Page 160 of Endless Anger
Lifting my foot, I aim beside the knob and kick the door open. Dark wood splinters, flying in multiple directions as I step inside.
Dean Bauer leans back in his chair, folding his arms over his stomach and regarding us with a tapered expression.
“Asher,” he greets with a nod before moving to Aurora. “Ms. Primrose-Wolfe. What can I help you two with?”
“Where are they?” I spit through clenched teeth.
He blinks slowly, glancing between us. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”
Aurora rolls her eyes. “Can you not play dumb right now? Neither of us has the patience to put up with your bullshit.”
Dean Bauer rocks back and forth, watching us. A slow, insidious smile spreads across his mouth. “Maybe Death’s Teeth got to them.The Delphic Pagessays they’ve been itching to spill some more blood. Shame no one knows who they are or where they go though, huh?”
I stalk behind him before he can get to his feet, grabbing the back of his head in my fist. He squeaks, and I revel in the sound for a millisecond before shoving my arm forward and slamming his face into the desk.
His hands come up, trying to pry mine from him, but I add my free one and smash his cheek harder into the wood.
“Tell me where they are,” I demand, pulling the utility knife from my pants pocket. I flip open the blade and slide the edge beneath his eye, blood beading instantly in the line I carve. “Or I will slice you open right here and then parade your lifeless body around campus so everyone knows what a spineless, gutless littleshityou are.”
“Asher, please, we can talk about this?—”
I twist his head to the other side, repeating the action with the knife on that cheek so he’s symmetrical. Tears glide down his skin, mixing with the blood and pooling on his desk.
The anger in my heart burns white-hot—too suffocating for me to revel in his misery.
“What did they do with Lucy?”
“I–I don’tknow! I’m only a sponsor in name. They don’t really tell me anything?—”
The blade moves to his throat. I dig in more.
“Fuck, okay. They’re using her to lure you down to the caves. Something about that godforsaken curse, but I swear that’s all I know.”
“Who’s they?” Aurora asks.
“A group of Curators, I think. I’m not… I don’t really know. Beckett Dupont, Tiernan O’Beirne, and someone else I can’t remember. They requested a permit to conduct Curator business meetings in one of the caves through the Tenarus entrance, and I didn’t want to grant it, but the board has final say. I can’t go around what they order.”
I grind the heel of my hand into his skull. “So the board has no issues with them using the caves to kidnap and probably murder?”
Bauer chuckles darkly. “Who the hell do you think encouraged it?”
Later,campus starts to brighten as Aurora and I trudge across it to meet Alistair and my father. They’re both in jeans and coats, arguing quietly when we approach.
Turning, they reveal Muna between them, her hands in her pants pockets.
“Muna Henoke,” Alistair says. “Meet?—”
“We know each other,” I interject, looking at her. “What are you doing here?”
“According to the Avernia website, Muna’s the premier expert on the cave system in these mountains,” Dad replies. “If Lucy and Foxe areindeed beneath them, like the dean claims, we figure it’d be beneficial to have some idea of what we are going into.”
I cock an eyebrow at Muna, and she shrugs. “I like maps, all right? Plus, the Curators kept wanting to do shit in the blocked-off caves, so I was told to read up on them so we didn’t get everyone killed immediately upon entry.”
“As if there aren’t perfectly fine buildings littering this property where they could have their little meetings,” Alistair says, his mouth curling in disgust. His blue eyes pierce mine, and he juts his chin in the direction of the forest. “Let’s get a bloody fucking move on then.”
We trek to where the party was being held last night, looking for footprints. Tracks lead us through more thick foliage and dirt, eventually revealing the first cave entrance, highlighted by broken rocky steps and a hole that doesn’t look big enough to fit any of us.
Rushing water from close by fills the air, disturbing the otherwise tranquil scene of Lake Lerna at this point. Its black surface is almost penetrable with the naked eye under the gently rising run.
