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“Corv?” I pressed when he didn’t answer.
“Where the fuck else would I be going?” he said, his voice the same flat monotone he’d been speaking in since last night. It reminded me of how he was when I’d first met him at eleven—before he trusted us and eventually accepted us as his brothers.
“You coming?” he added, and I swallowed hard, not giving him a reply as I got on the bike behind him and the engine rumbled to life beneath us.
I peered back at the Crow’s Nest, searching Rook’s black window for any sign of him, but I saw nothing. He was probably asleep. We’d picked him up along the road on the way back from the Docks, and he’d gotten in without a word. His expression dark.
Of course I wondered what she said to him. What he might’ve said to her…
But it wasn’t the time to ask.
The gravel road turned to pavement as we sped toward Briar Hall, Corvus barely slowing at all until we were in the actual parking lot.
“What if she isn’t here?” I asked as I stepped off.
“She will be,” he replied, and it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than me.
I followed him to the front door of the academy, the words as the crow flies mocking me as I passed beneath them.
Mick nodded as we passed through the atrium and took the stairs up to the third floor and down the hall.
“Rook?” I asked, surprised to see him sitting against the wall three feet from her door, his elbows on his knees, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips. Ashes all over the floor between his feet.
He cocked his head, glancing up at us.
“How long have you been here?” Corvus asked, tugging the dart from Rook’s mouth to stamp it out beneath his boot, his nose wrinkling.
It smelled like dirty old ashtray in here.
I dug into the inside pocket of my jacket and passed him a stick of gum.
He grudgingly snatched it from my fingers and popped it into his mouth.
In less than an hour, all the students in the building would be waking up for classes. Some probably were already awake, terrified to leave their rooms to shower because of the Crow smoking in their hall, looking out of his damned mind.
“I left after I showered,” he said, his voice rough.
But he’d showered only a few hours after we got back to the Nest yesterday. And we’d only made the one stop to drop Diesel off with the vet to have his injury looked after.
“Have you slept?” Corv demanded.
Rook shrugged. “Maybe. Might’ve dozed off.”
He was here the whole time. Making sure she was safe through the night alone.
Guilt ate at me, and I dropped my head.
“Seen her?” I asked.
He shook his head, making a chunk of black hair fall into his eyes that he swept away with a shaky hand. “No, but she’s in there. I heard her snore a bit earlier. Nothing since.”
Relief exploded through me, so strong it made spots of light dance across my eyes.
I was starting to think Corvus had been right all along, this girl was going to be the end of us.
“I’ve been waiting until she woke up to knock,” Rook added. “But I think she’s still passed out.”
I cocked my head at him. He was waiting for her to wake up? Rook? The guy who did literally any fucking thing he wanted, whenever he wanted?
