Page 72 of The Stone Curse
“You tell me,” Yarrow said. “I wasn’t in the room with you.”
“She was eaten by blue flame when she tried to leave the room,” Derek said.
“Then she’s fine,” Yarrow said. “It’s simply a precautionary measure to neutralize any threat. She’ll materialize in due course, but what I want to know is what prompted her to turn into a threat.”
“She remembered what happened to her,” Derek said.
Yarrow’s eyes lit up. “She remembered who attacked her in the filing room?”
I swallowed past the bitter tang at the back of my throat. “Yes, she did. She also remembered how she died and who killed her. They’re both one and the same.”
Flora gasped, hand flying to her mouth.
“Who?” Curi asked.
“Travani and Carter. They killed her and they took her baby and now I’m going to find out why and make them pay.”
CHAPTER 31
“Cam, stop and think about this,” Shar said as I stormed down the corridor toward the tutors’ quarters exit. “These are administrators of the academy. You can’t just accuse them of murder.”
“Why not? You think Melanie is lying?”
“Of course not, but we need to think about this. About what it could mean.”
“She’s right,” Curi said. “We can’t show our hand so quickly. For all we know, this could somehow be connected to Prasan. What if they’re working with whoever Prasan was working for?”
“Then we interrogate them and find out who.” Yarrow joined us, dressed now in dark denim and a dark turtleneck that brought out the gold flecks in his eyes.
Flora was close behind, her mouth turned down in disgust. “They can’t be allowed to get away with this. We can make them talk.”
“How?” Sharniza asked.
Yarrow and Flora exchanged a secretive smile, but it was Yarrow who answered. “We’re witches.”
Carter lookedup from her paperwork as we entered her office. Her gaze flicked between us and then settled in a frown. “Is everything okay for the trial?”
“This isn’t about the trial,” Yarrow said.
Behind us, Flora closed the door, muttering something under her breath, and a shiver of energy washed over my skin, pricking and plucking, almost uncomfortable.
Behind the desk, Carter sucked in a sharp breath. “What was that? What are you doing?”
The side door to the office, a small washroom, opened, and Travani stepped out. Her eyes narrowed and a low hiss slithered from between her lips. “Magic.” Her voice was a rasp. “What is the meaning of this?”
“We just restored Melanie’s memories.” I studied their faces, noting every tick, every jump of muscle. “She told us who killed her and who messed with her head in the filing room.”
Carter’s breath quickened, and her face drained of color, but Travani reacted the opposite, her features rearranging themselves, smoothing out like glass.
“Oh?” Travani said. “Her death has been a mystery to us all for some time. I’m interested to know who shethinksis responsible.”
I allowed the corner of my mouth to tip up slightly. “You. Both of you.”
Carter made a soft sound of distress, but Travani covered it with a bark of laughter, recovering quickly to stare at me with a frown. “Wait, you’re serious?”
“Don’t play games,” Yarrow said. “You killed Melanie, took her baby, and attacked my sister in the filing room a few weeks ago. You messed with her mind.”
“Listen to yourself, Blake. How could I have messed with a witch’s mind? I’m not a mageri.”
