Page 104 of Hunting Pretty

Keela Hawkins.

Biological parents either dead or known.

All adopted.

All stalked before they went missing.

All missing presumed ‘runaways’ so no one is looking for them.

Then I added my own name to the list, a chill going through me.

If I didn’t find out who took them soon, I could be next.

I tapped my pen on the paper, my mind going round and round in circles, frustration itching under my skin.

There was something here, a connection I wasn’t seeing yet.

I let out a huff and slammed my notebook shut on the wood desk. Oops. Too loud. I got a few annoyed looks from students around me.

Sorry,I mouthed before sinking back into my chair.

Like all the Darkmoor lecture halls, the aptly named Nevermore Hall exuded old-world academic charm with its gothic chandeliers, ornate wood paneling set in dark-gray walls, and rows of vintage wooden desks rising from the front blackboard.

I tuned out my professor as she went through her Data for Journalists lecture. It wasn’t exactly the most riveting of subjects to begin with.

I sighed as I glanced out the arched window to the courtyard, the line of trees already starting to sprout green shoots.

I froze when I spotted him.

My stalker.

Watching me from behind one of the giant oaks, a skeleton mask over his lower face again.

I shuddered when I remembered his gift, the jewelry box I’d stuffed into a dresser drawer under a pile of folded clothes.

I’d managed to convince myself that itwasn’tmy ex’s eye and my stalkerdidn’tcut it out to scare him into leaving me alone.

I scanned the students in the lecture hall, row by row. I even looked twice to make sure I hadn’t missed him among the perfectly coifed and curled heads.

My stomach hollowed out.

Cormacwasn’tin class today.

I nudged Lisa who was sitting on my other side.

“Babe,” I whispered, “have you heard from Cormac?”

She lifted an eyebrow at me. “Why do you care all of a sudden? Don’t tell me you want to get back together with him?”

I made a face. “I don’t. But Mr. Perfectnevermisses class.”

Lisa glanced around the lecture hall and hummed under her breath. “Fair point, Miss Perceptive.”

She slipped out her phone and began texting.

“Bish, don’t text him.” I went to snatch her phone away, keeping one eye out for the professor’s notice.

But she held it to her other side out of my reach.

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