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Moni was confused when she was awakened by a loud knocking at the door of the room she was sharing with her twin, Sam. She scrambled to get her bearings and realized that it was a Sunday, and absolutely no one should be disturbing them unless the building was on fire.
Across the room, she could see that Sam had slept in his clothing, while she was buck naked under the eiderdown quilt that Shady had made sure to place tenderly over her when she’d left the previous evening.
Moni nodded toward the door, where the loudly annoying knocking had continued unabated and Sam swung his long legs over the side of his bed and went to answer it.
As soon as he opened the door, Moni could see two of the Elite Security Guard for Pitchfork Prep Academy standing there, with their purple caps with a shield perched on the front that bore the image of the Academy and long matching robes.
“Sebastian Crockett?” one of them asked.
“Yes, I’m Sebastian Crockett,” Moni heard Sam reply.
“Sebastian, you are wanted for questioning in Security,” the same Guardsman intoned.
Moni, who had been fishing under the covers for her jeans and t-shirt and managed to slip them on, rose up off her comfortable nest in a state close to fury.
“What is this all about?” she said, pushing past Sam to glare irately at the two men. “Sam has been in this room with me since last night!”
“Sorry, but our instructions are clear, and his only choice is to come quietly or we will truss him to our Pitchforks and carry him down to be interviewed like a hog on a spit!” the taller Guard told her. “His choice of course!”
“Moni, I’ll go with them,” Sam said quietly, shooting her a desperate look.
Shoving on boots and grabbing a jacket for herself—and Sam, who had forgotten his—she followed the other three. Sam was walking between the Guards and she was still fuming as they arrived at Campus Security.
To her surprise, Shady was already there.
As Moni watched Sam disappear into an office, Shady took her hand and led her over to the bank of chairs in the waiting area.
“Now, don’t freak out,” she whispered in Moni’s ear. “But there was a murder on campus last night. Brandy Tanderell. Several people saw Sam with her at the Charms Café. Apparently, they hung out there for an hour or so and then left—together!Thatis why they want to question him!”
Moni turned and gave her a stunned look.
“Well, they are barking up the wrong tree. I got up to pee last night and I’m not sure what time it was but the moon was out and Sam was in bed snoring… And there isno wayhe would hurt anyone!”
“Well, he isn’t charged with anythingyet,” Shady said ominously. “But if you have a family attorney, I would certainly let them know what’s going on... This is serious, Moni! Theyfound her nude, and ravaged somehow. I haven’t heard any details and my buddy, Dan, who is apprenticing in the Magical Magic wing, said that in spite of the cold the stretcher they brought her in on was soaked with her blood. Did you get to talk to Sam about his date with her?”
“No, we were both asleep and got rudely awakened,” Moni huffed, slouching down in her seat. “But I get a really bad feeling about this!”
At that moment Broody and Luca, both flushed and breathless, arrived at Campus Security.
Moni was so glad to see them that when she stood up and they both put their arms around her, she forgot that she was mad at them and let them hold her.
CHAPTER EIGHT-ORDEAL
“Well at least they didn’t arrest you,” Moni said wearily, hanging her jacket up after they got back to Sam’s room. “We have to be grateful for that. And I talked to our family lawyer. You will need to meet with him. He is coming to campus tomorrow to meet with you at nine am sharp, and of course, I want to be there.”
Sam muttered a response and Moni thought that his voice sounded muffled as though he’d been crying. She felt terrible for him.
He was facing into his closet, changing his clothes, and he had just slid the flannel shirt he’d been wearing off, letting it drop to the floor and was reaching for a clean shirt. Under his flannel shirt, he’d been wearing he had on a ‘wife beater’ t-shirt, and she began to notice something strange as she came up behind him.
All along the centerline of his back she could see a row of what appeared to be spines, poking up from under the thin material of the tee.
She blinked, unable to make any sense of what she was seeing.
“Sam?” she asked tentatively, her midsection growing tight as an unfamiliar sense of dread seemed to expand outward from her gut, and again,
“Sam?”
But he didn’t immediately turn around to face her, and the voice that came drifting back toward her sounded like a garbled version of her brother’s voice.
