Page 11 of Dance With Death

“But witches and vampires use this clock social media?” Leif nods. “Yet nobody brainwashed them into parting with their money for a tasteless item.”

Every, single time I take part in an academy lesson, I’m introduced to something new to confuse me. Not the lesson’s content, since most is below my own abilities, but the student quirks.

“Do you know any of those girls?” I ask Leif.

“A couple of them, but not well.”

“Ask one if you can look at their brooch,” I say, and he gawks at me. “Ask where they acquired them. Tell them you want to buy me one.”

“Uh. Later?” he asks as Mr. Woodside slams books onto his desk.

“But don’t,” I add.

“Don’t what? Talk to them? I’m confused, Violet.”

“Don’t buy me a brooch. I’m not a fan of jewelry, nor do I want to join the brainwashed masses.” I nod at Rowan. “Buy him one.”

“What?” Leif rubs his forehead.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t wear brooches,” says Rowan.

I take a deep breath. “Good grief. For psychometry, Rowan.”

Mr. Woodside’s unhappy face sours further as Marci walks into the room. “Late again?”

Marci and I lock narrow-eyed gazes. Late again. Interesting. I study her as she crosses to Nita and Zoe, immediately chastised by Mr. Woodside for whispering to them.

Is Holly hidden somewhere by the coven and Marci needed to take her food and water? Yesterday afternoon, I shared a theory with the guys that either Marci or another student may’ve hidden Holly on campus and magically cloaked her somehow. The four of us searched everywhere that we’re both allowed and not allowed, including the building housing the professors’ quarters. Not inside, but I’d surely detect Holly’s presence if she were in the vicinity. None of the witch professors here have particularly pure bloodlines, hence not the strongest magic.

I blink away the thought. Watching Holly’s shows and movies has warped my mind. Of course, Marci wouldn’t abduct and hide Holly.

But somebody else within Thornwood Academy might.

As the class gradually settles into the upcoming monotony, I drift away again. What about these sightings of a mysterious canine figure? Shifters don’t visit campus at night, and magical wards keep out unwanted guests. Mrs. Lorcan might be telling the truth about a professor’s dog, but she’s lied about Holly’s whereabouts and hasn’t informed her parents yet.

This, and the ghostly happenings, could be mental illusions created by growing unease amongst the human students, but I can’t discount that there is something or someone sneaking onto campus at night.

Which means I’ll need to do some sneaking of my own.

4

VIOLET

The day’s lessons yield nothing but headaches from boredom. By dinner, I’ve concluded there’re no further clues to be found inside classrooms, merely Holly’s empty seat as a poke in the eye to remind me she’s absent. Oddly, Marci doesn’t speak again after class—I thoroughly expected a further interrogation on Holly’s absence, and disbelief at her sickness. Nobody else asks about Holly, but that could be people’s usual dislike of talking to me.

Some subtle stalking of Marci and her coven leads us to the café, where we pause to plan our next move. I’m awaiting Dorian’s call to update me on the search for Viktor, and each time this enters my mind, my pulse speeds.

Viktor must have Holly. Am I using the possibility that Marci’s involved to convince myself there’s an alternative explanation? After all, as I tell myself, Viktor would’ve struggled to walk on campus unnoticed. Yet he may have constructs created from witches as well as shifters—he originally planned to reanimate Madison and control her. Witch constructs—possibly students? That opens up a whole other issue and headache.

The room echoes with voices despite the number present, and Marci sits at one of the dark wooden tables across from me, eating salad beside her two friends, alongside the human guy I met at the bowling alley. Two human girls sit at the same table with their backs to me, including Isabella, the head girl.

I haven’t spoken to Isabella since Kai’s fateful house party where she told me about Grayson’s problematic self-control around witches. And told me to smile if I wanted male attention. Ugh. I’ve seen Isabella around since, but rarely, as I’m not often involved with humans—or the academy at all. Isabella did attend the spring ball, but again, I never bothered speaking with her. At least she’s not amongst the group who believe in haunted tiaras.

But as an ex-friend of ex-Wesley, her decision to interact closely with witches stands out. Didn’t all Wesley’s acquaintances dislike the supes?

“Violet, stop staring at Marci,” whispers Rowan.

“I’m observing her.”

---