Page 24 of A Lesson in Deceit
I looked from the glass piece to her. Her expression was hard to read, but it just looked like she wanted to understand before making assumptions. “Someone else’s.”
“Did you cause this blood?”
“No.”
“Whose is it?”
My breath caught in my throat. If I wanted to speak, the words were having a really hard time making their way out. Corrin’s face morphed into a look of sympathy when my mouth kept opening and closing. She stepped closer to me, placing a hand on my bicep and squeezing. “Where did you find it, Riley?” Her voice was soft now.
I looked down at the ground, speaking the words to the floor beneath me. “Outside the Department of Mental Magic building and…” I licked my lips, letting the rest of my sentence fall away.
Corrin clucked her tongue. “And you have no idea why this has magic on it?”
My head shot up. “No, I have no idea. I’ve never seen magic residue before, so I didn’t know what that was. I swear.” I vaguely knew that some magic produced a small amount of residue after it was expelled, but I didn’t know what it looked like or if it wasn’t physical remnants, how it felt.
She gave me a small reassuring smile. “I believe you.”
It made my heart pound a little harder to hear someone say that.
“It’s hard to do anything with these dampeners.” She pointed to her earrings, “but I can see about figuring out what kind of magic this is. I’ll need to scrape off some of the residue, but that’s magical science.”
I bit my lip, my nervous energy revving up. She tilted her head to the side. “Do you trust me?”
I heard my phone buzz in my bag. “I might have to now, don’t you think?”
Corrin rubbed her lips together. “Perhaps. If this happens to be connected with what I think it’s connected with, then I want to help. Like I said before,” she sent me a devilish smile, “I don’t believe anything that’s been said. I prefer the truth and if I can help obtain that, then that’s how I’d like to spend my time. It beats homework by a long shot.”
My phone buzzed again and then the ringtone for my mom went off. I sighed, nodding at her. “Okay, finding out what kind of magic that is and how strong it is would be a start. It will get me going in some kind of direction.”
“It might take me a few days, but I’ll let you know when I find something.” She placed the glass on her bedside table.
The sound of my ringtone stopped and then a long vibration sounded, letting me know my mom had left a voicemail. “I’d like to keep this a private matter.”
“River doesn’t know? Or your other boyfriend?”
“No, he doesn’t.” I scrunched up my face. “Wait, other boy?—”
“Whatever, fine, this will be between you and me. I’ll tell you something Riley, things like this,” she pointed to the sharp transparent shard, “it may seem small, but whatever I get from it might end up bigger than you thought. And secrets like that end up coming out eventually.”
11
Riley
“Yes, mom, the first day was fine. My classes are good and I’m settling alright.” I’d talked to my mom once a day since I’d moved in. This phone call was no different, but I’d managed to get her back on track to calling maybe once a week. Twice if she really needed the pick me up or well, ifIneeded it.
Grayson was busy making the popcorn, adding Hershey’s Kisses to get all gooey. River had set a bowl out with my favorite tiny pretzels that I’d been stuffing my face with since I got here. My mom hadn’t brought up my dad or anything related to him in the few days that we’d talked, but I knew she wanted to.
I’d seen a therapist for a little while, shortly after his death, but I hated it. Therapy was right for some people, but it just wasn’t for me. I had Beau and sometimes a girl just wanted her dog and a good book to help the pain fuck off. The minute I’d thought of Beau, I heard his barking in the background.
“Someone wants to say hi to his mom.” My mom mumbled something about switching to video chatting, so I pulled the phone from my ear and waited. I smiled when my screen flashedand my mom’s face came into view. I pulled my legs in so I could be more comfortable on the couch.
“How’s my favorite boy?” I asked in my baby voice that was reserved just for Beau. A howl escaped from the background. My mom moved the phone so Beau’s large face was now in full view. He panted against the screen, his tongue hanging out.
“He has only whined twice since you’ve been gone and he sleeps in your room every single night. Lays his head right on your pillow.” I heard my mom say. Beau stopped panting, side eyeing her as if to saydon’t call me out like thatand then looked back at me, smiling.
“It’s Beau!” Grayson shouted from behind me, leaning over the couch and smashing his face against mine.
Beau barked again, jumping up and nearly knocking my mom’s phone over.
