Page 60 of Kingdom of Shadows and Wings

Shifting the socks reveals a hair tie. My heart leaps into my throat. Wheezing, I work to suck air into my lungs. It’s not just any hair tie, but a braided purple and black one. Not having conducted a thorough examination of the most popular colors of hair ties, I can’t speak with certainty, but I’d bet a set of dragon-scale armor that the exact purple and black combination in my hand isn’t particularly common. I do know one person who wore them, though.

Leesa. And the two hairs trapped within the braid match her dark blond tresses.

I curl my hand around the thin leather cords and close my eyes, picturing the accessory wrapped around the end of my sister’s braid. “What in the three hells are you doing with Leesa’s hair tie, Elijah?”

My earlier thought returns with a vengeance.Nothing good.

Shoving the hair tie into my left boot, I return to the drawer and push more socks aside. My fingers graze a smooth surface. A notebook. I thumb through the first few pages, revealing a set of painstakingly printed notes about navigation. The remaining pages appear blank as I flip through them until I reach the end.

Outside in the hall, male voices carry. I freeze. After a door slams shut, the quiet returns. My muscles unclench, but my nerves remain taut, like a tightened string on a violin.

I need to hurry. Finish up and get out of here before Elijah saunters in.

With a shaky breath, I return to the notebook. Elijah’s printing litters the second to the last page, and the content pulls a gasp from my lips. The top line reads,Where did L.A. go?

The remaining lines serves as a written summary of every theory regarding Leesa’s disappearance to ever reach my ears.

At the bottom, the lineHire an investigatoris underlined.

I gawk at the page, struggling to keep my mind from exploding over the evidence in front of my face. Elijah isn’t responsible for my sister’s disappearance. If he were, he wouldn’t need a list to figure out her current location.

The fact that he’s searching for her and holding onto her used hairband like a stalker creeps me out in an entirely different way, but I table those thoughts for now. One crisis at a time.

I’m returning the notebook to the drawer when Theo’s voice booms down the hall. “I told you I needed to go to the room to look for a library book anyway, Elijah!” His boisterous shout could wake the dead. A warning.

Shit.

I slam the drawer shut, shove the note into my boot, and dart for the door.

As I edge it open, Theo yells again. “Elijah, seriously. You don’t need to come too!”

I peek out to find my accomplice blocking the stairwell door. Theo widens his eyes at the sight of me and flaps his hand in ahurry upgesture.

The door Theo’s blocking rattles, and someone bangs against the wood on the opposite side. “Let me in or I swear, I’m going to pound your face into a pulp!”

For a second, I freeze. Where do I go? Theo stabs his finger toward the opposite end of the hall.Stairs, he mouths.

Slipping out of the room, I ease the door shut and race in that direction. I didn’t know there was a second set of stairs on that side, but I trust Theo. Sure enough, I push open the last door on the left and burst into an empty stairwell, my pulse sprinting like I just ran Kinneck’s drills.

Two ever-lights provide dim illumination, splashing an anemic glow over wood battered from the countless boots pounding it day in and day out. I don’t realize I’m studying each step until one near the top catches my eye. A sliver of darkness appears between the top and the body of the step, where the wood has warped and separated.

What really makes my breathing quicken, however, is the tiny A carved into the corner near the wall. So faint and innocuous that no one would notice unless they knew what to look for.

I do, though.

Listening for footsteps, I crouch and wedge my fingers in to pry the gap open. With a little force, the wood creaks and gives, creating a wide enough space for me to reach inside. My hunting fingers find a folded piece of paper and a chain. I pull both out.

I frown at the necklace. The delicate gold chain holds a tiny dragon pendant, neither of which I recognize. I unfold the paper, and my muscles seize.

Leesa’s handwriting stares back at me.

Nearby laughter spurs me into action. Shoving the wood back into place, I drop the necklace and note into my boot. When I scurry into my room, Helene and Olive are both inside with wet hair.

Olive’s lounging on her bed, while Helene sits at the desk, writing a letter. My least favorite roommate glances up when I enter. “Your face is all red and sweaty.”

“Yeah. I was doing some exercises…trying to catch up to the rest of you so Kinneck won’t keep whistling at me.”

I don’t know if she believes me, but she returns to her letter without comment.

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