Chapter Thirty-Six
THIRTY-SIX
Cosmo is in my room with a knife. And I’m creeping up behind him like some clueless teen detective.
I take a slow step back…and my foot finds the one board that creaks. He wheels, and I do the same, running for the door, but he grabs the back of my shirt, and before I can shout for help, his hand clamps over my mouth.
He grapples me to the floor, and in a blink, I’m on my stomach with something cold and sharp pressed into the back of my neck.
The knife.
The knife he used to kill Isolde.
I go limp, and he exhales softly, relieved that I’m going to make this easy, that I won’t fight.
“I found the knife,” he whispers at my ear.
“I knew something was suspicious, you and Allegra heading into the woods and just happening to find Isolde, so when I saw you coming upstairs, I followed. I slipped into the room behind you and saw you hiding the knife. You put it under your mattress, and then you picked up that bottle of pills, and I knew what you were going to do. You couldn’t live with yourself, but I wasn’t going to let you do that. So I stopped you.”
At first, I don’t follow what he’s saying.
Then I realize he’s prepping a story, spinning it with breathtaking ease.
His original plan must have been to hide the knife and then tip off someone to find it in my room.
He’d seen the pills and been wondering whether they could be worked into the narrative.
But now that I’ve caught him, the plan has changed. He’s going to claim he saw me hiding the knife. He stopped me from taking my own life. And when I say that’s not what happened, well, he’s not Jayden or Natalia. He’s Cosmo. A good guy who must be telling the truth.
I don’t need to fake my shiver. That relaxes him more. And then I bite his hand, as hard as I can.
Cosmo falls back, yowling, and I scramble from under him.
He recovers fast, and I see that knife slashing my way and I lash out, kicking and punching.
Suddenly I’m back in that alley, fighting for my life.
My foot makes contact before he can stab me.
It hits him in the knee, his leg buckling, and I run for the door.
I manage to get it open, but that pause was enough for him to catch up, and I’m swinging the door wide when someone barrels through.
Someone who is neither Maddox nor Theo runs into my room and kicks Cosmo so hard he goes down. Then his attacker is on him, flipping him over and pinning his arm behind his back before grinning up at me, her pigtails swinging.
“Polly?” I say.
“Mom made me go to self-defense classes after I started getting online threats. I did it to humor her but…” She shrugs. “Apparently, Mom does know best.”
“You do realize he had a knife,” a cool voice says from the doorway as Allegra walks in.
“What?” Polly says. Then she sees the knife on the floor. “Shit! I missed that. Wait. Why does Cosmo…?”
Her eyes widen as realization hits, and before anyone can speak, both Maddox and Theo charge past Allegra.
Polly lifts her free hand. “I’ve got this, guys. But if someone could pick up that knife, I’d appreciate it not being so close to his free hand.”
“No!” I say, leaping in. “No one touches the knife.” I kick it out of the way. “Do not put your fingerprints on a murder weapon.”
“It’s not—” Cosmo begins.
“He was trying to hide it in my room,” I say. “I caught him. I didn’t see the knife until it was too late. He knocked me down and said he was going to tell everyone that he caught me hiding a bloody knife and then trying to overdose on sleeping pills.”
“The knife wasn’t used for anything,” Cosmo says quickly. “It’s from the dining hall.”
“With blood on it? Are you going to tell us that’s not Isolde’s?”
He hesitates and then says, “Okay, it is. I heard the commotion when you guys found her, and I slipped out to see what was happening and there was a trail of blood where Isolde must have walked while she was bleeding. I got a knife and smeared some of that blood on it before the police arrived.”
“To frame Liliana?” Allegra says.
“The knife wasn’t actually used on Isolde,” he says. “She died of her injuries from the alley, right? Nothing would have happened to Liliana.”
“Except suspicion,” I say. “Which would be enough to get me kicked out of the Optima race. As Cosmo learned with Theo. He’s the guy Isolde was talking about.”
“What?” Cosmo says.
