Page 146 of Fractured Fates

We try her dorm first, but the lights are out and there’s no sign of her, her roommate or even the damn pig.

“Where the hell has she gone with that pig?” Phoenix mutters.

“You said we should check the library.”

“Pigs are not allowed in there.”

“We should try it anyway.”

“Fine. You head there. I’ll go knock on some doors. See if she’s hanging out in any of the dorms.”

I nod and jog along the path. It’s always strange being back in the place. It’s like I never left. Like time never passed. Like I’m still the young man who attended here and not the man I’ve become.

It gives me the creeps and I shake off the sensation and focus on the job in hand. Finding the girl before Renzo fucking Barone does.

The library is completely deserted – even the librarian is not sitting at her usual post. It’s hardly surprising. I remember Founders’ Night clearly. A night full of frivolity and raucous behavior. No wonder the campus is deadly quiet tonight. Which makes me even more uneasy. Why isn’t the girl in her dorm, nursing a hangover like every other student here? Where the hell is she?

I walk the library stacks anyway, and circle the upper story balcony. In case, she’s hiding out somewhere.

I know she’s not though. I’d know if she was here. I’d feel it.

I call Stone.

“Any luck?”

“No, I’m assuming you’ve had none either.”

“Library’s empty.”

“I did find her roommate.”

“And …”

“She doesn’t know where she went. She says as far as she knew, Rhi was staying in their room tonight.”

“You don’t think she’s …”

“All her stuff is still in her room.”

“The pig’s not though,” I point out. That pig is the only thing I think Rhi would take if she did run. She brought hardly anything here. I doubt she’ll take anything when she leaves. “Get her friend to call her.”

“I already have it’s still going to voicemail.”

“Fuck, Stone,” I snap, “she can’t have vanished into thin air!”

“Keep calm, man,” Stone says, although I have no fucking clue how he can. Renzo Barone. She’s as good as dead. She won’t stand a fucking chance. Why the hell haven’t we been more careful? Why the hell haven’t we been guarding her?

Because I never expected Marcus Lowsky to make a move like this. Damn stupid.

“She has a couple more friends. I’m on my way there now.”

“Hurry the fuck up!” I snap, switching off the call.

Maybe Stone was right. Maybe we should have gone straight to York. We could have had the entire faculty searching for her by now.

I decide it isn’t too late. Leaving the library, I sprint along the corridor and up the staircase heading towards the principal’s quarters. I’m a foot away from her door, when my cell rings.

I pick it up.