked up bits of her phone conversation and possibly some long-winded video blog speech she was making to her culty readers. She hinted that something is coming, and a narcisistic bitch would get what’s coming to her.”
“Could the vampires be returning?” Renard throws the theory into the ring, his brow furrowed. “Perhaps our museum heist activated the supes who run the place?”
“I doubt it,” Felix interjects with a scoff, shaking his head. “Carina Rockland isn’t the mastermind type. She’s a low intelligence scammer peddling fetishizing fiction about shit she’s never been within five feet of, not the queen bee of bloodsuckers.”
After all, the same people who bitch about the ‘wrongness’ of Fitz and me—or Ren and Aubrey, for that matter—are the kind of people Rockland writes for.
Fitz, however, is already at work, fingers a blur over his laptop keyboard. He’s hunting through camera feeds, scouring social media—anything that might give us a clue what Rockland is gloating about. My mate is channeling his rage into his work, and while I’m glad he can do that, I don’t want him to lose his grip.
“If not vamps, then what could she be smirking about?” I press, feeling the coiled tension within the room. “Farley would have called if she’s managed to wiggle through some loophole in the court case.”
“Who knows with that fucking cunt,” Felix murmurs, but his eyes are sharp, not missing a pixel on the screen as his twin works. “We have to take all her dipshittery seriously or we might miss the one important piece of bullshit she spews.”
“Keep calm while I’m digging,” Fitz mumbles. “I’ll find it; it may just take a little time.”
I squint at the monitor as Fitz’s fingers dance across the keyboard like a maestro. This is something he’s very good at, and because he excels at killing, people underestimate the intelligence of my hyperactive mate. But they shouldn’t and it gives him an edge in situations like this. He won’t stop until he’s found every scintilla of information he can on the school’s network.
“I trust you, baby.”
That makes him grin at the screen and I didn’t think it was possible, but he moves even faster. The digital labyrinth before us gives up its secrets one by one—a breadcrumb trail we’re desperate to follow. A low growl echoes around the room when he hits something he believes is noteworthy and all the clacking of keys stops.
Aubrey leans over Fitz’s shoulder, his eyes wide with concern, “Midori Aung is back,” he whispers, as if saying it louder might summon the headmaster herself.
Frowning, I look at the rest of my family. “Why is that worthy of Rockland’s glee?”
“She has meetings with Rockland, Asani, and... the IT department?” Felix reads from the screen, his voice laced with incredulity. “That doesn’t seem like it’s a herald of good tidings.”
Fitz smirks without looking away from his screens. “The IT department here is about as cutting-edge as a blunt spoon. They wouldn’t know a secure network if it bit them in the ass.” He starts typing again, a sly smile playing on his lips. “Not to mention, Ren, the Captain’s crew, and I have this place locked down tighter than Alcatraz. Midori would need a miracle to sneak into our system—and Erikson’s lackies? They couldn’t hack a paper bag in a real system.”
“Her being here is cause for alarm. From everything I’ve heard from the staff, she’s never around unless something’s up,” Felix says with a grimace. “I keep my ears perked when I’m in common spaces for gossip, and the other professors complain about her lack of care about this place all the time.”
“Exactly what the crew has reported,” Ren adds, turning towards Fitz, who’s now leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. “We cannot forget how Dolly humiliated Kyaw Aung during the Pred Games at Cappie. Kyaw is her niece.”
“Kyaw Aung,” Fitz repeats, his relaxed posture gone as he sits up straighter, a growl building in his throat. “Goddamn. I almost forgot about that little witch. Zhenga had trouble with her and her mean girl group at Cappie, but they mostly squared off with Baby Girl’s ex-BFFs, so we didn’t focus on them. Now I wish I’d made a statement so they’d remember what happens when you come for my mate.”