Allegra bears down on him. “Polly thought you and Isolde liked each other. But those glances she noticed just meant you two were scheming. Or you were the one scheming and you pulled Isolde into it because she did like you.”
“Isolde? What video? What scheme?”
“You were the guy in the alley,” I say. “You claimed you overheard us talking about the trip to Savannah, but really, Isolde told you. In the video she said it was about knocking Theo from the Optima race to help me win, but that’s just the story you spun for her.”
“What? I—”
I continue. “You attacked Isolde, and it was supposed to be just a scratch, but you really hurt her, and she was going to tell us.”
“No. None of that happened. I swear it. I did overhear about the trip. I…Okay, yes, I went along in hopes of finding something I could use against you or Theo. I thought you guys might go to an actual bar or get drunk or high or…I sure didn’t think you’d go to an all-ages club and behave yourselves.
But I didn’t attack Isolde. I was with Kai when it happened.
Ask them. I’d never actually hurt anyone. ”
“No?” Maddox says. He’s been quiet, but now he moves forward. “You just have others do that, right? Like getting Jayden to push Lili down the stairs.”
“Huh? That was Natalia.”
“No,” I say. “Natalia was genuinely shocked and confused.”
“That audio clip,” Maddox says. “I couldn’t figure out who I’d been talking to.
I was being nice, which meant it sure as hell wasn’t Jayden.
I just figured it out now. It was Cosmo.
I was in the library, and he came in and was asking me about class, and I didn’t want to be an asshole because… ” He waves. “It’s Cosmo.”
“This is bullshit,” Cosmo says. “Either you guys get Dimitriou, or I’m going to start shouting for help.”
“Not even asking what audio clip I mean, are you,” Maddox says.
Cosmo’s lips press into a firm line.
“Natalia thought I was collaborating with Jayden,” I say.
“I asked how that would make any sense, when Jayden got expelled for it. She said he was willing to be expelled to be rewarded later. That’s what you did, right?
Promised that if he got caught, you’d make it right once you won Optima. Help him long-term, with his career.”
Cosmo glares at me. “And why not? You weren’t going to help anyone like Jayden. Or anyone like me. You’ll just help your little circle of buddies who don’t need help. That’s how it always goes. The rich get richer, while the rest of us are left fighting for scraps.”
“Scraps?” Allegra says. “You attend a boarding school with a six-figure tuition. Excluding room and board.”
“And my parents went into debt to send me, in hopes I’d make Optima.
But I wasn’t going to if I played fair. I could see that right away.
I have the brains and the dedication, but that never matters.
It’ll go to someone like Liliana, who doesn’t need it, and she’ll help her friends, who also don’t need it. ”
“Tell me about the Janus Society,” I cut in, to see his reaction.
His brow creases, as if he heard me wrong. “The what?”
“What’s going on in here,” a voice says, and one of the security guards pokes her head in and sees Cosmo pinned to the floor. “What the hell?”
We start talking.
—
We spend the next half hour explaining what just happened.
I don’t accuse Cosmo of stabbing Isolde—not in the alley or here.
I want to talk to Cecilia first. We just tell Ms. Dimitriou what happened in my room and what we found Cosmo hiding, and if she immediately has the police brought over, that’s her interpretation of where that knife came from.
Cecilia is on her way, and when I phone to update her, my call goes straight to voicemail, so I leave a message explaining what happened with Cosmo.
The guys escort me downstairs, with Allegra and Polly following. At the base, I stop and stare at the silver web again.
“Lil?” Theo says, squeezing my hand.
“You’re arachnophobic,” I murmur.
“Uh, yes…”
I don’t miss the glance he exchanges with Maddox, both of them clearly thinking I’m in shock.
“Come and sit down.” Theo tries to tug me along, but I dig in my heels.
“Arachnophobic,” I say. “Afraid of spiders—arachnids.”
“Yes…”
I point at the woman weaving in the middle of the web. “Arachne. From Greek mythology. She was an amazing weaver who challenged Athena. She actually won the challenge, but Athena was so angry that she turned Arachne into a spider.”
“Lili?” Polly pipes up. “I really think you should sit down.”
