Page 71 of Faerie Marked

It would have been better, smarter, to wait until I was alone or on my way back from the party. The hallways were starting to empty out with the purgings, so it was certainly less crowded now.

And why bite me? Then again, the man didn’t know I was a wolf and his bites would leave me unaffected. Had he thought to inflict extra damage?

I winced. Once I left the city and my family behind, I’d thought heading down this unfamiliar road and hiding at the academy would be the least of my worries. I didn’t think I’d have to deal with a murderer on campus.

Who would have guessed?

Nurse Julie returned with the last vial and I guzzled it without hesitation. The familiar burn began low in my chest and stretched along to my extremities. My vision went blurry and for a moment I thought I would faint. Then everything disappeared, the movement under my skin calming and the familiar spell setting in, dulling my senses and pushing my wolf back into the darkness. I felt the caress of her claws on the inside of my mind, not too kindly, before a familiar kind of numbness set in.

“There you are,” Julie said proudly. Her wings flickered once before lying still against her back. “You’re as good as new. Your arm will follow suit shortly enough.”

Wincing and cradling my broken arm to my chest within the sling, I walked slowly to my dorm and found the place empty. I guessed the party was still in full swing. Not much time had gone by between the fall and my visit to the nurse’s office. I wondered who had found me, and whether they would come forward to make themselves known. I’d like to thank them.

I didn’t want to even try to climb the ladder up to my bed and instead moved to the seats near the window, avoiding the moonlight. Avoiding moonlight, mirrors, garlic,everything.

“Hello hello?” The familiar voice called out from the doorway seconds before a wild brown head popped around the corner. “There you are!”

“Meli?”

I couldn’t stand up to greet her even if I wanted to. The exhaustion had set in and once I sat down, my body decided it had had enough.

Melia stalked forward with her tongue clucking and her index finger raised and wagging at me. “Where did you go?” she teased. “I turned around and you were gone! I looked everywhere for you and then figured you came back here. Looks like my hunch was right.” She sighed. “And not like Barry was making any kind of move on me.”

I gestured toward the sling. “I had a little accident.”

Her smile dropped in an instant and only then did I realize she’d forced it into place. “Yeah, I know.” She sighed again. “I’m sorry. I went to the nurse’s office and must have missed you by seconds. I was just trying to be positive.”

She’d come looking for me? I’d made the best kind of friend, I realized then. One who would stay by my side.

“I’m glad you’re okay. I can’t believe you fell off the balcony.”

“I didn’t fall. I was pushed,” I told her. “A hooded man attacked me and tried to kill me.”

“What?”

Her screech would have caused birds to fly from trees. Luckily, we were alone. Luckily, she believed me without question.

“The man bit me.” I kept thewerewolfpart to myself. “I tried to get inside to the safety of the party but the doors wouldn’t open. He tossed me over the balcony like I weighed nothing at all.”

“Hebityou?” Melia leaned back on her heels and stared at me for the longest time. “If he bit you, then you might be able to find out who he is.”

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”

“I mean, the odds are good even after the nurse cleaned the wounds, there is a trace amount of his DNA still left in your body where his teeth sank in. And if we can access it, then maybe we can glean some information about him by using divination,” she said, her eyes sparkling.

I knew she’d had as much to drink as I had, or more, but damn, Melia had a good head on her shoulders.

“I can’t touch crystal balls. I have…an allergy to quartz,” I protested.

“But you’re so good at divination.” Um, no, I wasn’t, but I wasn’t going to burst her bubble. “Even without the crystal ball—which happens to be the best way to find out—you might be able to see the man in visions. I doubt Tarot would work, and neither will runes or the pendulum because they don’t operate the same way. They are definitely more interpretive than accurate because those tools are only as good as the interpreter.”

As she went on, I gave some thought to it. Did Iwantto know? Did Iwantto see the face of the man who had attacked me and tried to end my life? Yes. And no. I was terrified the face I’d see looking back at me would belong to Kendrick Grimaldi. What if he’d found me? He would never let me go. He would certainly rather see me dead than live with knowing I’d run from him.

“We should get to the divination lab,” I said, struggling to stand. “Immediately. I can sleep later.”

“Hold on now, not so fast.” Melia reached out a hand to stop me. “You’re in no condition to be breaking into the divination lab. Youdoneed to get some sleep because you look like body snatchers just dug you out of a fresh grave.”

“Gee, thanks for the pick-me-up, Mel. But no deal. We need to use whatever DNA is left before it’s too late. We don’t exactly have a lot of time to sit around and relax.”

---