Page 26

F INDING VICTOR IS EASY . As he’s on his way back from practice, I wait until his friends scatter and then I approach him.

“Hey,” I say as he looks me up and down.

His face is serious, his eyes unreadable.

“I just wanted to thank you for saving my life, even if you’re the one who put it in danger in the first place.” I stare deep into his eyes, looking for any clues.

“You’re still here.” His voice is like icicles. “Maybe I should’ve left you to burn.”

The corners of his lips tilt up, and I narrow my eyes at him. What the fuck is wrong with him now?

“Seriously?” I put my hands on my hips. “Is that what you’re going to say to me?”

He just glances to our right and then focuses his gaze on me. Is someone watching us? I look around too, but I can’t see anyone.

“So you’re the one who started the fire?” I ask. “Why did you do that? To get revenge on me or what?”

He takes a step forward, so our faces end up only inches apart. My breath hitches in my throat as his gaze lowers to my lips.

“No. I had nothing to do with that.” His eyes find mine.

I don’t think he’s lying, or maybe that’s my wishful thinking. He’s still acting weird, and I don’t know why.

“Do you really expect me to believe that? You had the keys to the library, and you locked me in there and left me. You’re the only one with a motive.”

He laughs. “Are you playing cop now? Come on, Emi. They already asked me all those questions and verified my alibi. Just because you want it to be me doesn’t make it true.”

“Then who was it? One of your friends?”

“How the fuck should I know? Anyone could’ve gotten those keys. No one here likes you.”

“But you’re the only one willing to make a move against me, and I know you had help. Someone played those disgusting images for you in class during my presentation, and they must’ve helped you with the fire too.”

“You have no proof of any of that.” He gives me a smile. “Why don’t you think about who else you might’ve pissed off?”

His gaze again wanders to something to our right and I follow it, but I can’t see anyone.

“Are you waiting for someone?” I ask.

“That’s none of your business,” he snaps. “Actually, you should get the fuck away from here. You don’t belong here. You’re only going to get more and more enemies, and by the time you finally realize that, it might be too late.”

His eyes flash with a warning, and I furrow my brow.

“You say you had nothing to do with the fire, and yet you’re threatening me.”

“Think whatever you want about me. You’re wrong. If you stay, you’re only going to get yourself in trouble.” He shoves me out of the way with so much force that I stumble, and he strides past me.

“Victor, what the fuck?” I yell after him, but he doesn’t even glance at me as he walks away in the direction of the dorms.

Well, that wasn’t in any way useful. Now what? I still don’t know if Victor had anything to do with the fire or not. Yeah, he has an alibi or whatever, but someone helped him before, so they might be involved again.

But who could it have been? Vanessa? Greg? They’re Victor’s closest friends, and I’m sure they’d be more than willing to do something like that for him. Except, they were with him at the bar. I doubt someone was watching them the whole time and could’ve noticed if they were gone. But that time in class, I don’t think they were the ones controlling the slides during my presentation.

It was someone who wasn’t in the classroom, and that same person must’ve started the fire. Is it someone I know or not? Victor has money. He can hire whoever he wants. Maybe using his friends to do his dirty work doesn’t even make sense because they could turn on him and tell someone the truth.

But someone who’s doing it for money and doesn’t even attend Emberwell wouldn’t care even if they were caught. Victor’s money would be powerful enough of a motivator. But why would Victor come save me then?

That’s still something I don’t understand. He might have felt guilty once he realized how big the fire was, but I don’t know. Everything about him is so damn confusing. He’s both hot and cold, and I never know which side of him I’m going to get.

But what about that guy I caught meeting with Victor in the dark alley on my first day at Emberwell? Maybe he’s the one I should be looking for, except I don’t know how to do it. Victor was looking around for someone today too.

Was someone watching us? Was his guy lurking in the shadows? But why? Maybe Victor is worried I’ll see the guy and recognize him. Then again, the guy could’ve been a drug dealer or whatever, and he might have nothing personal to do with Victor. There’s no reason why Victor would trust some random guy like that. He has access to a ton of people and everyone wants his money. It could literally be anyone. Ugh!

I stride away from campus. Following Victor around wouldn’t be easy, but maybe I’ll have to do it to find out who he’s meeting with. I still don’t have to go back to class until I decide I’m ready, so I have plenty of time.

But maybe there’s an easier way to find out who could’ve seen the fire, especially if Victor really didn’t have anything to do with it. Maybe someone was jealous of the attention I was supposedly getting from him, so they decided to get rid of me when the opportunity presented itself. They knew where Victor was and that he wouldn’t be considered a suspect, and if I was dead, they could’ve approached him and consoled him, or whatever.

There are plenty of videos of the fire floating around the internet, but I haven’t had the strength to look at them all. Now I don’t have a choice. Maybe I can at least narrow down the list of suspects. Whoever did it could’ve stuck around to see what would happen to me.

Now when it turns out it was a random pyro who didn’t even know I was in the library... But that somehow sounds unlikely. I sigh. This whole thing is just so damn annoying.