Page 24 of Heartless Legacy

Chapter 16

Holden

Finn strolls into my room and plops down on my couch. He looks like he hasn’t slept all week. It’s possible. I haven’t seen him on campus since we caught Eloise snooping. “Where you been, man?”

“On a solo challenge.”

My brows shoot up. “It’s been a while since any of us has done one of those.”

“That’s the same thing I said, but my mentor said The League insisted I do this one on my own.”

His dad is his mentor, but him using the distinction is telling. “You okay?”

He jerks his head. “I’m okay.”

“Did you complete it?”

That question earns me a scowl. “Of course.”

“Hey, I’m just asking. You’re usually riding a high after a challenge, but right now you look a little.. off.”

“I feel a little off.” He sighs. “The whole challenge felt off.”

Something in his tone sets off warning bells. “How do you mean?”

“It’s like you said. When was the last time we were sent on an individual challenge? We work as a team and break off if there’smore than one thing happening, but I couldn’t even tell you guys about this. They sent me to the other side of the country, with zero prep time. Then, when I went to the vault-”

I interrupt him. “You turned the item in already?”

“Like I said, it felt off. This was an immediate turn in action.”

We haven’t had too many of those since the beginning of our first prospect year. That’s usually a warm-up phase to make sure the prospects know where to go and what’s expected when we’re turning something into the vault. Most of the items are presented in chamber, but it’s still not out of the realm of things to be expected.

I say, “We’ve gotten used to the idea of holding onto whatever we retrieve, just to prove we can protect it from other Wrens, but that doesn’t explain why you thought things were off.”

“Malcolm on the phone in a private room, with the door open, was the part that felt off.”

Tilting my head to the side, I consider his words. “The text you sent me was pretty vague. What did you hear?”

“I’m not even sure. Something about a patient and him hoping she doesn’t come back. I kept replaying his words over and over on the ride back to campus. Malcolm’s not known for being careless. It feels like too much of a coincidence that he was at the vault at the same time I was.” Finn scrubs a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure if I was meant to hear the conversation or not, and if I was, was I supposed to keep quiet about it, or tell someone?”

Given our history with Malcolm, it’s hard to say if it was a test or not. “I think we should keep this between us, for now.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I experience the same sense of doubt Finn was just talking about. Keeping quiet about Malcolm is how we ultimately wound up here. Finn sits forward,pointing to the scraps of paper I have laid out on a puzzle board next to the coffee table. “What’s all this?”

“Campus trash.”

“You’re digging into the trash?”

“Hell no. This was delivered to me last week. When I opened the box and saw what it was, I thought someone was fucking with me. Then I started wondering if it might be part of a challenge. It sat in the corner for two days and I never got an alert.”

He chuckles. “Your curiosity got the better of you.”

I nod. My curiosity always gets the better of me. I need to know things, and hate leaving puzzles unsolved. “At the organizational meeting, Pax was writing something instead of paying attention to Dean Gibson. Afterwards, he made a point of ripping up the piece of paper before throwing it into the trash. Anyone could have seen it and figured out we’re having problems, so they sent me the trash as a joke.”

Finn lets out a whistle. “That’s one fucked up prank, or-”

“Or there’s something here.” I’m not sure what I’m expecting to find, but my gut tells me this wasn’t randomly sent to me.

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