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“Staged?” I roared. Without thinking, I grabbed the knife from my garter and hurled it at him.
It froze midair.
“Your aim needs work, however.”
“You think this is a ruse? That I just staged a kid dying?” My voice cracked on the last word. The alcohol was making me hysterical. I felt too panicked to breathe, to think. I just needed to fix, to fix this situation I was in right now…
His gaze hardened.
“He’s not even dead,” I said. “You need to go away. He was alive just a second ago; I just felt how warm he was. I’m about to take him to heal him. I mean, he’s barely any different from my brother in high school, you can’t just take him away.”
My rambling cut off when he closed in, hand over the body. He had a look on his face that I couldn’t place. Like he was deep in thought.
“This school has been good for your acting ability. You are almost making me sympathetic to a sad little girl right now.” His gaze locked with mine. “Let’s say I entertain this little charade.” His lips turned into an acrid, gloating smile while he held out his hands to demonstrate. “On one hand, I’ve never thought of the gumiho as a creature to feel bad for her victims. When you were having your little meltdown over the boy, it was almost believable. On the other hand, you claim you are not a gumiho, and yet, whenever there is a dead body on this campus, you are never very far away.”
I glared.
“Let’s make a deal then: if you are not the gumiho, prove it. Catch her for me. Then I will never have to visit this cursed universe again.”
My eyes squeezed shut in frustration.
Never make a deal with a devil.
That was one of the first lessons of Aether.
But if I did this, would I never have to see him again?
“Let’s catch her together, you beast,” I said. “Because I certainly won’t be accused of being one.”
I blinked, and he was beside me. His soft lips pressed to my neck, lingering for only a moment.
Heat rose from my toes all the way to my flushing face.
“Until we meet again, wicked seraphim.” His kiss burned like a brand.
He teleported back to the boy, hands centered on his chest until they both illuminated with cloudy gray. I felt his absence more than his presence, like the aching withdrawal of an addictive drug.
The haze dissolved sharply into dust, taking my dealmaker with it.
My shadows rioted in response, revolving around my neck like a collar.
What had I done?
ChapterEight
THE ORACLE MUSINGS
You heard it from me first, dear Oracle Fan Club: the entirety of the Aether University Police Force will resign tonight. After losing three of their own last week and losing two today, they plan on announcing their resignation to President Consta after a blowout fight that leaves President’s Hall demolished. How do I know? I’m the Oracle. I know everything.
NOT who’s committing the murders, though. Obviously, I would have spilled the tea first. Don’t you fools know me at all?
While we’re at it, you investigative journalists can slide right OUT of my DMs with the accusations. None of the death threats against me have ever landed. (I can see right through them, fools!) And threats to reveal my true identity? You’d have to know it first (and that’s saved for my starborn, which you ugly wannabes are not!)
Finally, could hazing happen so soon in the recruitment season? A freshman has been found dead in the aftermath of the Fae/Angel rager. Will this hurt their reputation? Who would join a House that could haze a student to death?
The lecture hallwas silent as a corpse today. As silent as I was regarding the events that transpired last night. I had been so embarrassed, so ashamed of what I agreed to, that I told no one.
I dove back into my studies like it never happened.
