Page 82 of Venomous Lies
Isla and Echo had been missing for twenty-four hours. Whatever magick she had used wasn’t one I was familiar with, and given the expressions of almost everyone around me, they hadn’t had a clue either. Taking a breath, I let myself fall into the memory.
Demir lost it, while, oddly enough, Bricriu kept it together. Calmly, he stared at the spot where Isla had been before turning his gaze to her friends.
“Where the fuck did my brother go?” Aizel questioned.
“With Isla,” Julian answered calmly, his face almost void of expression. He, too, was staring at the spot whereIsla had just been standing. “She took him with her… Wherever that may be.”
“But how did she do that?! Isla doesn’t have that ability,” Demir questioned, looking toward Falke.
Nobody responded. I had no idea what Isla had just done or how, and it seemed like no one else had answers either.
“We should go search for them,” Aizel said after a bit, but I shook my head.
“There’s no point. There’s not a trace of the magick left behind to track,” Falke replied instead, his voice gruff with frustration.
“We can’t just do nothing,” Zhara argued. In the moments after her friends’ disappearance, her blue eyes had started to glow with her wolf’s presence.
Julian’s calm voice interrupted the argument that was about to break out. “We never said we’d do nothing. Let’s try to keep it together until she shows back up. There’s something I need to look into.”
Since then, Julian has also been busy.
That new professor Junichiro had stopped by to check on Isla, but when he was told of her disappearance, he had merely nodded, no commentary. Granted, he didn’t know Isla like I did, but I was starting to get the feeling that my opportunity for a taste of the witch was slipping through my fingers.
I’d be damned if that happened.
A soft knock drew my attention, but before I could answer, it opened to reveal Julian. The vampire looked disheveled, his crumpled, wrinkled clothing unlike his usually well-put-together self. He had an urgency lighting his face as he briskly strode in.
“Tell me you haven’t indulged as of yet.”
“No, I decided against it. For now.” I narrowed my eyes,trying to figure out what was going on with him. “What’s going on?”
“I know how Isla was able to leave the room yesterday.” He started pacing back and forth, as if he were too restless to keep still, and I watched him closely.
“How?” I asked softly when he didn’t continue.
“With my magick.”
Any question I was about to ask died before it passed my lips once he turned around and on the back of the vampire’s neck was a mark that could only be one thing.
Bitterness coated my tongue. How much evidence did I need that she was claiming others while running from me? I swallowed it down as he waved away my question.
“It doesn’t matter,” he deflected. “But hopefully she’s someplace safe because I’ve heard some rumors of Thatcher being MIA.”
“What do you mean?” I sat up, desperately focusing on this update in favor of pushing off the problem that was Isla. “Thatcher is gone?”
“He hasn’t been on campus for the last six hours, and we need to figure out why,” Julian said grimly, finally coming to a stop. “Falke is already searching the forest for any signs. Demir is looking on the campus grounds.”
“Where do you want me to go?”
“Join Falke,” he said, rubbing his face. “I’ll go with you, and hopefully, we can find something.”
“Where is Bricriu?” I asked as I stood up, carefully smoothing down my coat before we headed to the door. “He’s going to need something to keep him busy.”
“He’s outside.”
Sure enough, he was standing there in his full bone fae form, the wind clanking the bones along his shoulderstogether. When nearby students saw him, they immediately ran the other way.
But Bricriu didn’t notice any of that.
