Page 30 of Endless Anger (Monsters Within #1)

LUCY

Dean Bauer sits with his hands folded behind a massive oak desk, staring like he wants to squish me with the heel of his Italian calfskin shoes.

I slide my hand over my knee, trying to absorb its bouncing. It doesn’t work. “Can we get this over with already? I’ve got class in forty minutes.”

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you for a delinquent, you know that?”

“Well, if you’d actually invited my parents like you said you did, you’d be able to see where I get it from.”

“Don’t worry, Ms. Wolfe,” he says, leaning back in his chair and unbuttoning his jacket.

“Avernia is well aware of who your parents are and how they operate. Frankly, wanting to avoid the wrath of a former governor is the main reason you’re still enrolled here.

It wouldn’t look good to the board, you know. ”

“Perception is more important than merit and safety.”

“See?” He clasps his hands in his lap, giving me a humorless grin. “Perhaps you aren’t so stupid after all.”

That word is a slap to the face, but I ignore it, stuffing down my feelings before they get me into more trouble. If I were a different person—Asher, maybe, or even Aurora—I’d launch myself across the desk and gouge his beady little eyes out.

Maybe I’d even feel good getting his blood on my hands.

But I’m me , which means the thought of harming another person makes my stomach revolt. God forbid I fucking defend myself beyond a few scathing remarks.

“Now, if we could get to more pressing matters,” he says, cocking an eyebrow at me, like I’m the reason we’ve been sitting here for ten minutes already. “Where were you Friday night around one or two in the morning?”

My knee freezes, my foot halting in midair. “Well, I left the Obeliskos around midnight?—”

“I didn’t ask where you weren’t. I asked where you were .”

“Why?”

His thin lips fold together for a moment, and he sits forward, bringing his interlocked fingers to rest on top of his desk. His dark hair is combed back neatly from his face, revealing a forehead glistening with perspiration.

For some reason, the fact that he’s sweating makes me more nervous.

“Have you been getting along with your roommate this semester, Ms. Wolfe?” he asks. “I know she was the third or fourth reassignment you’ve had since enrolling here. Normally, we don’t change rooms unless there are serious issues, but you’re a bit of a special case.”

My throat swells.

All my room reassignments were people deciding they no longer wanted to share a living space. Like they were afraid being a pariah is contagious.

Celeste was the first one who didn’t seem to care about any of that.

“Is it safe to say things between you and Ms. Hawthorne were going well?”

I shift in my seat. “Yes, things have been fine.”

Dean Bauer stares at me long and hard. “When was the last time you saw your roommate? ”

Silence ensues.

My heart kicks against my chest, and my foot flattens on the floor.

Behind the dean, through a large frosted-glass window, the outline of campus is visible. The courtyard with its massive marble fountain and the circle of matching statues, mostly just Greek gods carved into stone, as if holding court over the mere mortals attending here.

I keep my gaze on the glass, wishing I were out there instead. Even if it meant being stared at like some sort of lab rat by my peers.

It would be preferable to the vitriolic shame raging in my gut now.

Celeste’s bloody corpse flashes across my vision, staining everything in sight. Nausea churns in my stomach, and I shove the image away.

“Um…” I rub my fingernails together in my lap. “I saw her at a party in the quarry. After I left the library. There were lots of other students there, so they can vouch for that.”

“And did Ms. Hawthorne leave your group?”

“My group?”

“Whoever you were there with. Did she leave? Did she tell you where she was going or suggest anyone go with her?”

“She…” I trail off, pinching the bottom of my palm. It doesn’t feel right to talk about her plans with the dean. “I don’t know.”

He blinks. “You don’t know?”

“That’s what I said.”

Sighing deeply, Dean Bauer’s shoulders slump. “When was the last time you saw Ms. Hawthorne then? Friday night, shortly after your arrival at the party?”

Suspicion claws at my sternum.

I narrow my eyes. “Are you accusing me of something?”

“Well, if that was the last time you had any sort of contact with your roommate, then it should come as no surprise to you that Ms. Hawthorne was reported missing this morning by her parents. They haven’t seen or heard from her since Friday either.”

My hands grow clammy, and sweat beads under my arms, sticking to the cotton fabric of my sweater .

I’m not sure how to react. My body stiffens, my spine goes ramrod straight, and I stretch my fingers over my thighs, drawing quick circles on my tights.

I can’t stop fidgeting , my discomfort mounting the longer I’m forced to sit here and try to stave off the memories.

A knock sounds at the door, and seconds later, the thick wood divider is being pushed open, and my parents are shoving their way into the office. The dean’s mousy secretary gives him an apologetic bow as she stands in the hallway, unable to corral the intruders.

