Page 62 of House of Ruin
“Have you had any luck figuring out how can we track the magic back to the murderer?” Alecto asked after half an hour of listening to nothing.
Jolene rose from the armchair she sat on and went to get the Book. She flicked through pages until she landed on a spell.
“There is a spell right here that helps track magic to the user,” Jolene said, looking down at the page. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she looked at Alecto. “But there is one problem.”
Andro sighed, inspecting his nails. “There always is, isn’t there?”
“What’s the problem?” Alecto asked.
“In order for the spell to work, we have to be at the source,” Jolene said. She slammed the book shut. “The source being the dead body.”
“Well, shit,” Alecto said.
“Yeah.” Jolene bit her lower lip. “Shitis an understatement. I checked with the morgue, but of course, the bodies were collected immediately after the police released them. And really, there would be no safe way for us all to get there without leaving evidence or witnesses.”
“Okay, well, then that plan is out the window,” Alecto said. She leaned the back of her head against the soft leather of the couch.
“How about Norse?” Val asked. She sat next to the gramophone, her eyes focused on it as if that would help her hear any better. “Anything?”
Alecto bit her lip. She’d been dreading seeing him again this week for a rehearsal after the last time.
“Nothing. We’ve only had rehearsals in public spaces so far. I’m meeting him in private this week, so we’ll see what I manage to find out. He’s a bit— ”
“Obnoxious?” Jolene asked.
“Dangerous and sexy?” was Andro’s question.
Val’s lips curled into a smirk, and she glanced at Alecto sideways. “Let me guess, hard to understand?”
Alecto rolled her eyes. “I was gonna say he’s a bit fucking creepy, but whatever.”
She looked at Andro pointedly. He only shrugged and smiled.
“You’ve got a taste for terrible men,” Alecto said.
Andro’s smile widened, and he looked at Blaze sitting next to Alecto. He was just about to light a cigarette.
“You’retellingmethat, sister?”
Jolene giggled. Alecto slumped deeper into the couch and mimicked locking her mouth with a key and throwing it away.
“Now that’s—”
Andro was cut off by Val. “Shut up and listen to this!”
They all fell silent, listening to the gramophone. There was a murmur of voices, closer to them now.
“Silver fox is here,” said a voice Alecto couldn’t recognize, very close to them now. There was a shuffle of feet, and a door slammed shut somewhere in the distance.
“Get him in here or send him to your room?” another voice asked, a little farther away.
“Send him upstairs.” It was Galia’s voice coming through the gramophone.
Alecto seized breathing.
Galia seemed to leave the room, other students settling in the lounge to talk assignments and the latest gossip on who’s sleeping with who.
“Gods damn it,” Val cursed. “You should have fucked her and put a coin right in her bedroom.”
