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I turned up the music a little to take my mind off Zena’s worry and pulled out of my space and onto the road. Slowly I drove out of the village and toward the university, hoping to avoid the crazy fair traffic of the town.
The rain lashed against the windscreen, and it was the first moment I realised it was raining and the sky had turned an eerie shade of grey, the air abundant with energy.
I turned my windscreen wipers to half speed and took my usual route back to university, and now I wanted to stop for another coffee, even though I didn’t normally need a coffee so soon after finishing one.
But today I felt I needed the caffeine hit. But with thoughts of what Amanza had could have seen that concerned Zena so much, it wasn’t a typical morning.
My knuckles were white because I was gripping the steering wheel too hard. I was restless. Everything was moving too slowly for me. Car engines and voices were ringing in my ears. And I knew I should have insisted Zena told me the situation, but she didn’t and I tried to relax by singing along to the song on the radio, pushing Zena’s concerned voice to one side and finally ten minutes later I was peering up at the library building. I grabbed my bag and sandwich and slipped out of the car, surprised Zena had met me at the library door.
“What's the urgency?” I asked.
She shook her head and dragged me into the lift. She waited until we were heading up before she spoke. “I want you to sit down before I tell you.”
I slammed my hand over the sound of the grumble in my stomach. “I’m starving.”
“You are. Maybe I should let you eat first.”
The doors opened and the library floor was busy. Students tried to push into the lift before we had got out. Zena used her fae strength and opened her arms to give us more space.
Stepping inside the busy library, probably because of the rain it was heaving with people, I glanced around for a spare table.
“Over here,” a girl I recognised but didn’t know too well, waved her hand in the air as she called us over.
“That’s Amanza.”
We strode to Amanza. Zena was desperate to tell me, but me all I wanted was to inhale the sandwich clutched in my palm. I unfolded the white paper with the delicatessen logo and took my first bite with a deep sigh.
Zena watched me a little too intently as I munched on my sandwich. I took her up on eating first because there was nothing that would surprise me anymore, but as I knew, Gray had been noticeably absent for some time. I took a wild guess he had something to do with the flashing looks Amanza gave me.
“You can tell me while I eat.” As much as Gray didn’t worry me, I knew I had to perfect my game face, these were fae and I never let my guard down regardless that Clay thought I had a terrible poker face, but because of that I concentrated on keeping my words even and my expression flat.
Amanza shook her head as Zena stared out of the window again as I thought for another long, silent moment. Then she turned back to me as Amanza went back to her studies, tapping away on her laptop.
“Just tell me,” I said, staring at my food, sucking at the contents falling out one side.
Amanza glanced at Zena.
But it was Zena who replied. “Amanza thinks she saw Ryan.”
“I did see Ryan,” Amanza quickly retorted.
My breath hitched as I coughed, my throat feeling like I had food stuck in it. I swallowed the contents in my mouth and shook my head. “He is dead. I went to his funeral.”
“It was Ryan,” she repeated. Her voice was quiet and her eyes widened as she stared at me.
“Are you sure it was Ryan and not a look-alike?” I asked, still shaking my head. There was no way it was Ryan. She was wrong. I took another bite of the sandwich I had carefully positioned between both hands to not lose the contents.
Amanza nodded her head, glancing at Zena.
“Do you know he died?” I asked Amanza. She gave a slight nod of her head.
“Yes, that’s why she told me,” Zena said.
They lowered Ryan in the ground. I saw it happen. Amanza obviously saw somebody, but it was certainly not Ryan.
Zena glanced from me to Amanza and back to me and the hair on my arms stood on end and a heavy feeling weighed down my stomach. Amanza’s face paled.
There was no way it was Ryan.
