Chapter 57 #2
Shaking my head, I hobble forward, catching up as Asher begins walking again.
Campus is practically silent, which I’ve come to recognize is pretty standard at Avernia, but somehow it feels more eerie than usual.
The sensation of being watched is elevated, and I wonder if that’s because of what happened last night or if there are actual eyes lurking between statues and hedges, peering around the corners of buildings, that I just can’t see.
The clock tower in front of the Obeliskos chimes, signaling noon. I glance around the empty quad, suspicion still clogging my arteries.
“Does Avernia feel empty to you?” Asher asks, flopping down on a bench in front of the statue of Artemis outside the Lyceum. “Like… It’s afternoon. Prime time for students to be peddling their extracurriculars or scurrying to class, yet I’ve hardly seen anyone out and about.”
“Well, someone did die last night, so maybe—”
“What?” His brown eyes widen slightly. “Who?”
“One of my classmates… You didn’t hear about it?”
“It’s hilarious you think I’m important enough to warrant firsthand knowledge of shit, but also…no? Lucy hasn’t said anything about it either. You’re sure someone died?”
I glare at him. “I watched him get stabbed repeatedly.”
Asher makes a face. “Jesus, just what the hell did you do last night?”
Shaking my head, I pull out my phone and shoot Sutton a text.
Where are you?
He doesn’t answer, and my chest tightens, making me dizzy as heavy dread mounts higher and higher in my stomach. A couple of students pass by, giggling to themselves, and then skid to a stop.
“Holy—” Lexington’s voice fills the air across the courtyard. “Elle? What the fuck happened to you?”
My head snaps up as he, Meg, and Sabrina—her head bandage-free, holding a bouquet of flowers—approach. I grab Lexington’s shirt, yanking him closer.
He holds his hands up, blue eyes widening. “Whoa there, killer. I don’t have any fruit snacks. I’m about to go visit Percy, though, if you want me to grab some on the way?”
“Percy?” I repeat, tightening my hold on his shirt. “What do you mean you’re going to visit him?”
Lexington grunts, trying to pry me off. “He got mugged last night. Dude’s been in the ICU ever since.”
“They’re finally moving him to a room,” Sabrina adds, jostling the flowers. “We figured we’d visit since he’s always doing that stuff for us.”
“Only one person allowed in the room at a time though,” Meg says, squinting at me as my breathing grows haggard, my mind racing. “Hey, you kind of look like you should be admitted too. Are you okay, Elle?”
Tears spring to my eyes, and I release Lexington. “So he’s all right?”
“He’s fine. Most of his injuries were superficial.” Meg pokes my bicep. “But you’re not fine. Why don’t you come with us and get checked out?”
I shake my head, looking at my phone again. Still nothing. “No, really, I don’t need it. Shouldn’t you all be at rehearsal though? Othello goes on really soon. Or are you planning to practice in Percy’s hospital room?”
Lexington casts me a sidelong glance. “Rehearsal was canceled for the week. No one’s seen or heard from Professor Dupont since classes yesterday. We figured he was lying low because of the investigation.”
“The what?” Asher mutters.
“Did something happen?” Sabrina asks in a low voice. “You and Percy both looking beat up doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
“I heard Beckett Dupont in the Obeliskos earlier this morning talking about the quarry,” Lexington adds. “Said he had something to do there today, but I couldn’t make out what. He mentioned an attack to someone, but I figured he was just talking about the one last semester.”
Asher drifts closer to me, stiffening.
Beckett.
It was Beckett who abducted me.
Something tells me I know who he did it for too.
“What’s going on?” Meg asks as I turn in the direction of the Primordial Forest.
If he’s out there, I’d bet good money there’s a reason. Things he doesn’t want the rest of campus to overhear.
Sutton’s lack of response indicates they’re there, together, and I wonder if he knows.
I’m not going to wait to find out.
“Hold up,” Lexington says as I hand my crutches to my brother. “I’ll come with.”
“Wait! Me too. Moral support,” Sabrina says, giving the flowers to Meg and skipping to us.
“Fine,” Meg shouts. “I wanted to be Percy’s best friend anyway.”
I glance back to see Asher frowning.
“Dad’s gonna be pissed,” he calls out.
“So don’t tattle!”
We pick up the pace, my entire body blazing like an inferno as my limbs protest the movement. As we round the corner of the Lyceum, I run right into my sister, whose glasses nearly careen off her face from the impact.
Her jaw is tense as she sizes me up. “Where are you going?”
“None of your business.” I start to push past her, shoulder checking her as I move, but she grabs my hand.
“Where’s Dad? Asher? How come they let you leave when you’re in such bad shape?”
I ignore her.
“Hey,” she says, her eyebrows knitting behind her glasses. “I know you’re a bad patient, but you should be resting.”
Her touch burns. I grit my teeth, jerking out of her hold. “You told the dean, didn’t you?”
She blinks, eyes widening. “What?”
“You told the dean about me and Sutton…that something was going on between us.” I inhale, betrayal weaving through my muscles when she doesn’t deny it.
A blush crawls over her cheeks. She looks at Lexington and Sabrina, who take a step back, giving us a little space. “I was looking out for your safety, Noelle.”
“Nobody asked you to do that.”
“Asked? Of course no one did. It’s been my goddamn responsibility since you were born, you idiot.
” Her nostrils flare. “Idealism was practically your middle name, and you just leaned into it without a care in the world. So long as people liked you and you got their attention, you didn’t care what it was doing to your soul, but I did.
I’m the one who had to watch you get taken advantage of time and time again, and yeah, maybe when you got here, I decided I was sick of just standing by and letting it happen. ”
“Sutton isn’t taking advantage of me,” I say, my throat on fire.
“You never see it when you’re in it,” she replies.
Shaking my head, I give her a long, sad look. Tears well up in her eyes—tears I’ve never seen her shed. Not once in my life. Something haunted lives in her irises, and a part of me feels bad for not having noticed until now.
Though I suppose we all have our masks. Some look different, and some, like hers and Sutton’s, are all too similar.
“He loves me,” I tell her. “And you’re projecting. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but… You told Dean Bauer, and Pythia found out.”
“So? Pythia finds out everything anyway. You guys—I saw you that day in the Obeliskos. It was only a matter of time.”
“Pythia found out, and while I was trying to figure out how to deal with that mess, I learned I was responsible for killing the sister of the man I love. He sent me away so he could process that, and in the meantime, I was abducted. Beaten nearly to death and threatened with worse. The only reason I came out of that cave alive was because of him.”
She snaps her mouth shut.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you,” I tell her. “I never would’ve done this to you. Not in a million years.”
“Noelle, I’m—”
If she’s going to apologize, she seems to think better of it at the last second. My heart shatters when she turns away and starts back in the direction she was originally heading, leaving me to be swallowed by uncertainty and heartbreak.
She really never believed in me at all.