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The professor muttered something and twirled her hair around her finger.
“What was that?” Toland asked.
“I’m afraid I don’t recall,” she repeated, more loudly.
“Then we must move on. Next, the lights. It was not, as we initially thought, caused by leftover damage from the sprite incident. They were deliberately sabotaged.”
I opened my mouth to say that he had been with me, but then I remembered what I’d been doing when the lights had gone out. I shared a look with Kingston, who frowned at the floor.
“He was in Beedle’s office,” Jayce said. “And he was with me before that.”
Beedle snapped his fingers. “Yes. That’s right. He was with me.”
Toland shook his head. “I’m afraid that isn’t good enough. The sabotage was set up long beforehand. How long, we aren’t sure. But he wouldn’t have had to be in the proximity at the time of the blackout to be responsible.”
“That’s crap,” I said coldly. “If that’s the case, then anybody in the school could have been responsible for it. You can’t pin that on Xero just because he’s convenient.”
“You would know how convenient he is, wouldn’t you?” Sonja glared at me from across the room and it took everything I had not to bum-rush her and beat her down then and there.
“Enough,” Toland said. “We’ll read the rest of the charges.”
And he did. He went down the list of destruction, one thing after another. The bathroom. The pillars. The walls. The increased fallen activity near the school, clearly indicating that someone had given at least a vague location to Gavriel’s army. I hadn’t been with Xero for all of those things, but my guys stepped up to the plate beautifully. Kai, Jayce, and Kingston all remembered where Xero was and when, and called other people out to corroborate their truth. Owen didn’t contribute anything, but he added his adamant nods whenever someone called for Xero’s exoneration.
By the end of it, there were only a few moments left unaccounted for.
Toland ran a hand over his face. “It seems the case isn’t quite as open and shut as I was led to believe.”
“Does any of that matter?” Sonja demanded. “We all know he did it, we just haven’t figured out how.”
Toland shook his head. “Sending a student to the underworld is not something to take lightly. Like a death sentence, one must be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of the party’s guilt prior to enacting the sentence.”
Sonja huffed in disbelief, then crossed her arms and scowled. Toland tapped his fingers on the podium, apparently lost in thought, but I was pretty sure he was reading off the sheet in front of him. After a moment, he looked up.
“Now we bring it to a vote. To clear Xero of all charges pending future evidence, or to hold him in isolation pending further evidence. Custodians, Professors; all in favor of pursuing Xero as our primary suspect, say aye.”
The single “aye” struck a nerve deep in my core. I met the eyes of the Custodian who uttered it and memorized his features. Round face, blue eyes, a shock of blond hair. Mid-thirties. Fit. I made a mental note to keep an eye on him moving forward.
“All in favor of clearing the charges?”
“Aye.” The answer resounded through the room, echoing from both tables.
Toland struck his gavel. “Charges dismissed.”
I let out a noise between a whoop and a sob and leapt out of my seat. My guys, Hannah, and Owen all cheered around me. It made something painfully sweet squeeze my heart. No matter what we’d all been through, no matter how tense it had been at times, we were a solid unit. Xero was one of us. He looked stunned as he slid out of the seat and shook Toland’s hand. A slow grin broke over his face as he walked over to us.
“You’re cleared!” I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him.
His strong arms locked around me as he held me close and kissed me back tenderly. When he released me, he brushed my hair back from my face, his dark, entrancing eyes open and warm. “Wouldn’t have happened without you.”
I beamed up at him. “We should celebrate. Pub?”
His smile was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “Pub.”
We all went this time, even Kai, though he seemed to be having trouble getting into the mood. He’d been fine up until we got to the pub, but once we walked through the door, he seemed to get lost in his beer. The more he drank, the quieter he got. The quieter he got, the less he tried to control his true features. I was glad that the signature physical characteristics of vampirism could be passed off as a pissy mood, but he still wasn’t being nearly discreet enough.
“Kai,” I told him when we were on our third round. “Move around in front of me so you’re facing the wall. Either that or fix your face. People are starting to stare.”
He glared balefully at me. “So? Let them stare. Let them stake me.” He flicked a crumpled bit of paper off the table and glowered out at the crowd. At least the pub was more sparsely populated tonight than it had been before. Still, there were too many people here for my comfort.
