“I’m sorry. I was so shaken up, and my first thought was protecting my matches, and I was worried you wouldn’t even believe me…”
The frown fades into a more confused knitting of her brow. “Believe you about what, Elodie?”
I gather myself. “That night, I left the house hoping I could lure out the person who’s been after me. And it worked—partially. Kenneth Hearst attacked me near the river, tried to stab me to death.”
At this point, my aunt’s eyes might pop right out of her head. “Kenneth Hearst? The Hearsts have never—we’ve always gotten along reasonably well with them… Well, it seems absurd to ask if you’re sure.”
My lips twitch into a small, wry smile. “Yeah. I was surprised too. In the struggle, I ended up stabbinghimwhile trying to defend myself… and one of my matches used his glim to cover up the death before I had much say in it. So there wasn’t any evidence to show the police. We were worried the blame might be placed on me anyway, since it’d be hard for people to picture Kenneth as a potential murderer.”
“I suppose with the kind of life you must have had before you came here, being wary makes sense, even if I’d rather we brought the culprit to justice by more traditional means.” Daphne rubs her hand over her face. Her gaze fixes on me again. “But you’ve said you’re still investigating. If he’sdead…”
My smile fades. “Kenneth made a comment about someone encouraging him to come after me. He was a tool, not the person calling the shots.”
Daphne’s stance stiffens with a sudden flash of her eyes. “What exactly did he say?”
“Nothing specific other than it was a woman. But my matches and I have found evidence that he was associating with a group of lucents who must be very powerful but also incredibly secretive. It seems like they’re reaching out to other Luminary students, and maybe older lucents too. All from major families, as far as we’ve seen. Have you heard anything about a group like that—offering help or a boost in skills to the ‘right’ people?”
Daphne’s gaze goes distant, sliding past me to the brightly lit window. “I mean, there are plenty of discreet clubs and alliances and so on in the community… And there are lucents who offer mentorships… But I’m not aware of a specific group that operates the way you’re describing. And you think these people persuaded Kenneth Hearst to attack you?”
I nod. “That’s the best we can figure. He met up with a woman we think was part of that group the day before he attacked me in the park, and she gave him something—maybe the weapon he used.”
I pull out my phone and show her a screenshot I took of the coffee shop’s security video. I brace myself to explain how I got even a photo, but Daphne doesn’t ask. She just stares at the picture, the furrows of confusion digging deeper into her forehead.
“Have you seen her before?” I prod.
She shakes her head slowly. “I don’t think so. I mean, I might have in passing, but not in any way that I’m sure I recognize her.”
As I pull back the phone, her hands dart across her lap. A nervous note creeps into her voice. “If these people are powerful enough to convince a boy like Kenneth to commit murder and skilled enough to stay secret—maybe you should back off now, Elodie. Let me look into this. We could keep you home until it’s settled, have your teachers send the schoolwork; you can hand in your assignments through the computer. It’ll be safer.”
Now she’s worried so much about my safety, after she’s the one who dragged me across dimensions to flush out a killer?
I shake my head. “I don’t want to sit around waiting to see what’ll happen. Some of the pieces seem to connect to things I saw in my old reality. They involve people at school I can easily hang around but you can’t. And”—my tone turns dry at the very thought—“I don’t think you or I could convince my matches to stand down now.”
Daphne stands up and paces to the window and back. Her skinny frame stayed tensed. “That’s very admirable of them and you, but you don’t know… If the wrong people have set their sights on you… I don’t even knowwhyanyone would be so set on harming Ellie…”
I clear my throat. “I have found things in her room and heard things from her friends—she was monitoring people and places she didn’t tell anyone about but that she obviously thought might be important. If someone noticed her interest and got worried she was going to expose their shady dealings?—”
“No.” Daphne jerks to a halt. “If she’d gotten into anything that serious, she’d have told me.”
I hold my voice steady. “You can’t keep believing that. Youknowit’s not true. You have no idea what she was even doing out in that neighborhood where she was killed.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t she have trusted me? She never seemed worried…”
A sickly cast comes over her skin as acceptance must sink in. She inhales sharply and focuses on me again. “Then that’s all the more reason we need to take you out of the equation. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know when they might try again or who poses the real threat.”
And she thinks she can figure that out on her own?
“I can defend myself,” I say. “And like I said, my matches?—”
She waves her hand through the air. “Tell them it’s already resolved. The police have taken someone into custody. They don’t know the whole story, how far these people have already gone.”
My chest constricts. I push out the words. “Yes, they do. I told them everything.”
Daphne freezes, staring at me. “You don’tmean?—”
“I told them about the other Elodie’s murder and how you brought me here to find the killer.” The corners of my mouth tick upward again. “They took it pretty well once I finally convinced them.”
“You… They…” My aunt rakes her fingers back through her cloud of hair. “No. This isn’t good at all. If anyone else finds out…”