“Easy, love” I say, placing a hand on Fitz’s shoulder. His muscles are coiled tight, ready to spring. “Remember… you tracked down La Porte after she ditched Dolly for that project. You’ve got that trophy waiting to be plucked. Focus on that instead of the Aung mess.”
A low rumble escapes Fitz’s lips, but his shoulders relax under my touch. I can feel the storm within him abate, even if only slightly. “Yeah, the Laporte girl,” he mutters, almost to himself. “I’ll take care of that first. She really pissed me off with her shit. And Baby Girl doesn’t have a toe yet.”
Fuck he’s crazy when it comes to people he loves. I adore it, but sometimes…
“That sounds like a plan, baby,” I reply, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll handle the Aung puzzle together, then make a move when we have a better idea of what's actually going on.”
But Fitz jumps to his feet, pacing like the caged predator he is. “I’m tired, Chessie. Tired of them thinking they can play games with Dolly and get away with it. Tired of holding back to solve riddles and find clues. This shit just keeps getting bigger, and the boards get fuller. When can we all just have a fucking break?” His voice is a snarl, barely contained fury lacing every syllable.
My voice is calm and steady to counteract his rage. “We all are, Fitzy. But we can’t risk putting Dolly or our friends in danger because we’re too impetuous. Right, guys? ”
Felix nods, then Aubrey and Ren. The dragon looks at the hyper tiger with a stern expression. “You know Chester is correct, Fitzgerald. There are too many moving pieces to simply blast everyone with my dragon fire—or I’d be doing it. I, too, despise our inability to sweep the board to keep her safe.”
“I’m going to the Shird to wait for Baby Girl. I can’t sit here and do this right now,” Fitz announces gruffly, stalking off with purpose in his stride, leaving the rest of us to untangle the web of deceit that’s been cast over l’Academie .
With Fitz’s departure still hanging heavy in the air, I shift my focus back to Aubrey, Ren, and Felix. There’s no time for us to dwell on frustrations or personal vendettas; we’ve got bigger prey to chase. He’ll work it out with our girl, and they’ll come back with my tiger in a much lighter mood. His pout fits have always been short-lived since Dolly arrived.
“Don’t worry about him. My Angel will sort him out,” I say with a shake of my head.. “For now, we can’t let our guard down because he’s pouting. I think we need to crack that stash of shit from the museum before Spring Break. Whatever secrets are locked away inside that vault might be key to fending off the Fae or standing up to the Council.”
Aubrey nods, his sharp eyes reflecting determination. “I’ll pour over every document, but we need more help with decoding the odd language to complete the work. I’m going to reach out to my trusted contacts to see if we can figure out how to translate it.”
Renard gives a firm nod in agreement from his perch. “Perhaps I should… initiate contact with some of my kind. There may be clutches that are not part of my family who have members old enough to recall the time before. I’d hoped to avoid it so I wouldn’t activate the gargoyle grapevine, but… c’est la vie . My destiny is to meet them again whether I want to or not, it seems.”
Felix exhales slowly, and then fixes me with a resolute gaze. “Chess, I’ll talk some sense into my brother when he gets back, even if the Princess has calmed him down. We’re a team, and we tackle these obstacles together. He has to respect that.”
“Thank you, brother,” I reply softly. “I empathize with his fury, as do the rest of you, I’m sure. But the solutions that worked on Bloodstone or even at Apex before Dolly are not the ones that will be successful with such widespread enemies.”
The Raj sighs, nodding. “I know. And while he’s doing much better at focusing and working through methods other than his killing sprees… he still aches to mete out justice the way he was raised to. He’s as much a product of our dickhead father as I am.”
Tilting my head, I smile wryly. “Felix, we’re all a product of our upbringing, even our girl. When she turns on the ‘Lucille’ act, it makes my balls shrivel up and hide inside my body. None of us are safe from the past.”
He laughs, then Ren and Aubrey join him, but I’m serious.
I have a distinct feeling that none of us will get through this without reconciling our past traumas and they need to get used to the idea sooner rather than later.