Page 51 of Faerie Marked

It had taken her a few weeks to be comfortable around Mike and Roman, given the former’s status and the latter’s good looks. Fortunately, she’d settled into a routine fairly quickly because I wasn’t sure what we would have done otherwise. Mike was the sweetest person I’d met on campus, somehow still miraculously my friend, and Melia…she might have been my mentor but she’d quickly grown into the person I trusted the most.

I needed the four of us to get along.

“Come on, Mel, you have to admit, this is bad,” Roman continued. His gaze hardened suddenly. “You’re a fourth-year, you’re probably safe, but the rest of us are at risk.”

“Of course it’s bad,” she agreed with a vigorous nod. “Someone is killing off the first-year competition. One top student dead is something, but two is more than a coincidence. It’s a pattern.” She glanced over to me. “Sorry.”

“What? No way,” Mike argued. His cheeks flushed.

“What else could it be?” Melia shot back. “I mean, nothing else makes sense. We have already moved on. Why would someone else be offing the kids in your year? And the kids with the highest points? It’s more than a coincidence.”

“You’re insane.” Said lightly. But the laughter we four shared was strained around the edges. I agreed Melia’s theory was the best of any I’d heard so far.

As if I wasn’t worried enough about making it through the probationary period, now I had to consider some nutcase trying to murder me because of my good grades. Luckily, I was in the top 25, far enough away from the number one spot to be safe. Right?

Was it too much to ask for the killer to be Persephone? Two birds with one stone? Get rid of herandkeep my class safe?

I stifled those gleeful thoughts as being unworthy. Entertaining, but unworthy.

But no, it just didn’t make sense. She had better grades than I did. If anything, she had the potential to be the next victim, especially if the rest of the kids ahead of her continued to drop like flies.

I couldn’t worry. Or at least I tried not to. Easier said than done, obviously, because I was a champion worrier and this was a good opportunity to hone my skills.

After classes, I met Mike in the library to study divination together. He knew I was absolutely hopeless with all forms of telling the future and had offered to help, an offer I jumped on without hesitation.

Any chance I had to spend time with him alone was one I’d take.

“Are you ready to figure out the secret path toward reading tarot?” Mike joked the second I let my bag drop. He wiggled his hands in the air woo-woo fashion.

I took off my school jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, the look I gave him pure skepticism. “Isthere a secret path for tarot?” I asked.

“I have no clue, but we should figure it out because Marsh has been giving you death stares every time you get something wrong. I mean, she’s been decent about it but I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.”

“Which is all the time,” I supplied. “I swear, when I told you I have no clue how to access my own magic, you thought I was lying. I’m totallynotlying. There’s a steep learning curve.”

I had the book open in front of me. I wasn’t paying attention. I couldn’t, not with Mike smiling at me in the certain way he had. Like the world narrowed down until I was the sole recipient of his focus.

Yeah,hubba hubbaindeed.

“We can figure it out. I know it. What did you think of Melia’s theory at breakfast? About the murders?” he asked.

“It’s not the worst theory I’ve heard,” I evaded, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him my true feelings on the subject: we were all in danger.

He chewed the inside of his lip and shifted to lean on one elbow, dropping his voice down to a whisper. “Come on, you don’t need to watch yourself with me. You can tell me what you really think. Are you worried?”

“As worried as anyone, I guess.”

“If you keep getting those good grades, you’re going to makemeworry. And worrying about you is one more stress I’m not prepared to handle right now.”

I tossed my pencil at him. “Get real. You know it’s not possible.”

“What? You getting good grades or me worrying about you?” Mike asked with wide eyes.

“Both. I’m going to make sure I earn my place here but I can’t claim to be the best in class. Far from it,” I replied.

“Okay, Miss Top 25.”

“Okay, Mister Top 100.”

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