Page 10 of Dance With Death

Julius Woodside barely looks at me and my guys.

We’ve told Julius select facts regarding our discoveries while investigating his sister’s disappearance but haven’t named Viktor in case he sets about searching for the witch. That would cause issues, especially if Viktor discovers somebody else is looking for him. Informing Julius that Dorian agreed to involve his council in the case settled him a little. Still, we need to be careful what we tell the man with his lifelong, obsessive search for his sister, Madison.

Julius is also rightly convinced we haven’t told him everything and—also rightly—believes Holly’s disappearance is connected to the investigation into Madison’s own, which we’ve insisted it is not.

As he enters the classroom, Julius continues to steadfastly ignore me, Rowan, and Leif. I sit and try not to imagine Holly in the seat beside me as I watch other students trickle in. Marci still isn’t with the other two witches. I’ll be annoyed if I subject myself to this pointless class and she doesn’t show.

The calm I carefully surrounded myself with to cushion against imbecilic student behavior blows away the moment Chase walks into the room—with his arm around another girl’s shoulders.

“Violet.” Leif spots him too and attempts to grab my blazer sleeve, but I’m out of my seat and in front of the pair before they can take their seats.

Chase’s long black curls are loose today, touching his jaw, and he regards me, not moving his arm that’s oh-so-casually draped across the girl. “Found Holly yet?” he asks.

“Holly isn’t missing. She’s sick.” I flick a look to smiling Annie, who no longer worries about giant dogs in the safety of Chase’s embrace. “And apparently you’re not missing her. She’s only been away for a day!”

“We were never exclusive,” he says and looks down his nose at me.

“Holly believed you were.” I bite back more vitriol as Leif violently shakes his head at me.

“Yeah? Then why hasn’t Holly replied to my messages?” he says, with a hint of a smile. “Seems she isn’t missing me.”

And if I make any protest, I’ll add suspicion that Holly is missing, not sick. I point at the girl’s blazer. “That’s an interesting brooch.”

Annie curls slender fingers around the oval silver brooch edged with rose gold, eyes wary for a second. “This isn’t like your haunted tiara, you know.”

“I did not suggest that. And there is no such thing as a haunted… anything.”

Annie drops her hand away and has the audacity to push past me. My mouth opens again, and I’m yanked backwards as Rowan pulls me towards my desk.

“Violet. Sit down,” he whispers.

“Look at Chase!” I hiss at him and Leif.

“He’s Chase,” says Rowan and pulls out his textbook.

“A disgusting specimen of a witch?” I violently pull back my chair to sit.

“Pretty crappy of Annie to do that to Holly,” says Leif.

“Mmm.” Resting my forearms on the desk, I survey the class that will bore me stupid for forty-five minutes. Then straighten. Mr. Woodside arranged the desks into a u-shape, as he often likes to stand in the center, which means all students can see each other. I’m facing whispering human girls—not unusual for me—but that isn’t what’s causing me to stare back for once.

Brooches that match the one worn by Annie.

I examine each person in the room. Why didn’t I notice this earlier? Not every human girl wears a brooch, but the majority do. Girls only. Perhaps the guys have a different adornment? Pendants beneath their shirts and ties?

Notably, witches and vamps aren’t wearing the same jewelry item.

“Rowan.” I nudge him. “Almost every human girl possesses a protective brooch.”

“Protective?” He cranes his head around me. “How do you know? The brooches could be a TikTok thing.”

“Pocket watches? No. They’re not.”

Leif chuckles. “TikTok. Social media. An item suddenly becomes popular on the app, and then everybody has to buy one. The girls all wore identical headbands a few months ago.”

“Why?”

Leif shrugs. “I ask myself the same.”

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