Page 78 of Wicked Ends

“Thorne’s disappeared,” Rose explains. “Harry can’t find her. She’s been gone for hours.”

“Where is Drake?” I ask. The ghost is actually useful, as much as it pains me to acknowledge. He’s had a hundred years to know every inch of Serpentine Academy, as he’s watched it all, invisible and unnoticed.

“There.” Rose points toward the punch bowl where Drake is chatting with a group of students who look at him with fascination. He’s a new face in their exclusive little world.

“Get him. Meet us outside in two minutes.”

The January air is frigid when we step outside, and I watch Rose shiver in her thin dress. Without thinking, I shrug off my jacket and drop it over her shoulders. She looks up at me, startled.

“Thanks,” she says, pulling it tighter around herself.

Soren raises an eyebrow but says nothing.

Drake and Lucien join us moments later, the ghost, who somehow isn’t quite a ghost anymore, looking concerned.

“Harry says Thorne was supposed to meet him here hours ago,” Rose explains. “She wouldn’t miss the ball. Not when she’s been talking about it for weeks.”

“Jasmine,” Drake says, his voice tight.

“Most likely,” I confirm. “We need to find her before?—”

“Before she becomes dinner,” Soren finishes bluntly.

Rose winces at his words. “We need to split up. Cover more ground.”

No way in hell is Rose going anywhere alone. “Main building, dormitories, east grounds, west grounds, and the woods.”

“I’ll take the main building,” Lucien offers.

“Dormitories,” Soren says. “I know my way around quite well.” He smirks at Drake’s glare. “What? It’s useful in this case.”

“East grounds,” Drake says.

“West for me,” Rose starts, but I cut her off.

“No. You stay with one of them.” I don’t phrase it as a suggestion.

She bristles, exactly as expected. “I’m not helpless, Ash.”

“You’re also Jasmine’s ultimate target,” I remind her. “Running around alone is exactly what she wants.”

The three men look at me with surprise, probably shocked that I’m actually trying to protect Rose rather than serve her up on a silver platter.

Lucien nods. “He’s right. You should come with me.”

Rose looks like she wants to argue, but she just sighs. “Fine.”

“I’ll take the woods,” I say, already knowing that’s where I’ll find them. Jasmine loves the woods. It feels like her kind of feeding ground.

“We meet back here in thirty minutes,” Lucien orders. “Whether we’ve found anything or not.”

I turn to leave, but Rose catches my arm.

“Be careful,” she says, and I can feel her actual concern through the blood mark. It’s distracting, this link between us.

I head toward the treeline without looking back.

The woods are deathly quiet as I move between the trees. The moon is bright enough to see by, but it also creates a maze of darkness and light that plays tricks on the eyes. But I don’t need my eyes to track Jasmine. I can sense her dark magic, out of place in the natural energy of the forest, like rot beneath the surface.