Page 9 of Shadow Weaver
“Will you stop with the mind diving! This isn’t fiction. This is real life. Besides, I’m off to the fortress in a week. There’s no point reconnecting just to leave.”
“Weak excuses.” He walked in and looked up at me. “You’re scared to make the first move. Scared of rejection.”
“And what episode of Lunar Creek is that line from?”
He huffed. “Talk show. But I’m right, and you know it.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He smirked at me in that annoying way he had. “Maybe not. Or maybe I’m exactly right. But ask yourself, what have you got to lose?”
He winked out, leaving me churning with indecision as his questions echoed in my head.
What did I have to lose?
Nothing that I hadn’t already lost.
Fuck. I headed out the door.
I knew Minnie was back. Lloyd had mentioned it. Apparently, she’d struggled with being at a home she didn’t recognize, with a family she didn’t know. So, she had to be here somewhere. But where?
There was no answer to my knock on her room door. The dining hall was practically empty, just a small group of feybloods huddled together in a corner, hatching whatever plan they could hatch.
The library was deserted, and so was the moonlit quad. Not many students were back yet; the influx would probably arrive the day before classes began.
There was only one other place she might be, and as much as it pained me to go there, I’d resolved to do this, so there was no choice.
Harper’s dorm door stared at me accusingly. I raised a hand to knock when a moan rose up from inside.
The kind of moan I recognized.
A happy moan.
My ears pricked up, auditory focus heightened.
“Oh, God. Oh, God, Harper, don’t stop.” Minnie squeezed out the words between breathy gasps. “Oh, Oh … I love you.”
“I love you more,” Harper said softly.
I backed away from the door.
Harper and Minnie were a thing, just like they’d both wanted.
The bubble of determination in my chest burst. I was happy for her, and maybe in a week or two, we’d bump into each other. Maybe we’d even become acquaintances, but right now was not the time.
I turned and walked away.
Payne was waiting for me. I needed to get to the lab, stat.
I hadn’t gotten far when a gargoyle blocked my path and practically threw a note at me. It sneered and then launched itself at a wall with a lightning-shaped crack running down it. Shadows materialized from nowhere, and then he was gone, taking the shadows with him.
The note was in neat cursive script.
Miss Justice, please make your way to the principal’s office immediately.
My scalp prickled. First Payne, then Brunner … Something was wrong.
Three