Bile pushes into my esophagus, threatening to spew.

Dean Bauer moves to greet them. “Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe, what a pleasant surprise?—”

Mom holds a hand up, her expression malicious. “Save it, Bauer. I want to know why the school didn’t notify my husband and I immediately when they thought there was an issue involving our daughter.”

The dean’s eyes widen. “Well, we did call over the weekend with our concerns, but out of respect for your presumably busy schedules, we thought it best to simply deal with the incident internally.”

She crosses her arms, her sleeve tattoos only partially obscured by a sheer white blouse. Her pierced nostril flares, anger radiating off her in waves. “And what is the incident exactly? Why is our daughter here at all?”

He swallows, reaching up to adjust the knot in his black tie—the only tell that my mother makes him nervous.

She has that effect on most people, whether it’s because they think she’s beautiful or because she doesn’t take no for an answer. Powerful, compelling women are as alluring to some men as they are intimidating, and they either embrace the attraction or aim to squash it altogether.

With her, she’s too far gone for anything they say to make her wilt. Especially with my father in the room, who would rip funding from the school himself if they even hinted at disrespect.

Me, on the other hand—I’m a different project completely. One Avernia isn’t yet afraid of .

Primarily because I don’t like to involve my parents in these situations, because they tend to exacerbate my problems when they’re gone. Not on purpose—just the residual effects of power.

“To be quite honest, Mrs.—may I call you Cora?”

“No.”

I catch my father’s smirk in the corner of my eye.

“R-right.” Dean Bauer clears his throat, leaning back in his leather office chair.

“Lucy’s roommate is, unfortunately, missing.

Allegedly. Now, we’ve had similar instances in the past—a party gets out of hand, and a girl finds herself in over her head and can’t take the heat from the experience.

Or maybe she’s wandered off and gotten herself lost or headed home to recuperate for a few days.

I’m sure it’s nothing serious , but there are certain protocols we have to follow when official reports are made. ”

“Is it protocol to harass your students until you find an answer?” Dad chimes in.

The dean’s face pales.

Dad leans forward. “Surely, you didn’t think these old walls were soundproof.”

“Mr. Wolfe, I assure you, our students’ safety and happiness are of the utmost importance to us at Avernia College. Alongside ensuring they get the richest, most fulfilling education during their time here. My intent wasn’t to harass your daughter but simply to?—”

“Get to the point.” Dad’s voice booms in the office, bouncing off the bookshelves, and I swear someone walking past in the hall outside comes to a halt. “You think Lucy had something to do with the Hawthorne girl’s disappearance?”

Dean Bauer clears his throat but otherwise doesn’t react.

“We don’t accuse at Avernia without due cause.

However, I’m sure you can look at it from our point of view: Lucy’s performance has been consistently declining, she doesn’t seem to get along with the other students, and she certainly wasn’t happy about the semester’s dorm assignment. ”

I bristle, on edge now with the audience. “Because it was punishment ?— ”

The dean waves a hand, cutting me off. “Nevertheless, this simply is not the first time your daughter has been at the center of an… incident during her tenure, so it simply seemed most plausible that perhaps she was involved this time or knew something. I don’t mean to say she made her roommate disappear, just that there were signs of distress and other ways she could have been responsible. ”

I glare at him, wishing my stare could burn straight through his skull. Shifting in his chair, the dean runs a hand over his head, his eyes volleying between the three of us.

My father slips his hands into the pockets of his black dress pants. He’s larger than life, one of the tallest men I’ve ever known, and has a presence that exudes charisma and confidence. Dean Bauer can’t look away when he speaks.

“Are there not security cameras in the dorms?” my father asks, his blue eyes piercing through the dean. “On campus?”

“Of course. They were the first things pulled by the police. They’d been tampered with and set on a loop around ten Friday night, playing the same footage over and over until about five Saturday morning.”

My parents’ gazes slide slowly to me.

I grip my knee as it bounces, unease weaving its way around my spine.

“That still doesn’t prove anything,” my father says after a moment.

“I have an alibi,” I add, lifting my chin. “I, um, left the party before it was over. Went back to my room and stayed there the rest of the night.”

“And Ms. Hawthorne didn’t return at all while you were there?”

“No.”

Dean Bauer’s cold stare makes my skin flush, but I ignore it as he nods, reaching for a notepad on his desk. “Very well. What about the time in between then and Saturday morning? Can anyone verify your presence in Erebus Hall?”

A warm, familiar voice rasps from the open doorway, “I can.”