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Lucy was gone.
Lucy, my only friend, was gone.
Did the wolves know?
I shook my head. That wasn’t what I should be concerned with. At the crux of the matter, Lucy was dead and she was in my room. I had no idea why she was here in the first place. Judging by the positioning of the body, the fact that there was no blood trail to or from the body, her death was made here. In my room. Either someone had grabbed her and done this here, specifically, or they had stumbled upon her in my room by accident and killed her without original intention.
But why?
Why had Lucy been here?
Why my room?
“Help.” The voice that came out of me was small, so small it was pathetic. That was no way to call for help. I tried again. “Help.”
Still no good.
I opened my mouth. My jaw was rigid, like it was going to split in two simply from the movement.
“Help!” This time, my voice was loud. I did it again and again, dropping to my knees. The whole time, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Lucy. I kept blinking, trying to wake myself up because it had to be a dream. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t waking up.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there on my knees, but eventually, someone rushed in. It could have been more than one person. I didn’t actually know.
The only thing that pulled me away from the sight was the captain I noticed before at the dining table, the one who seemed to be popular with the female students. The expression on his face as he noticed the body was shock schooled into neutrality. He was surprised but didn’t want to show it.
He looked as though he had come from dinner. Dark aviators covered his eyes so I couldn’t see what color they were. I couldn’t see if he was concerned or worried. All I could go by was how he used his lips and whether or not there were wrinkles in his brows.
“Hey. Hey.” He gently touched my shoulder.
I flinched, once again snapping out of whatever hypnotic force kept pulling me under.
The man immediately released his hold on me and continued to remain at a distance. “My name is Captain Rainey,” he said. “Jeffrey Rainey, of the Water pack. You’re the new girl, I take it. The human.”
I nodded, still unable to find my voice.
“Hey.” Every time I tried to look at Lucy again, Captain Rainey’s low voice pulled me back to him. “I need you to look at me. I need your help. Can you tell me what happened?”
I recounted all I could, but there wasn’t much to tell. I had gotten back from dinner and found her body like that in my room. No, I hadn’t touched it. I thought I lifted my hands just to show him that that wasn’t the case. No, I didn’t know why Lucy would be in my room. No, Lucy and I weren’t planning on meeting after physical combat. No, I didn’t know who would do something like this.
When he finished his questioning, he looked over my shoulder. I hadn’t realized someone else was in here. I didn’t realize they closed my bedroom door, probably to prevent others who heard my desperate shouts of help to see what had happened.
My stomach turned at the thought.
How could Lucy be dead? Out of everyone here, why her?
Maybe that was a selfish thought. Maybe I should be punished for implying such a thing. But Lucy was sweet, kind, and welcoming. I didn’t think I would have acclimated here if I didn’t have her, guiding me, talking to me, making me feel like I belonged. She was someone I already considered a friend, and, like my mother, she was gone.
“What’s going to happen to her?” I asked the captain.
He pulled his gaze from the body and turned back to me. He positioned himself in front of it, shielding the ghastly sight from my visage. The captain wasn’t an extremely tall man, but I appreciated his attempt at protecting me from the brutality of what happened. The only problem was, I discovered the body. He could hide it all he wanted to. The sight of it would stay etched in my mind like a brand that still burned each time I happened to think about it.
“Once the wolves come back from their ceremony, the body will be transferred to the morgue where an exam will be conducted in hopes to determine the cause of death,” he explained. “It’s clear this was murder, but who would do such a thing, I’m not sure. Once we narrow time of death, we’ll hopefully be able to come up with a lead or two. From there, the wolves will conduct a ceremony and put her soul to rest.”
I swallowed. “So,” I said, my voice cracking. I winced at the sound before clearing my throat, trying to get a handle on my emotions. “So does that mean there’s a murderer at the academy?”
Before he could answer, a gentle knock interrupted us.
“Captain?” a muffled voice said on the other side.
