Page 26 of Beautiful Liar

“Paper and pen.”

He quickly rummaged through the drawer, handed me both. I drew the brand of the acolyte which included all of our sigils, signed it, and handed it back to Morgan. “Go to Arcas and give this to River. He’ll mark you. Then you stay on Tomás. And if anything happens to him, the gods won’t save you.”

He swallowed hard but nodded.

Despite the early hour, he took off. I was sure Morgan wasn’t the only student freaking out over what came next. If they were smart, they’d be making alliances, prepping for theinevitable. Blood would be spilled, and we were all the sacrificial lambs.

Chapter Eleven

Tomás

I opened my eyes and for a heartbeat I couldn’t remember where I was, my mind so damn silent after what felt like an eternity of living with noise. Just noise. Whether it was the screeching of freight trains, the rumbling of airplanes landing at Midway, or the police sirens as they chased someone, noise always filled my brain. The last couple of days, it had been Miguel and Jack filling up space in my mind. Blaming me. Sometimes Daniel. But as I lay in bed contemplating my sore but sated body, the room that felt so foreign, not mine, and the emptiness of all negative thought, I felt good.

No nightmares.

I hugged the pillow to my face and inhaled Kieran’s scent. My body and heart reacting dangerously close to contentment. Kieran was back. Back! Last night had been an emotional rollercoaster, but my heart felt lighter and my mind silent. Kieran and I would go back to the way things were. I’d wait until he was ready to come out and we’d take whatever this was day by day. My heart would probably hate me later, but I had to live for the now. Later wasn’t guaranteed.

I felt a spark of giddiness, stupid happy. Like when Dad would take my side over Nick—which was rare.

I waited for that negative voice to come creeping back but got nothing. Not even my mom’s bullshit voice. I showered, dressed, and went downstairs to eat, my stomach reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything greasy in days. The house smelled of onions, garlic, meat sizzling on a pan. Morgan cooked whenever he was nervous. I wouldn’t say we were friend-friends. Morgan played in the band, but he kept mostly away from Jack and Amir. But he wasn’t a dick about it either. I got the impression he just wanted to survive college, do something with his future. Irespected that. I wanted the same thing.

“What time is it?” I asked as I pulled a water bottle from the fridge and took my throat meds. With the school on lockdown there were no classes and time seemed not to matter much when you weren’t required to be anywhere.

“2:00. You needed your rest.”

I couldn’t argue with that. “Are you sharing?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I have more than enough.”

Thank God.

“Need help?”

“Nah, I’m done.” He put everything on a couple of plates, and we sat behind the counter to eat.

The first bite made me ravenous. “I’m either starving, or this is so good. Where’d you learn to cook?”

“YouTube mostly.” He shrugged as if it were no big deal. “My mom was a club whore. I had to find a way, you know?”

Yeah. I knew.

“She died a few years ago. Maddox set me up here.”

I stiffened. Jack had also been at Arcadia through a Maddox scholarship after Maddox killed his old man. “Did he kill her?”

He gave me ayou’re stupidlook with a smile. “Nah, she OD’d.”

I almost let out a relieved breath but that would’ve been inappropriate too. “Sorry.” He nodded. “Was Amir here on a Maddox scholarship too?” Because Jack was and he wanted to kill me.

“Yeah, all three of us were. You?”

The food turned heavy in my stomach. “Yeah.”

I wondered how many of the students here were orphaned because of Maddox fucking Brennan. And why the hell did I feel guilty for being blood related to the killer?

“I think they’re going to rule Amir’s death an accidentaldrowning.” Morgan did not look relieved.

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

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