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I cursed myself for not deleting all the other messages sooner. The one about what I’d done at the train tracks, especially. Now this stalker’s words felt as though they were burning a hole in my pocket.
My relief at knowing this wasn’t Corvus after all was overshadowed by a whole new brand of dread.
This person, whoever they were, had been watching me more closely than I’d thought. They were there, somehow, on fight night, and less than twenty-four hours ago, at that yard out behind the abandoned building.
The worst part was, I hadn’t sensed it. If I had a tail, I should’ve noticed by now.Whyhadn’t I noticed?
Oh, yeah, probably because I’ve been fucking distracted by threevulturesbent on making my life hell since the moment I got here.
Maybe Corvus wasn’t Mr.Unknown Number,but it was his fucking fault regardless.
“It’snotnothing, let me see,” Corvus continued.
“AJ, just give him the phone.”
“Just forget it,” I snapped, promising myself I’d delete every single message from this asshole as soon as I got back to Briar Hall and had a moment alone.
“I told Becca about fight night. I forgot. It was probably her being stupid,” I lied.
“What about fight night?” Rook asked, his teeth slipping across the silver loop of his lip ring.
Shit.Okay.Just shut up, Ava Jade.
By the way Corvus was eyeing Grey from his toes all the way up to hisblondhair, I knew he was piecing that part of the message together right at this very moment.
This wasnotwhat I was after when I came here.
Steeling myself, I clenched my teeth and spun on my heel, snatching Grey’s wrist as I went. “Come on, I’m hungry. Let’s get out of here.”
Grey shrugged at his brothers, and I caught Rook saluting him from the corner of my eye before we began the slow walk back down the hill.
“Want to tell me what that was about?” Grey hedged, a dark aura around him, shadowing his light.
Behind us, I heard Corvus ask what Rook was saying about an open-door policy and stiffened.
“Keep up,” I told Grey, releasing him. I picked up my pace, pushing my aching legs into a quick jog to escape before the nuclear fallout hit.
When we got backto AJ’s room at the academy, we ran into Becca on her way out.
I’d been about to ask her more about what happened back at the Nest, but the appearance of her friend silenced me for the moment. I may not have been as perceptive as the others, but I got the sense AJ wasn’t telling us everything. She was downplaying the message, ormessages, since she said there were others.
Guilt lingered long after the short-lived altercation with Corvus. I shouldn’t have taken her phone, or told Corvus to hold her while I tried to read the messages.
But…
The distress,the furyin her eyes when she read whatever was on her phone was too much to ignore. I needed to know what it was. What could possibly drive her to that level of anger that quickly. I wanted to crush it. Shatter it. Burn it to ashes.
I wanted to ask her to tell me, now that the others weren’t with us, what it was that she’d read. Of course, I could ask Corvus, but from the way he was looking at me before we left, I got the sense that I’d done something to piss him off.
He was already on edge. Best to leave him alone until he managed some shut eye. But they weren’t letting this go, either. My phone buzzed nonstop the whole run back to the academy, and I knew it was them.
“Oh, hey girl!” Becca trilled uneasily, glancing between us as we nearly bumped into her leaving their shared apartment.
“Hey,” AJ grumbled, pasting on the ghost of a smile for her friend.
“I was just on my way out,” Becca continued, jabbing a thumb back toward the door. “But,” she paused, eyes slipping toward me. “I can stay if you want me to.”
AJ waved her off, kicking her shoes off to step farther into the living room. “Nah. I’m good. You go ahead.”
