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Week Five

S ugarplum is about as nervous as a preacher in a cathouse.

Her lawyer called Teddy a few days after the trial and dropped the bomb that he’d traced one their leads to a computer on State U’s campus. After a heated discussion about how he knew Jackson Thorn and an even more heated session involving ceiling hooks, we all agreed to drive up to campus. For most of us, State U is our alma mater, and asking some idiot P.I. to take care of this would be silly.

Except Jolene has been a wreck since we made that decision.

She hasn’t broken down or camped out in a blanket fort or anything, but I can feel the change in her aura. Something at the university is making her upset, and since she has told none of us, I can’t help her. At least, I can’t help her without violating her trust, and I don’t do that to people. Being able to access and ease others’ emotions is a gift and burden, but unlike many of my kind, I don’t choose to abuse it.

It just feels slimy and I don’t like it.

When I tune back into the conversation in the borrowed SUV, Teddy and my sugarplum are bickering about how he knows Thorn— again . Prez and Doyle are enjoying the hell out of her calling the judge to the carpet about his bookie business, and I smile to myself. As if any of them lack secrets about illicit behavior—Teddy should call Haggerty out about his pool and poker hustles or Prez about his days as a bare-knuckle boxer at Swallowtail. Not to mention Jolene’s jaunt with her Guardian in Southeast Asia…

But instead of pointing that out, I reply to Prez’ taunt. “Ew. No thanks. Though if you smelled like fish, Teddy, it might make Jekyll and Hyde like you better.”

The argument swings to Haggerty and Prez taking potshots at one another, so I turn to watch as our girl strokes her fingers over the python that stays wrapped around her most of the time. Once again, Jolene named her companion without checking to see what gender it was, but we’ve all grown used to her eccentricities. She seems off—lost in thought when she isn’t trying to keep the peace between all of the personalities in the car.

“Did Jax happen to specify where this computer is when you were having your chat with him, Teddy?”

I chuckle as he tries to explain what Jackson and Eli told him, finally giving in when he butchers the message. “Because the signal dead-ended at a VPN run through several onion routers bouncing from country to country like a ping-pong ball. At least, that’s what Eli said. I only understand about thirty percent of that, but it’s why he couldn’t pinpoint a building to check first.”

Teddy reaches over to ruffle my hair fondly and gives me a brilliant smile, flashing those white teeth and lush lips. For a second, I feel my heart jump and my chest tightens with worry. “Good job, pup,” he rumbles.

It makes my dick jump as well because I’m an absolute sucker for praise from a dominant.

I should probably keep that to myself.

Sugarplum arches a brow at me, and I flush bright red. “Yes, I agree. He’s been such a good boy lately.”

Biting my lower lip, I flop back into my seat as I try not to let the two of them see the evidence of my reaction. Prez simply smirks at me, tucking me against his side and whispering into my mind. It definitely doesn’t help my situation, but at least he’s not outing me to Teddy just yet. The miles tick by quietly for a few moments and while I get myself under control, I watch our girl.

She’s distracted, drifting off in thought, and the frown that keeps appearing worries me. “Sugarplum, you’re awfully quiet.”

My hand lands on her arm, and the snake readjusts as Jolene jumps in surprise. “I… I don’t have fond memories of my time here. It’s why I finished all my upper grad degrees online.”

“Have a bad professor, magpie? A nightmare roomie, perhaps?” Prez asks. When his question puts a furrow in her brow, I grab the Twizzlers from our snack bag and hand them to him, hoping to distract his attention.

“No,” she murmurs. Her eyes are on the side of the road as she continues. “And before you ask, no bullies like high school, either.”

What happened to our girl on campus that is bad enough for her to avoid the topic completely?

A low growl comes from the driver’s seat and I watch as Teddy grips and re-grips the wheel in irritation. “Then we’ll get what we need and get out. I don’t cotton to the idea of you wandering around alone if this place upsets you. Hell, I don’t even remember seeing you while we were here, come to think of it.”

“I worked hard to be invisible after the debacle at home. You nor any of the others who were part of it would have ever seen me. I made certain I was safe by bribing a work-study student in the admission office.”

Her admission shuts everyone up but big mouth Doyle and that earns him a hard elbow from Prez. I sigh as our girl turns her attention back to the scenery flying by, retreating into her mind as we get closer to the place she seems to dread above all others.

Hopefully, we can find whatever we need quickly and get her away from memories that take away her sparkle.

