Page 36 of In Prey We Trust

Fitz ignores his brother, climbing the steps to the top without hesitation, and opens the door to the waning sunlight. We all scan the area quietly before walking onto the path that leads to our part of campus. There aren’t many people in this half, so we head for the library quickly, skirting around to the back where the private entrance is.

Just before Felix waves his arm at the door, a flash goes off, damn near blinding me. Fitz stumbles backward and for a second, I’m certain I’m getting dropped on my aching butt. He recovers in time for me to see something flying away into the sun, but I can’t make out what the hell it is.

“What the fuck was that?” Felix snarls as he rushes to help me off Fitz’s back.

“I don’t know, but I doubt it was good,” I reply grimly.“Apparently, we’re not even safe by air.”

“Just fucking great.”

“Fuck, Angel. There’s another one.”

My head thunks against the back of the couch as I watch Chess run his detector wand thingy over me with a shocked expression. This is the fifth RFID they’ve found on me and I’m feeling like an endangered species on a nature show. I don’t know what the actual fuck Lucille needed all these chips in me for, but I’m guessing they were injected with vaccinations throughout my childhood.

Lucille Drew, giving credence to conspiracy theorists everywhere with her bullshit.

“Even our father didn’t tag us with that many,” Fitz mutters. “I’m going to enjoy skinning that woman for a parlor rug.”

The image makes me chuckle. There’s a rug from a similar threat in Lucille’s office. It’s been there since I was little and she brought me in to watch them deal with an accountant who was skimming off the top. The spectacled puma always gave me the creeps even though she insisted I called him ‘Uncle Dutch’, so I was less upset that he died than about losing my favorite nightgown to blood splatters.

“I know how to skin,” I say with a shrug. “I could help.” They all look at me like I’ve grown a second head and I sigh. “Life lessons from Lucille were rarely fairy tale material.”

“Yeah, but—”

Aubrey cuts Rennie off before he can ask, and I give him a grateful look. It’s not a memory I feel like reliving, especially since we’re currently removing my psycho mom’s access to my whereabouts one by one. I have a feeling this will finally prompt a phone call and when it comes, it won’t be pleasant.

“Dolly can skin. Good info. Did we get them all, Chessie?” Fitz rubs his hands together with a devilish gleam in his eyes. “Because I think we should feed them to a couple of randos in the cafeteria so she doesn’t know she lost the feed.”

Bless his crazy, non-judgmental mental heart.

“Good plan, Fitzgerald,” Aubrey says as he scoops up the pile. “I’m sure the kitchen simians will be glad to help.”

“I’ll speak to the Captain in the morning. His crew can redistribute as they see fit.” The gargoyle’s eyes are filled with mischief and I feel tension finally deep out of my frame. “You should heal those quickly, ma petite, so no one will be the wiser.”

“Let’s move on to our assignments for the day. What did you find out about this new player on the board, Fitz?” Felix gives his brother a look and Chess immediately gets up to wheel the Cappie board over so he can make notes.

We already have the old rivals listed with small summaries and a map of campus in black and white so we can highlight territories and paths. Hopefully, it won’t look as ridiculously unbalanced as the one on the Apex board does, but who knows? This place hasn’t given us much chance to get a feel for its atmosphere because it’s been a ghost town until today.

“I was slightly limited in what searches I could start on my phone, bro. But it’s weird so far. What I know so far is more geared towards her ‘author persona’ than her real identity.” My hyper tiger rubs the back of his neck, giving Chess a rueful expression. “Looks like Carina Raquel Rockland graduated from that defunct private academy the Hopewells ran until a decade ago. She’s held a lot of random jobs related to counseling since, but only one of note: Capital Prep.”

Aubrey grunts, shaking his head as he looks at Chess. “None of you were here when Rainbow Ridge Academy had to shutter, but they lost accreditation. It was a big pyramid scheme designed to make those hypocritical fuckwads a fortune off preds who wanted their kids to attend a school that ‘accepted everyone.’ Unfortunately, all they fostered was a slew of uneducated morons because it was all a facade.”

I frown, remembering Purple having a bunch of issues in late elementary school that Pink held over her head for a while before getting her father to ‘fix’ it. Lucille was on the warpath about making sure I had all these lessons in ferocity around that time and I didn’t pay attention to whatever Purple had going on. It was hard to focus when I barely slept because of the nightmares.

“That explains why a fucking scavenger is allowed to be part of an elite five staff,” Fitz mutters. “Job placements were likely part of a settlement with the families who paid for their kids to attend.”

“It’s what the Raj would have done,” Chess agrees. “He wouldn’t return money, but he’d throw his weight around.”

“What else did you learn, Fitz? I’m interested in the author portion especially.” Renard’s wings pop free and I can tell he’s feeling agitated. I frown, peeling myself off the cushions to sit in his lap, and his wings surround us protectively.

Lacing my lips against his ear, I murmur, “What’s wrong, my lyrical lover?”

He shakes his head, and the wings tighten. “I don’t know. Something about this is disturbing my gargoyle. It feels… unsettling.”

“It should, you big softie.” Fitz grins as he holds up a finger. “Rockland isn’t a well-known high tier family name and since she’s a scavenger, I can’t find a damn thing about her provenance.”

“Zeus help us, he’s watching the Princess’ mysteries again,” Felix mutters. “The gargoyle is right, Fitz. If you can’t locate her family, we need to know what the public persona says.”

“Okay, okay. I was saving the best for last, you tight asses. The suspicious guidance counselor is a romance author called C.R. Rockhard.”

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