Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
ADORA
The sky outside my window had started to fade to day, almost without me noticing.
I hadn’t slept. Not even close.
Where the hell was everyone?
Our dorm felt too small. Too empty. My eyes stung every time my gaze landed on her side of the room… stripped and bare of all her most loved possessions.
I’d roomed alone for such a long time before Iris arrived. But now? I hated not having her here, and I didn’t know how to move forwards without her.
I paced the length of the dorm for what must have been the one hundredth time.
My boyfriend and my best friend were missing. He was supposed to be back a long time ago… The docks were less than forty five minutes away.
I sat down on the bed, putting my chin in my hands and breathed.
I squeezed my eyes closed at the sadness I felt for her leaving, though it was rapidly morphing into the fear that something may have happened.
I moved to the window, pushing the curtain aside just enough to look out. The campus was quiet.
I’d waited on the drive for so long, just to make sure no one followed them.
So where the fuck were they?
I was tempted to go and find Arch— I mean, Professor Locke – God that was weird – but what if Draven had gotten to him? What if he was compromised?
I couldn’t risk it. Not when Rory and Iris were out there. Not when something felt so terribly off.
I began pacing again, retracing the anxious path I’d worn into the floorboards. Back and forth. If they didn’t show up in the next hour, I’d go out looking. Fuck my own safety – I’d risk it all for Iris and Rory… Archer, too.
A sound cut through my spiraling thoughts.
The faint ruffle of parchment against wood.
I angled my head towards the sound, and saw an envelope slide under the crack of the door.
Hesitantly, I swallowed and crept forwards. I leaned down and plucked up the envelope. Opening it, I saw that it contained a single piece of parchment.
It read;
Adora,
You do not know me, and trust that I do not write this lightly.
I have known Archer Locke for many years. He and Iris have spoken of you more than once, always with a measure of trust. It is only because of that trust that I dare to write to you now.
I am deeply concerned for their safety.
I do not know how much you have been told, nor how much you have seen for yourself.
I can only hope that when I speak of danger, you understand what I am referring to.
Archer has always been careful – meticulous, even.
He checks in with me regularly so I know he is safe, but I have not heard from him and my gut is telling me he’s got himself in too deep.
Once, I heard talk of a cavern hidden beneath the school. A place where they would keep those who had wronged them. He would not elaborate, and I did not press him, but the implication has weighed on me ever since.
Adora, I am asking you plainly: please make sure they are safe. And if they are not, help them, by whatever means you can.
If there is anything I can do, send word to The Sleeping Fox Inn in Stonewall – though I fear there isn’t time.
A friend.
I closed the envelope and shoved it into my pocket. I was out of the dorm within a few seconds.