A short laugh tumbles out of me. I flick my gaze down the hall to confirm we’re still alone and then grasp his hand, just for a couple of seconds but with an emphatic squeeze. “You’re exactly who I meant.”
It takes a concentrated effort to let him go and drag my attention away. I consider the door to the staff lounge. “I guess we should get started on the actual assignment.”
Byron’s smile carries into his voice. “Professor Raith definitely isn’t giving us any special treatment if we slack off.”
We fall into an easy rhythm that feels startlingly familiar, both delving into the ephemera in this area of the hall and sharing our impressions back and forth, building off each other’s insights. It’s a far cry from the antagonistic partnership we made during the Bloom Practicum just a few weeks ago.
“Enjoy it,”the Byron in my head says.“He is. I hope he’ll work with you every way you need, just as much as I did.”
I will down the renewed lump in my throat.
But as we work out our prediction about a joint project two of the professors are planning for the 16thyears, Byron jotting down the official statement in his neat handwriting, the image of the woman in the coffee shop keeps intruding.
I never knew her name or any other specifics. Only that Uncle Nik and whoever he worked with believed she was a threat.
His voice swims up from the back of my mind, a real memory rather than imagined.“Every Wednesday at two, she arrives for a meeting. It’s the only time we can easily catch her.”
I still remember the place. All the details of my own side of that encounter were burned into my memory two and a half years ago.
Confirmation should be easy… except any Wednesday at two, I’m supposed to be at school.
As we walk back to the Divination classroom, I resist the urge to gnaw at my lower lip. What kind of excuse could I make up that couldn’t be easily disproven? If I just skip class like Salvatore did so casually, I’ll probably have the lucent police searching for me within the hour.
I need outside permission to be somewhere else, from someone who isn’t going to raise the alarm if I’m not doing what they said I would be. Who…
We step through the doorway, and my gaze falls on Cole where he’s poised in his chair behind his desk. His eyes narrow when he sees us, his posture drawing straighter with professional authority.
Maybe it’s time he put that authority to better use.
I wait until everyone’s returned and handed in their assignments, anticipation squirming in my gut like I’ve swallowed Tinkerbell. When Cole dismisses the class, I head to his desk rather than the door.
He picks up his briefcase and looks at me like he’s considering whacking me over the head with it. “Yes, Miss Devine?”
His voice is sharp with warning, but I push onward. “I have a question about the material.”
As the last of my classmates departs with a thud of the door behind them, he exhales with a hint of a sigh. “All right.What is it? And I’m guessing it’s not actually about your Divination work?”
“Not exactly.” I put on my best innocently determined face. “I need you to give me an extra credit assignment and an excusal from my afternoon classes on Wednesday to carry it out. There’s something relating to… other serious matters… that I can only look into during school hours.”
Cole’s face turns incredulous. “Not asking much, are you?”
I frown at his sarcastic response. “I wouldn’t ask at all if it wasn’t important.”
“What exactly are you looking into that’s so ‘important’?”
Posing the difficult questions now. I long again to be a river goddess.
Since I remain just me, I weigh my answer. “It’s difficult to explain. Something I heard that could relate to my attacker. If the lead gets me anywhere, you’ll be the first to find out.”
Professor Raith studies me for a moment longer—long enough that my skin starts to both creep and tingle with his scrutiny. It’s not a combination I recommend.
“Yes, I will,” he says abruptly. “Because you’re only going if I’m joining you.”
Sixteen
Elodie
Igo into the locker room with a stomachache, which probably isn’t a good start to an intensive training seminar that’s likely to involve a lot of pummeling.
