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Monroe sighs and follows her down the hall.
The senior housing is a collection of townhomes, each big enough for three people. Kirby and Monroe’s third roommate is nowhere to be seen though.
“It would probably be best to do it outside anyway!” Beth calls. “With the moon and everything.”
“Oh, I know!” Kirby reappears, all smiles now, and gestures for us to follow. “I was just clearing the path there. We can set up out back while we wait for Daniel to get the supplies.”
The hall runs alongside the stairs and leads to a small living area, the kitchen tucked off to the right. Monroe pushes the sliding glass door aside and leads us to a patio. Their backyard is little more than a sliver of grass between the deck and the fence, but it’s certainly nicer than living in the dorms. They have a small bistro table and three folding chairs set up, along with a few lines of twinkle lights strung overhead.
I press my lips together to hold back my smirk at the row of dead plants. Kirby’s doing, if I had to guess. A wiz with poisons for sure, but keeping things alive is another story.
I flip the page of the textbook Monroe offered me, rereading the section on shadow projecting, trying to catch myself up. The spell itself doesn’t look too complicated, but the Risks and Warnings part of the chapter goes on for a good twenty pages.
Beth stops in the middle of the grass, hands on her hips, and cranes her neck back to look at the moon. “This should work!”
Monroe steps up beside me and lays a hand on my shoulder. “Val,” she says under her breath, “let one of us do it. Tell us what we’re looking for, tell us what to do, and let one of us go.”
I shake my head. “Absolutely not. If something goes wrong—”
“Exactly,” she says, her voice suddenly hard. “You’ve already been through hell, and we’re not going to lose you again. At least let one of us come with you.”
“I’ll be fine.” I don’t know if I’m trying to convince her or me, but I put as much confidence into the words as I can manage. Besides, if none of them were able to read the note, I’m willing to bet similar security measures have been taken to protect the book. Ithasto be me. “The more of you holding the line here, the better anyway. With this much power on this side, it’ll be fine.”
I squint, trying to inspect her face now that I can actually see it. It’s not just the redness in her eyes—her entire face is puffy like she’s been crying. “What’s going on with you? Did something happen?”
For what feels like the first time tonight, she looks me in the eye. She opens her mouth like she wants to say something, then casts a glance at the others. They’re occupied setting up for the spell, paying us no mind. I take her arm and guide her a few more steps away until we’re against the side of the house.
“It’s Nathan,” she finally says.
I wait for her to continue, and she lets several moments pass, long enough that I lay a hand on her arm in a sad attempt at comforting her.
“He’s always been a flirty drunk,” she all but whispers, “but I thought it was harmless. Especially once he knew I was with Kirby, I figured it was how he was with everyone. But then a few weeks ago, he really wasn’t taking the hint, and we got into this huge fight. But then the next time I saw him, he pretended like nothing happened, so I figured I’d let it go too.”
I stiffen, bracing myself for wherever this is going.
“Apparently he hadn’t let it go like I thought. That or he does shit like this for fun—” She breaks off, and I can’t tell if it’s tears or fury that has her breathing quickening. “He—he put a fucking camera in my room. And he recorded us, well, you know. Which would be bad enough, but apparently he’s had a great time showing it around to all of his friends the past few weeks. I’m guessing it’s probably online somewhere too.”
“I’ll kill him,” I say immediately, my fingers tightening around the book in a death grip. “I swear to God, I can make it look like an accident.”
The rage bleeds from her expression, leaving nothing but that godawful haunted look she’d had at the diner.
“Can’t you at least get reassigned?” I add.
No fucking wonder Avery kicked Nathan to the curb if he pulled some shit like this with her. How many other girls has he done this to? And to hispartners? Even if their bond isn’t as intimate as mine and Reid’s, I can’t imagine being that cruel to someone period, let alone someone you’re bound to in that way.
Monroe lifts her hands and gestures around us. “It’s not exactly a top priority of the estates.” She barks out a bitter laugh. “Hell, we don’t evenhavean estate right now. And I know it’s something small in comparison to everything else, but…” She trails off, her eyes catching on Kirby across the lawn.
If she did get reassigned, she’d have no say in her new partner, meaning she could end up halfway across the world.
I force my jaw to unclench. She’s right. We’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who cared enough with everything else going on.
But she can’t stay paired to him. Especially not now. We’re supposed to believe he’ll have her back and keep her safe if it comes down to it?
“Have you confronted him?”
That sparks another hard laugh out of her. “Oh yeah. He seemed thrilled I found out. Told me ‘there are plenty more videos where that one came from.’”
I spare a glance at Kirby, but she’s staring stoically at the grass as Beth explains something with big hand gestures. I have no idea how she’s so calm right now if she’s in the videos too.