* * *

Teddy refused to let Sugarplum run around by herself at first. I could see the two of them squaring off, egging on by Doyle as they argued whether she’d be safe when we split up. Prez and I watched for a bit before I finally suggested we send half of her companions with her to help protect her. She finally gave in, heading for the English department her parents once worked in. That left Hyde, Eurayle, and Hecate with us, so we each took a companion while Haggerty just wandered off on his own. He didn’t seem a bit concerned about it, and I can’t help wondering exactly what his lineage and skill set are.

At least with Teddy and Prez, I know what they can do if there’s trouble.

I volunteered to hit the dorms and Prez offered to snoop around the graduate schools while Teddy cruised the admin offices. I’m slightly concerned that Doyle is going to the science building—there are far too many things that explode in that area for my comfort—but if I’d switched with him, who knows what trouble he’d get into at student housing?

I shudder to think.

The trip across the quad is uneventful even with Hyde in tow, and it occurs to me that we’ve come during Spring Break. After college, you don’t tend to pay attention to those kinds of timelines unless you have kids, so none of us gave a second thought to just popping up here to check out the lead. It’s going to make all of our inquiries a little more difficult, but if this place is like it was a few years ago, we’ll find a few professors, grad students, and students who weren’t able to travel or go home for the week.

As I approach the main entrance to the apartment style dormitory buildings, a sense of nostalgia hits me and I chuckle to myself. I haven’t been away from here that long, but it feels like a lifetime ago.

“Mrrrp?”

Chuckling, I shake my head. “No, I don’t think I’d like to come back. Sometimes, we look back on things and see them how we wish they were, not how they actually were .”

Hyde bobs her head, following me as I decide where I want to go next.

The dorms at State U have always been luxurious. Despite being an in-state school, it’s a destination university for supes and all of the facilities were built and upgraded over the years through generous donations by wealthy supe families. Seven large, multi-level buildings form a circle around a lush outdoor common area designed to give students space to hang out or throw events. There’s even a pool with its own cabanas and several courts for everything from tennis to basketball.

Only the best for the most elite children of extranormals around the world.

I pick Thorn Hall first because it’s where the students from farthest away are usually housed. Ironically, it’s Jackson’s family’s dorm, and though I highly doubt someone in it is our stalker, I have to do my due diligence in all seven buildings. Luckily, the front desk staff is absent so they can’t make a stink about the serval. I head for the elevator and push the button for the basement level, waiting for her to join me.

If it’s like the dorm I stayed in while I was here—Santorini Hall—it should have study rooms, a small cafe, and a library. That means computers, and I’ll be able to use Eli’s Snitch app to see if any of the school computers were used to send the messages we’re tracing. The bell dings and we step off, pausing while I look at the sign on the wall for directions.

I’ll be a son of a bitch; this has completely different facilities than my dorm.

Thorn Hall’s basement lists a law library, a squash court, an indoor golf range, a gym, and a goddamned dry cleaner. The hours of operation for all of the different areas are listed, and I blink as I take it in. Being a veterinary student, I spent most of my time in class or studying, so I didn’t venture out to the other parts of campus that weren’t necessary. It never occurred to me that each of the dorms was specially designed to cater to the needs of the type of student housed there.

Shaking my head, I gesture in the direction of the law library, but Hyde plops herself on a couch by the sign. I guess she's on the lookout now. I can breeze past the other amenities after I hit the more likely place where a wireless device might be lurking.

The heavy oak doors of the library aren’t locked—thank fuck—but the room is far from empty. There are law students crammed into booths and corners all over, poring over heavy tomes as they take notes on tablets. None of them even look up as I saunter by with my phone, scanning for the device ID or IP Jackson identified. By the time I reach the small bank of computers in the back, I’m already getting tired of the cheeky womp womp sound it makes when it clears another suspect.

Tech geeks think they’re hysterical.

The bank of computers turns out to be a bust, and I heft a sigh of impatience as I make my way back to the entrance. None of the tired, scraggly looking students have even looked up, and I thank the stars I never wanted to be a law student. It seems like a dreary profession full of people who look like they wish they were dead. After I escape that den of misery, Hyde and I do a quick sweep of the other areas, but nothing pops up on the detector app.

I’m starting to wonder if this entire trip will be for nothing, to be honest.

We’ll never know if I don’t get a move on, so we trudge onto the elevator, stopping at each floor until we reach the top. There’s no sign of the device or IP anywhere in this building, and I have six more to go.

“Mrow?” Hyde asks as we leave Thorn Hall and head for Theopoulos Commune.

“I don’t know, girl. It seems like a leap that our target will be lurking in the arts dorm, but since we have to go to the business, agriculture, science, humanities, and athletic ones as well…”

Her only answer is a disgusted growl followed by what might be a yowl of irritation.

Same, kitty, same.