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After cryingmy way to sleep, I woke the next morning with Damien still on my mind.
I turned toward my bed stand and reached for my phone. The line remained open, and I could hear Damien’s heavy, even breathing on the other end.
I smiled, honored that he’d kept his word and hadn’t hung up on me.
“Good morning, Damien,” I whispered. And when that had absolutely no effect on him at all, I whispered, “I love you.” Because after last night, there was no stopping me from loving him. He was the undeniable axis of this new world in which I now rotated.
Then I quickly disconnected the line before I actually woke him up.
After showering and changing for the day, I went down to make myself some breakfast, knocking on Thalia’s door as I passed.
“Morning, roomie. Rise and shine.”
But she didn’t answer.
I hadn’t heard from her since she’d soothed my nerves on Friday after my big revelation…other than the music she’d played for the guys when they’d stopped by.
I wished she’d talk to me again.
I was ready and eager to start solving her murder now.
* * *
Since I hada break between classes from noon to two, that’s when I dove in.
I returned to the library. Except just stepping foot inside the front doors brought back all the memories of the last time I’d been here with Damien.
We’d been so delirious with happiness then, sneaking off to celebrate my news report.
But God, that felt like a lifetime ago.
Not sure where else to go for the next step in my mission, I headed toward the information counter.
The girl at the front desk was the same one who’d seen me and Damien sneak into the health room.
She was busy helping someone else when I walked up, and she had her back to the counter fetching something from a cabinet behind the desk.
When she turned around, she held a stapler. “Here you go, professor.”
“Thanks, Waverly,” the man answered, accepting it gratefully. “I’ll get this right back to you.”
When he turned away, I could see a stack of papers that looked like posters tucked under one arm. He didn’t seem to realize I was there, so I had to back up abruptly to get out of his way as he mumbled something to himself and carried on as if he were stuck in his own world.
I glanced after him, watching him trudge to a bulletin board not far away and bend down to awkwardly set his posters on the ground. Then he meticulously picked up one sheet and began to staple it to the board.
When I turned back to the service desk, Waverly’s eyes widened at me before she shifted a glance to the door of the health room and back.
Yeah, I wanted to say, I’mthatgirl.
But instead, I flashed her a bright smile. “Hi. Waverly, is it? I have a strange request.”
“Okay…” she answered slowly, looking beyond suspicious.
“So I’m renting this room down on Bridleway near The FroYo Palace,” I started. “And I just learned a college student was murdered in that very apartment, like, ten years ago.”
“Oh, you mean the Haunted Brownstone,” Waverly answered as if she knew all about it. When I sent her a questioning blink, she shrugged. “I grew up in Westport. I was eight or nine when Thalia Archer was killed.”
Behind me, a clattering bang made me jump out of my skin.
