And suddenly, he turned his head in my direction.

That was the moment when my heart stopped.

Chapter 22

Quentin

Change is in the Air

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“Quentin?”

Realizing that one of the five lecturers from the mythology department had spotted me, I hurriedly disappeared up the stairs, thanking the gods that the vast corridors of Vanderwood were massively crowded at lunchtime, even if you had to be extra careful not to get hit by a football at this time of day.

This lecturer,Sarah,stuck to me like a burdock and I had already given her several signs that I wasn’t interested in her, but apparently it had mistakenly given her the opposite impression. I was already wearing the ring to scare off other women, but women like Sarah consistently ignored fake wedding rings and fucked their way through the faculty.

Knowing that she would probably follow me, I hurried, but took a detour so that she wouldn’t think of following me to my office.

Around a corner, I watched her choose the wrong corridor and snorted in annoyance before making my way to my office.

Fortunately, the corridors up here were empty at the moment. Still, I shouldn’t challenge my time. These girls here were like huntresses, lurking around every corner like greedy vultures, and there were only two places I was safe: my house on campus and my office.

I hurriedly put the key in the door lock, unlocked the door, not without looking around two more times, and entered my office.

The first thing I felt when I closed the door behind me was a strange cold, the same cold as yesterday.

I looked carefully at the windows, which were all closed.

It didn’t make it any better that the ravens were already bustling around in front of them again. Over the years, I had been aware that there were many of these birds in Blairville, but it was only recently that they seemed like a plague.

I stared at the black bird and couldn’t help but pause, because something wasn’t right here. It wasn’t just that the temperature seemed to be dropping,no,something was hanging in the air.

My eyes wandered to my desk, where I spotted the photo of...

My heart stumbled.

What the...

Suspense Dark Ambient

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Paralyzed, I stared at the photo that was supposed to be in my research folder.

I forced myself to walk around my desk without taking my eyes off the picture, even though a lump formed in my throat every time I looked at it.

My parents, Delilah and Dylan... The photo had been taken exactly one year before the incident. On my and Dylan’s birthday.

Anger clenched in my chest, as it did every time I thought back to it. And like every time, I couldn’t do my family justice, had to swallow the rage and hope to eventually have the blood of those who had taken them from me on my hands.None of them would survive. I would destroy them all.

I reached for the photo, staring for a while longer into the innocent faces of those people who were now trapped in Elysium. A place where I would never end up, because this earthly life had already forced me to sin unforgivably.

I reached for the second drawer on the left-hand side of the desk to put the picture back where it belonged, opened it, but stopped immediately.

I had locked the drawer this morning. Now the damn drawer wasopen.

Was I a fool to have taken so long to realize that someone had been rummaging through my things? For the second time? Someone who could pick locks…