Page 54 of A Drop of Anguish
It’s the end of the day, but I couldn’t tell a single thing that happened in any class aside from Orizian. I’ve been in a complete daze, even now as I shuffle through the halls.
Thompson usually meets me to walk with me to Minor Hall or the potions room, but he’s not here today, and I don’t have the energy to be bothered by that. Not to mention the fact that I don’t feel at all at risk anymore.
Everyone knows the shadow magic and chilly halls are a threat to anyone who would even consider touching me.
“Candice,” someone whispers softly. I spin around but find no one within feet of me except a friend. A male friend who was definitely not the one who whispered.
Stassi looks down at me, concerned, which is a strange look for the usually smiley shifter. “Everything all right?”
I shrug. “I guess so.”
“Well, you’re looking very… adequate today,” Stassi says then frowns like he’s unsure where those words came from.
I stop in the middle of the hall, stuck between annoyance and amusement. “What?”
“I… well. You know.”
“I’m not looking ‘lovelier than the flowers’?” I say with an eye roll. “Do I really look that bad?” If Stassi of all people can’t compliment me, maybe I’m doing a worse job at hiding my bad mood than I realized.
“Well, you do look a little down, but…” He glances over his shoulder. “Jarron doesn’t seem to like it when you’re complimented lately. He, uh, scares me.”
My lips twitch. I’d like to smile, but there’s so much weighing on me that it’s hard to let one emotion take the reins.
“Well, thank you, then, I guess.”
He beams, his steps suddenly lighter.
After another moment, Stassi remains by my side, and I assume he’s my alternate bodyguard for the moment, so I bite the bullet and blurt out the question still thundering inside my mind. “Is he okay?” I ask. Jarron doesn’t have many close friends, but Stassi was in his inner circle, so they have to have some level of friendship.
“Who?”
“Jarron.”
He blinks, and I can almost see the gears turning in his head as he catches up to the conversation. What was he thinking about before?
“Oh, right. Uh, no. He’s not—well, I don’t know for sure what it all means, but he’s clearly unwell. Hasn’t been okay since he came back, actually. He doesn’t talk to me, though, so I couldn’t say exactly what’s going on.”
“Did he used to?”
“What?”
“Talk to you?”
“Sometimes, but he’s always been reserved. I think he liked me because I never bothered him about the deep things. That, and I always point out the loveliest ladies.” He grins.
“You think every lady is lovely.”
“Exactly!”
I shake my head and finally a smile snags on my lips.
“Laithe and you are the only people he ever really confided in. I don’t know how he does that, just not talk to people. I’m just blurting out my every thought all the time.”
I snort.
We make it to the main corridor, where I turn toward Minor Hall and Stassi rushes off chasing some beautiful vampire girl before I even get the chance to say goodbye, leaving me with even more thoughts to sort through.
I head straight into my room today, ready to crash early, or at least hide from the world for a while, but I stop dead in my tracks when I find a piece of ripped notebook paper nailed to the door of my dorm room. It’s covered in shockingly familiar handwriting in pink ink.
