Page 36 of Siren’s Secret

His mind tried to pull up every tidbit that he could about Wayla. Like the thing with her father. What had happened to him? Why hadn’t the stormbringer clan announced the death of an heir apparent? He needed answers. Screw Sinister’s threats. As long as they kept it in the house, it should be fine, right?

“Hellion!” Marc shouted as he took the stairs two at a time. “Let’s go digging.”

“What?” Hellion asked when Marc barged into his room. “You need to punch something?”

Marc chuckled. “No.” He took in the messy room, on-brand for Hellion, and looked at the demon. There was tightness around his eyes and he looked tired. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” Hellion answered and rubbed at his temples. Marc snorted.

“Right. How’s the investigation going? Any clues what Tharrexeus’s angle was?”

Hellion looked up from his laptop and sighed. “No. I just can’t figure out what he was trying to accomplish. The Academy is safe again. I don’t think any students withdrew because of this. He never would have gotten the envoy position anyway. Just, why?”

“Can’t help you there,” Marc said and sat on the bed next to him. “He was always an asshole, but this whole thing feels so over the top and childish at the same time. There were actual lives lost, and yet nothing was gained as far as any of us can figure out.”

“Yeah,” Hellion replied. “The paperwork is killing me, though.”

“Maybe that was his grand plan all along.” Marc tried to joke.

Hellion cracked a small smile. “That would be too sophisticated for him. Now, what was it you wanted?”

Marc stared at the wall for a second before speaking. “We need to figure out what the fuck is going on with Wayla.”

“No shit,” Hellion muttered. “But Sinister—”

“We don’t need to tell the others. Or make a big deal of it, but something doesn’t sit right with me.”

Hellion got up from his bed and stretched. His room was messy, as usual, but Marc could have sworn he spied Wayla’s class schedule on the table. He walked over to take a closer look and lifted a brow at Hellion, who shrugged, unrepentant.

“No one said anything about keeping tabs on her day-to-day activities. For some reason, she hasn’t changed any of her classes yet.”

“Well, we could always find out why,” Marc muttered and sat down. “I’ll start with the Academy’s public records and you do what you can with the other stuff.”

Now Hellion grinned. “Watch out, little bird. I’m going to find out everything about you.”

Chapter 20 – Jarred

Jarred took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Diana opened it after a moment.

“Is Wayla here?” he asked.

“She’s in her room with Sinister,” Diana said and stepped aside, letting him enter.

“Huh?” That threw Jarred for a loop. What was Sinister doing here? He walked over, opened the door, and Sinister fell silent mid-sentence while Wayla’s eyes widened. They were both sitting on her bed, and she jumped up the moment he entered.

“Jarred!”

“What’s going on in here?” He looked from Sinister’s frown to Wayla’s panicked expression and took a step closer to Wayla. “Are you all right, precious?”

“See?” Sinister said, confusing him further, but Wayla nodded.

“Not here,” she said and this time Sinister nodded.

“Take my jet. I’ll call my pilot to make sure it’s ready.”

“I—”

Sinister held up a hand. “Take it. I’ll tell them to follow your instructions. If things go… They’ll fly you wherever you need to go. Okay?”