Page 46

LEIF

We easily locate the limestone rock, but the scenic feature runs along the slope for meters ahead. The rocks are split by cracks, and the gaps in the network all look the same to me; we’ll struggle to find the entrance to the exact cave Sarah and her friends used.

The temperature drops as the sun slowly sinks behind the horizon, and we’re running out of light.

At least Grayson and Violet are fast enough to check out specific areas around the sprawling rocks while I wait with Rowan.

They’re guided by Sarah’s pictures, and we’ve pieced together a couple of landmarks that match the images: a separate rock close to the area’s entrance and a solitary tree in walking distance from the place.

I sit on a lump of limestone rock, joining Rowan in watching for Grayson and Violet, and stare at the dust clinging to my boots.

I don’t want to be here, mostly because I don’t know how long we’ll spend searching based on a vague clue.

But I also don’t want to risk separating from the others.

Violet worried about leaving Holly at Thornwood, especially with Cornelius’s disappearance.

Violet eventually decided that Holly is safer at the academy with Marci than anywhere else right now.

I agree. Everybody’s focus is elsewhere—as is Cornelius’s.

If Violet knew the other reason Holly is safer at the academy, and that I knew, she may not be understanding. I had to fight sharing Holly’s secret, and I’m torn. What if Holly sneaks off somewhere with Dash if Violet overreacts?

Or worse, she takes Dash to Dorian.

Violet wouldn’t. Not now. Would she?

Days with Violet often seem twice as long as they did in the past, and hour after hour today exhausted me.

From the morning’s stress about what happened to Violet in Scotland, and now this, it’s like the day won’t end.

And, I’d lay bets that when evening becomes night, I’ll spend tonight in caves and not my bed.

I kinda get why Rowan stays suspicious about Grayson and Josef even though Grayson clearly told us what’s happening.

Grayson’s uncle killed him once, and he can’t escape the guy, which must influence his loyalties.

Now that we’re sure that Josef, Viktor, and Cornelius have a closer link than we originally supposed, trusting Grayson becomes harder.

But Violet has a closer link to him than me or Rowan and trusts him. As long as Violet believes in Grayson, so will I.

“How long now?” I mutter, and Rowan shrugs. “You’re quiet. Worried?”

“You want to become a shifter, huh? I never knew.”

I turn my head, stomach lurching at his comment, but Rowan looks at the rocks, not me. Is he pissed off that I told Violet first? I’m annoyed that she spoke with Rowan before I did.

“Sometimes.” I pause. “Do you reckon that’s possible?”

Rowan picks up a chunk of loose stone from beside his backpack and places it on a pile he’s building. “No clue. Ask the Ursa elders. They could help.”

“Fuck, no. Not them.”

He turns to me. “Then who? Ethan and Zeke?”

I rub my temples. “I’m not sure how the pair will feel about me after… the Viktor thing. There’re other shifters around. Plenty live among humans. Like Marlene, the shifter with the halfway house where I stayed when I left the academy. She knows less, uh, obsessive people.”

“You’re serious?” Rowan’s eyes fill with more than confusion. He’s hurt. “After all the bloody time we’ve spent showing everybody you’re more human than supe?”

I press my lips together. “If Violet shared this information with you, you know why I’m serious. I’m not safe. I’m a liability.”

“Yeah. But why the fuck didn’t you say something to me ?”

All I can do is shake my head in apology.

“You really will have the shifter elders on your ass. You can’t avoid them if you take this route. Do you want to be like Dash, running from whatever the hell he escaped from? The guy wasn’t safe even before he got mixed up with us.”

“I won’t need to. I have you guys. And Dash won’t run forever—he has Holly.”

Rowan pauses in piling the rocks. “What do you mean ‘Dash has Holly?’ Did he take her? Fuck, Leif, tell me you’re kidding.”

I never told my best friend that I’d changed my mind about becoming a shifter after years beating off prejudice and bullying. I can’t lie to him now.

“No. He hasn’t taken her, but Dash never left,” I whisper. “He’s around. Holly sees him.”

Rowan’s jaw slackens. “On campus? How long have you known this?”

“Not long. Holly asked me not to tell. Not yet. I agreed because there’re other things we need to deal with.”

“But this is big. Leif!” he protests. “How long have you known?”

I meet his furious eyes. “She told me the night you killed that witch, Rowan.”

He holds my look a moment before gazing ahead, where our long shadows are cast side by side, as silent as we are. Rowan hasn’t spoken to me about that night, and Violet never mentioned the incident again. Are they pretending nothing happened? Because it sure as hell did and could again.

“Right,” he says eventually.

“Your bond to Violet contributed to what you did that night, Rowan. I’m convinced that Dash and Holly have a bond too.

Something caused his dumb decision to hang around Thornwood after he killed Viktor.

” Rowan grunts in response. “At least Dash hasn’t asked Holly run away with him. Isn’t this better?”

“Asked yet . If Holly goes missing again, and Violet discovers what you knew… well, good luck.”

“Holly wouldn’t go. She’s scared.”

“Holly is scared of what?” asks Violet.

“Fuck, you scare me when you appear from nowhere,” I mutter at the dark silhouette standing beside me.

“What scares Holly?” she repeats.

“Spells. Threats to her life,” Rowan says and side-glances at me.

I keep my face neutral. “Have you found the right cave yet, Violet?”

After one more suspicious look between us, she gestures behind. “Yes, but you won’t like what’s inside, Leif.”

My chest tightens. “Why? Have you found bodies?”

“No.”

I take a relieved breath.

“Grayson and I haven’t searched everywhere yet, but we’ve found the correct cave.”

“Definitely not bodies?” I repeat.

“No, but death clings to that place. I’m sure we’ll find something.”

Oh, great.