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I’d been with him during one of the killings, though. I knew he was innocent. Wasn’t he?
Still, I had to ask. “What does this new vampire look like?” I held my breath, waiting for the answer.
“Pale. Shifty. Like all the vampires look. ”
“Please. ” I’d aimed for exasperated, but my voice came out sounding helpless and lost. “Dark hair? Light hair?” After a moment’s hesitation, I added, “Kilt?”
He gave me a cockeyed look. “Kilt? Nah, not the kilted one. This one is smaller, with white hair. ”
“White hair?” I hadn’t seen any white-haired vamps.
“Dead white. ”
I sat forward on my stool, feeling electrified. “You mean he’s old? Or, rather, was older when he changed?”
Tom’s expression shuttered. “Teatime’s done. Talk’s done, too. You be off now. Feeding time. Gonna get messy around here real soon. ”
I carried my cup to the sink. Before he could disappear out the door, I asked, “One more question?”
“Can I stop you?”
With a smile, I shook my head.
“Well, girl. ” He rapped his staff impatiently in the dirt. “Spit it out. ”
“What you just told me…If there really is a rogue vampire wandering around…” This man had seen the real killer—it could be the ultimate proof, clearing Carden for good. “Would you tell the vampires for me?”
“Already did. ”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“He already did?” Mei-Ling looked at me in disbelief. We were half jogging, half running back to campus. Not only was it getting perilously close to class time, but we were also beginning to freak out about being so far off the path.
A small trail led down the hillside, to a narrow stretch of beach. I felt exposed on the foreign terrain and hoped to do a big chunk of our backtracking along the coastline. The stretch of navigable beach wouldn’t last forever, but a wall of rocks might shelter us from view.
“What do you mean the Draug keeper told the vampires Carden was innocent?”
I shot her a look. “Exactly what I said. He told the Directorate he’d seen the killer and it wasn’t Carden. ” The beach flattened out, and I upped my pace. “We need to hustle. Can’t have you late for Dagursson. ”
But being late wasn’t the biggest thing on my mind. I feared there’d be no stopping the Directorate. They didn’t care about catching any killer—they just wanted Carden dead. Part of me was terrified they might’ve even killed him already. Though some other part believed I’d know instantly if he were gone.
Either way, I wanted, longed, to be closer to him. Being so far apart made me feel…off. Wrong.
And, realistically speaking, if I were to be caught now, it’d raise all kinds of alarms. It was no secret Carden and I had often been seen together. Me off-roading so blatantly would get both of us killed.
“Slow down a sec. ” Mei-Ling held up her hand and stopped, bending and grasping her knees to catch her breath. “If they know he’s innocent”—she looked up at me, panting—“why haven’t they freed him?”
They didn’t free Carden because this was all a ploy—Alcántara’s ploy—to frame him. To see him killed. But why? An old grudge? Jealousy? And what did I have to do with it? But I was too afraid to say all that. Finally, I spoke all the truth that needed to be said. “All I know is that I have to get him out of there. ”
Mei stood, and we set off again. “What now??
??
We were still moving briskly, but not as fast as before, and it frustrated me. I wanted to race home. But seeing her hand clutching the stitch in her side, I forced myself to let up. I used the easier pace as an opportunity to think. “I guess we stick to the original plan, only instead of using me as bait to catch the Draug keeper, we’re going to lure a rogue vampire instead. ”
“No way,” she said. “You’ll get kill—”
The sound of heavy footfalls startled us, silenced us—bodies jumping from the rocks, landing behind us. “Hello, Acari. You’re very far from home. ” It was Masha. Of course.
