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“I know. It goes against everything I’ve been saying since we met, but Tsagasi made a lot of sense. I think he’s right.”
I fell asleep against his warm chest and woke up to the sunlight streaming through the bedroom window. I was still in the same position, and when I looked up, Collin was sleeping.
He felt me stirring and his eyes cracked open. “Please tell me there is coffee in this house.”
“I think there is somewhere.”
He leaned to the side to check his phone. “It’s already eight. Why don’t we get ready to go. We’ll find out Steven’s schedule so we can ambush him at the university.”
“You don’t even know that he’s guilty.” I couldn’t believe the seemingly sweet, kind man who had been friends with my parents—and was dating my stepmother—might have arranged for David to be kidnapped. But I couldn’t ignore David’s suggestion that he was involved somehow.
“I’m going to presume he’s guilty until he proves otherwise.”
“That’s not how the United States works, Collin,” I said.
He lifted his eyebrows. “Obviously, you’ve only been on the right side of the law, or you’d think differently.”
“Maybe you can take this opportunity to get on the right side of the law.”
He laughed. “I think it’s too late for that. Now get ready. I need coffee.”
Sleep and food had helped restore some of my strength, but I was still slower and weaker than normal. I was definitely in no shape to fight demons, let alone gods. Hopefully, when we got back to the Outer Banks, the ocean would revive my strength.
I was still caked in blood, so I showered and then dressed in the clothes I’d worn on Sunday. Myra would be sure to notice, but everything else I had was covered in gore—my own, Allison’s, and Raven Mockers’. I hoped this wouldn’t become a trend.
When I emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, towel-drying my hair, Collin filled me in on his progress. He had called Steven’s office, claiming to be a student, and asked about his office hours.
“He has an eight thirty class, and then he’s going to have office hours from ten until eleven thirty.”
“So when do you want to go?”
“The earlier the better. I want to cut him off before he makes it to his office after his class. He’ll be in his own environment there, which will give him an edge. If we catch him on the go, it’ll shake things up in our favor.”
“Okay.” I still felt wrong about not warning Myra that Steven could have betrayed us, but we had no proof. At this point it was a wild guess. And unlike Collin, I really did believe in the presumption of innocence.
“Let’s drive over to Durham now. It might take us a while to find parking.”
It turned out that Collin was right. We spent twenty minutes looking for a place to park and another ten minutes locating the history building. The campus was bustling with the excitement of the new school year, but I was full of dread, especially since my palm started to itch as we walked past the library.
“Did you feel that?” I asked, turning to Collin.
“Yeah,” he mumbled with a scowl.
“I’ve had that same itch off and on for a couple of weeks. Like something’s there but not.”
“I think the smarter demons are figuring out how to camouflage themselves,” he said as we approached the door to the history building. “We’ll have to be more careful.”
“Great.” But I could see the truth in his words. If there was a way to hide from us, it made sense that some of them had figured it out.
Collin held the door open and followed me inside. “Back to Steven…our biggest question right now is if he typically keeps his class the entire time it’s scheduled or if he likes to let them out early,” he said, watching the students pass us in the hall. “Does he enjoy hearing himself talk?”
I glanced up at him with a scowl. “What kind of question is that?”
He tilted his head to the side with a smirk. “Does he talk a lot or not?”
I shook my head and admitted, “He talks a lot.”
“Then we go to his classroom.”