I shake my head and take out my phone. “I couldn’t find anything on the Enhcara Foundation, and I kept misspelling it because C usually proceeds H, which should have been a sign.” I hold up my phone.
“Arachne backward,” Maddox says.
“Oh!” Polly says. “Is that connected to the Aranea Group?”
We all look at her, and she waves around her.
“That’s who owns Westdale Academy. I noticed it in the paperwork Mom and I had to fill out, with me being the first in my family to attend.
Mom said ‘Aranea’ is the Latin word for spider, which seemed weird until I saw the webs and interconnection stuff. ”
I look at Maddox. “We need to check out those school history books.”
—
Maddox, Allegra, and I take research duty while Polly and Theo stand guard outside the library.
I know what I want, and I go straight for the first slender volume of the school history.
I remember the overview from Cecilia before I arrived—that Westdale had been formed as an educational alternative for Southern families who’d usually send their children to northern prep schools.
I’d been under the impression that a company started it, but it turns out it was two individuals.
Neither had any experience in education, and the history book states that proudly as an example of entrepreneurship.
They saw a gap and they filled it, not with their own expertise but by hiring top-notch educators while they handled management.
The enterprise was further solidified as a family business when the only children of the two founders married and took over.
With Allegra’s help, I skim future volumes and discover that Westdale continued to be a family business. We don’t find any children by that name in the rosters of students. Instead, they stay on as administrators, and the list of surnames broadens as the women marry until we find one we recognize.
Dimitriou.
The current principal’s grandmother married a Greek immigrant, who went on to work in administration at Westdale, with their son becoming principal, followed by his daughter—our Ms. Dimitriou.
“I can confirm that the Aranea Group owns Westdale,” Maddox says, from where he’s been researching on a secure connection. “They incorporated early in the school’s history under that name. I also found a connection to that foundation named in—”
My phone beeps at the same time as Allegra’s and Maddox’s.
“Dimitriou incoming,” Maddox says.
We quickly shove the books away and collapse into chairs. Or Maddox and I collapse. Allegra stays standing, while looking at her phone, as if she’s with us but not really with us. Typical Allegra, in other words.
Ms. Dimitriou walks in, and my stomach tightens, thinking about what we just found, the connection to her family.
She doesn’t notice my reaction. “Ah, good. Theo said you were in the library, Liliana. I should have known. Cecilia is here for you.”
—
I make it out to the hall just as Cecilia turns the corner, marching toward us, her face hard, eyes blazing.
“Lil’s fine,” Theo is saying as he strides along behind her. “And she didn’t do anything wrong.”
Cecilia stops and gives a curt nod to Allegra and Maddox. “I know she didn’t do anything. But she is not fine. She is packing her bags.”
I start to protest, but a look from both Maddox and Theo stops me. Because this is actually the right move. I thought I was safe at Westdale, but I’m no longer sure that’s true. I fight the urge to glance over my shoulder at Ms. Dimitriou.
“Theo and I will go with her,” Maddox says. “Right now, Liliana shouldn’t go anywhere alone.”
“She won’t be alone, Maddox,” Cecelia says. “She’ll be with me.”
I look behind me as Ms. Dimitriou disappears around a corner.
“We need to talk, Cecilia,” I say, lowering my voice. “Can we do that?”
“Of course.”
“We need to leave the property. We can take my Jeep out for brunch to discuss the situation before I leave. I’d like Maddox and Theo to come with us. They can help me explain.”
Cecilia hesitates and then says, “One or the other. After what happened this morning, I can convince Ms. Dimitriou that you need a friend for support, but I can’t insist you need two of them.”
“Maddox,” Theo says firmly.
Cecilia makes a face. “Pretty sure I’d have an easier time convincing Ms. Dimitriou that you’re the designated emotional-support buddy, Theo.”
Theo shakes his head. “But Maddox is the better bodyguard. I already screwed that up in Savannah.”
“You—” I begin.
He cuts me off with a quick kiss. “I’d feel better if we both went, but if it has to be one, take Maddox, please.”