Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
On my way back from breakfast the next morning, I passed Robetresse’s office. The door was cracked, and I caught a glimpse of a huge wooden desk and hand-crafted oak chairs.* From inside came a man’s clawing voice, raw with emotion.
“Please, I’ve already lost everything; you can’t do this—”
Robetresse’s own voice was strained and hushed. “It’s too soon to reinstate you, Antony. The council would have a fit. Besides, you and I both know you’re much too close to the girl.”
“It was one mistake. Thea, please.”
“I’m sorry.”
I backpedaled at the thud of her boots and slipped behind a corner off the hallway.
Too close to what girl? To Dani? Was that why he was removed from the council?
Dr. Robetresse had mentioned rumors of an inappropriate relationship between a council member and a student.
What if it wasn’t Maya, but Dani? She was excelling in her studies and was heading to MIT in the fall, glowing recommendation in hand.
Dani and Strauss obviously had a close relationship.
And I hated to think it, hated to diminish her success in such a way, but the clock was ticking.
Maybe she was sleeping with him. And maybe … maybe she’d stopped.
I returned to my room and turned the water in the shower to the hottest temperature, letting the steam fill up the bathroom and shake loose the dust from my thoughts.
I’d torn my nails to shreds these last few days, picked at them until the corners of my fingers were bloody and raw.
I’d tried to kick the habit, but it always flared up when I was stressed out or wasn’t sleeping enough.
Which seemed to be about the only state I’d been in lately.
I pressed my hands to the wall, watching the rivulets of water streaking the glass.
I liked to watch raindrops on windowpanes when I was a kid, how the tiny streams gathered droplets on their way past, picking up speed until they were barreling full speed ahead.
Now one dribbled down, rolling past the letter H written in the condensation.
I stepped back.
Another letter was there next to the H. An O? This one was sloppier, as if waterdrops had splattered all over it. Then another, R.
I drew back and turned off the faucet. How had I not noticed the letters before? I wiped the water from my eyes, heart beating fast.
Unmistakable letters appeared now, all over the glass. Whether they’d been there all along or were just appearing now, I couldn’t tell.
THROAT below the first word.
SLT(?) below that.
WINSTOS on the back wall.
HEL to the left.
BURN at the top.
And interspersed among all the letters was the number 1. Written over and over again.
I shut my eyes tight. “I’m tired,” I whispered. “I’m just seeing things.”
That was certainly more believable than the other option—that the last person who took a shower in here wrote a bunch of nonsense in the condensation. Not likely, seeing how the staff cleaned all the rooms at the end of each semester.
There was another option, though. One I didn’t want to think of.
That someone had broken in and written words on the door to scare me.
That someone didn’t want me here. Someone who wanted to scare me so badly I’d leave.
Strauss? Or maybe it was Rose Oswold. Ellendale?
Maybe he’d bribed one of the RAs to open my room.
He certainly hadn’t made a secret of his disdain for everything I was doing here.
But that was ridiculous. Right?
I stepped out of the shower and toweled off. “I’m just tired.”
Bear wasn’t in the room. Max had started taking him with him when he drove back to the farm, said he liked the company. Bear seemed all too pleased with the arrangement.
I got dressed quickly, my movements jerky and nervous despite the pep talk I’d given myself. I yanked a comb through my hair, scanning the room every few seconds. I finally gave up and bolted out the door, jiggling the handle to make sure it was locked.
I looked up and down the hall to make sure there was no one there.
I was alone.