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“What’d you find out?” Eager excitement tinged her voice. I’d been right—despite our age difference, Mei was total good friend material.
“Nothing really. Trinity fought her attacker and ended up on the rocks near the cove. We already knew all that. ”
“Well,” she began, “next we could…”
“Next we could…what?” I’d hit a dead end. “Anyway, we’re locked in. ”
“We could investigate without leaving the dorm. I’m sure we could find out more about the latest killing if we asked around. Gossiping is all anyone has been doing since lockdown. ” She was showing me a whole new side. Apparently her stoic act masked total unflinching guts. “It’s possible. ”
I gave her idea real consideration. I was beginning to dig my new roomie, and it could only mean trouble. As it was, I had a sinking feeling the day was coming when the powers-that-be would drop Emma and me into some vampire coliseum and force us to go gladiator on each other. No, I had to protect her. “Possible, but too dangerous. ”
“If there were three of us, it’d be safer. ”
“Emma, you mean? Even if we convinced her, she and Yas are inseparable, and I don’t know if she’d do it without him. ” I loved Yasuo, but until I understood what was really going on with those Trainees, I wasn’t ready to have one hundred percent trust in him.
“Then it’ll be just you and me. ”
I laughed outright at that. “You and me?” I gave it a moment’s thought. But then I dismissed the notion—I needed someone who’d watch my back, which I doubted Mei had the skills to do. “I don’t even know what your weapon is. ”
“I don’t have a weapon. ”
“What do you mean?” I sat up in bed—there’d be no sleeping anytime soon—and the rapid movement amplified the pounding in my head. “We all have weapons. Everyone’s assigned one on the first day. ”
“I wasn’t. ”
“Didn’t they have something waiting for you in your drawer?”
“All I had was this. ” She stood and rifled through her dresser, pulling something out.
I hopped out of bed and pulled aside a corner of the shades to let in the watery moonlight. She held something long and thin, and I snatched it from her to make sure there wasn’t a blade concealed in there somewhere. I hefted it in my hands and peered down the length of it. “They gave you a flute?”
“It’s not a flute. ”
“Masha is gunning for us. There’s a killer on the loose. You’re jonesing to go play Nancy Drew. And all you’ve got to protect yourself is a flute. ” I crawled back into bed, suddenly overwhelmed. No wonder the vampires needed me to look out for her—they’d given the girl a flute as her only protection.
“It’s a D’Tzu,” she said, sounding amused.
“Okay, fine. It’s a…that. But trust me, call it what you like, but it won’t kill any Draugs. It’s not even metal. ”
“It’s bamboo. ” She held it to her mouth. “Shall I play it for you? It’ll relax you. ” The way she’d said it—all calm and sure—sounded so culty.
“You’re scaring me, Mei. ”
“The infamous Acari Drew is afraid?”
Laughing, I punched my pillow into shape and flopped my head down. “You don’t scare me, Ho. Go for it. Play your little flute. ”
I heard her suck in a breath, then immediately winced at the sharp, high-pitched sound her instrument made. It reminded me of a cheesy kung fu movie soundtrack—like something that might play as an old wise man emerged from the mist.
I lay in the dark, patiently waiting for her to finish, wondering which would happen first, glass breaking or Kenzie knocking on the door, telling us to shut up.
But then something changed.
The music triggered something in my brain. There was a shift. A wave of calm. My headache subsided. I began to register a song where before there’d been only shrill, atonal notes.
The music became hypnotic. It surrounded me, filled me, enveloped me. As that high pitch hummed through my skull, memories swamped me. Mental snapshots of my mother, simple and random.
She unloaded groceries from the car, hitching a bag on
