Page 68 of Endless Anger
“Involving your parents feels…bad.” She looks at me, gnawing on her bottom lip. “Like, really bad. Did you do something?”
Again, I shake my head, though I know better.
Here, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve actually done something, just whether someone importantthinksyou did.
Yuri takes out her phone, grunting in frustration. “What isupwith Celeste, by the way? She’s ignoring my calls, and leaving me on read. I have half a mind to bust into your dorm room and pour some leftover Jägermeister on her mattress for being so fucking rude.”
My chest grows tight, and I stare at her hand as she types furiously. “The texts are being read?”
“Yeah.” She frowns, turning the screen so I can see the dozen or so messages that have gone unanswered since last night. “Weird, right?Did I do something to piss her off, you think? My dick comment was a joke…”
“I doubt that has anything to do with it,” I mutter, wrapping my arms around myself.
“You’re hurting me!”
“Let’s get this over with.”
“Periculum in mora.”
“Well, if you see her before I do, tell her to get over herself or I’m not writing her Anthro essay.” Yuri slaps the top of a plastic bin, pushing the lid down on the neon orange vests the volunteers wear.
My stomach aches. I turn away from her, trying to regulate the sudden erratic nature of my pulse. Bile burns my throat, bubbling up as reminders keep resurfacing.
I feel like my head’s been shoved in the lake, and I’m being held down, unable to take a breath without inhaling water into my lungs.
“Hey, boss lady! Look what we found!” Willa singsongs, skipping over to me with Eli on her heels.
He’s holding a varnished oak box, clutching it like he thinks it houses something sinister within.
I stare at it with painfully wide eyes, studying the design etched in the top.
Two laurel branches curling around a wolf with an arrow between its teeth. Messily carved into the lid and not sanded, as though done by some amateur vandal instead of a practiced artist.
“Where did you find this?”
“By the lake over there,” Willa says, hiking her thumb over her shoulder. “It’s locked and sort of heavy, but I figure we can easily break that open.”
I take the box, sliding the worn lock between two fingers.
“So what do you say?” she continues. “Should we toss it in the lost and found? Eli says he wants it for his little rock collection.”
“Skull and bone collection,” he corrects, threading a hand through his dark blond curls. “I collect rare finds and plant them to keep Fury Hill from drilling out here for more.”
Willa holds up her hands. “Hey, man, you don’t have to explain your strange hobbies to me.”
“Uh…Luce?” Yuri’s soft voice drifts to me, and I snap out of my reverie, noticing that she’s now standing at my side, gazing down at the box too.
Clearing my throat, I exhale. “Sorry. School policy is that we surrender any nonperishable items found out here. You know how Avernia is.”
Deflating, Willa pouts and walks away, muttering something about how unfair the system is. Eli lingers a little longer, and I pretend I don’t notice his eyes narrowing on my fingers.
My knuckles blanch from how tightly I’m holding the container.
After a few more seconds, he lifts his gaze to mine. Silence ripples between us, and I wonder if he can tell I’ll be keeping the find and if he plans on reporting me to the dean.
But he doesn’t mention it. Just turns and follows in the direction Willa just ran off in, hooking his thumbs in the pockets of his khakis.
A splash of red on the hem of his pant leg catches my attention, only for a second though, before I’m back to the box resting between my fingers, wondering what the fuck Asher Anderson’s angle is.
