Page 109 of Riot House

I have to find her. I have to find her beforehedoes.

I take out my phone and power it on. I’m racing down the academy steps by the time I open up my texts and tap out a message.

Me: Where are you right now?

The reply comes moments later.

“Where do you think I am? I’m about to join in the fun.”

46

ELODIE

“Pax, stop fucking around.”

I get up, brushing down the dress, scowling at him. I don’t have the energy to be dealing with this shit tonight. And yeah, I might have put him on his ass the last time he tried to sneak up on me in this forest, but he didn’t know I was capable of defending myself then. He’ll be ready for me this time, and that makes life so much harder. “I’m sorry if you’re having a shitty night, but I just wanna find Wren and get the fuck out of here, okay?”

The wolf mask tips eerily to one side. Pax creeps closer. “Wren. Yes, Wren. We’re all so desperate for Wren, aren’t we?”

“Well, you know where the guy sleeps at night. You can settle whatever issues you have with him later back at the house. I thinkmyissues with him are a little more pressing than yours.”

I step to the right, trying to get around him, but Pax mirrors the movement, stepping to his left, blocking my path.

“Elodie?” Carina says.

“Pax. Get the fuck out of the way. Or do you want me to embarrass you in front of Carina?” I try to move to the left this time, but he’s right there with me, stopping me in my tracks. I can hear him breathing thickly through the small air holes in the mask, and the sound is raspy and wet.

“Elodie,” Carina repeats. “Elle…I don’t think that’s Pax.”

I frown, eyeing the guy. He sure as hell isn’t Dashiell. The smattering of hair on his chest is dark. Dash’s hair is far lighter. It isn’t Wren, either. He doesn’t evenhavehair on his chest. A bolt of something like panic chases up my spine.

I take a step backward.

“Who…?”

Suddenly Carina’s at my side, threading her fingers through mine. “We kept your secret, okay,” she hisses. “We kept our mouths shut. You swore you wouldn’t do this again.”

The guy in the wolf mask slowly shakes his head, tutting under his breath. “I hate breaking promises, Carrie, I really do. I thought I’d be over it by now, but…” He reaches up, tugging on the wolf’s horrific snout, slowly drawing it back to unmask himself. “I just can’t stop loving him. It’s an obsession, I know. I thought I could handle him caring about someone new but it’s impossible. I hate her just as much as I hated the other one.” He turns sharp, hate-filled eyes on me, considering me with disgust. “He’smine, Elodie. The sooner you stupid little bitches get that into your thick skulls, the sooner you can all stop dying.”

Doctor Fitzpatrick.

My brain can’t stop stuttering over his name.

Doctor Fitzpatrick?

Always so friendly and caring in class. Always rambling on about the poets, giving Wren a hard time, telling him to sit up straight. Reading Wren’s Victorian porn out to the class, trying to embarrass him. I’m so fucking confused, it feels like my brain is melting out of my ears. The spiteful twist to the doctor’s features make him look like a stranger. Someone I’ve never met before. “Awww. Poor Elodie. He didn’t tell you, did he?” he sneers.

“Tell me what?”

“That he and I were together for a time. A short time, sure, but he just needed some time to see it. He and I, we’re kindred souls. We’re supposed to fucking be together. But you know him. He’s stubborn. Sometimes he won’t admit something unless it’s on his schedule. That’s why he hasn’t told you that he loves you yet, Elodie.”

My mouth feels like it’s filled with cotton wool. I can’t seem to close it. I’m having the hardest time understanding what I’m hearing. “He has told me that he loves me,” I whisper.

Doctor Fitzpatrick’s eyes narrow to cruel slits. “What?”

I say it louder. “Hehastold me that he loves me. Hedoeslove me.”

“Don’t, Elle,” Carina warns, digging her fingernails into the back of my hand.