Page 48 of Demon Found

“Yes? What is it?”

“I . . . uh, I don’t know if you remember me?”

She wrinkles her nose. “You’re one of my first-year students. What’s your name again, Lorelei?”

It shouldn’t disappoint me that she doesn’t remember our lunch chats from two whole years ago, but suddenly I’ve got a frog in my throat.

“Uh. Yeah. I . . . I wanted to talk to you about SupeZ and an antidote.”

She freezes, then places her pen down on the desk very precisely. “I thought I was mistaken. But youwerea student all those years ago in ChemCorp, weren’t you?”

Two years ago. Only two years. Shedoesremember.

“You could create it. An antidote, I mean. I know you could.” In my excitement, my words tumble together like an enthusiastic toddler.

Alice scrapes her already-perfect hair back into an even tighter ponytail and picks up her pen again. “I’m not that person anymore. I’m an academy professor. I serve the school, serve the Virrey. This conversation is over. You know where the door is. Use it.”

“The dean is useless. He’ll never find a solution. But you? You could do this. You were always trying to make your mother proud.” I step forward and pluck her pen out of her hand. “What happened?”

She’d let her mask slip once. Just once. Told me her one goal was to make her mom proud because her mom had given up everything for Alice to get an education.

“She’s dead.” Alice stands suddenly, and her stool scrapes back with a jarring metallic screech. Her perfect makeup cracks with the ferocity of her scowl. She thumps her fist on the desk and sends her papers flying.

“I . . . I knew she was unwell. But you were working on the cure. Even back then it was in the finishing stages.”

“It didn’t work.” She stares sightlessly at the papers on the floor. “On the others, yes. My mother, no. She didn’t even blame me. She should have. I do.”

I touch her arm briefly, hesitantly.

“You could help others here now . . . with SupeZ. You might feel like she’d be proud, that you’d redeemed yourself.”

In an instant, I know I’ve gone too far, pushed too hard. The slap on my cheek is so hard my eyes water and my nose runs. I clutch my face, speechless. She’s a professor, dammit. I might have been out of line, but . . .

“Get out.” Professor Allegra’s voice is shaking in rage.

Eyeing the manic glint in her gaze, I stagger backward through the lab door. It slams viciously in my face, with a crash that reverberates up the entire corridor.

Flinging myself onto Farrell’s luxurious sofa, I groan. What an utter failure, and I have no other bright ideas. Turns out that one wasn’t so bright anyway.

It’s my turn to bring Zephyr dinner tonight. His detox has been shitty if the thumping and wailing we normally hear is anything to go by. But this evening it’s creepily silent. The quiet is worse. I drag myself up from the sofa and face the polished mahogany door.

None of us likes to see Zephyr jittery and on edge, rambling nonsense and talking to shadows. At least the nurse said he’s past seizing now. Dammit, it shouldn’t affect me, but it feels as if a knife twists in my chest whenever I see the hippy asshole in so much distress.Why’s he so quiet?

Unlocking the deadbolts to Farrell’s guest bedroom, a handy new addition for containing delirious druggy reprobates, I thrust Zephyr’s food inside. The room is bare except for a bed. We made the mistake of making it comfy and he nearly strangled himself on the damn drapes while claiming he was a giant spider weaving a web.

Today he’s been busy with a marker on the walls. Cursing, I step quickly into the room, locking the door behind me. Who the hell knows where he got the marker from, but I’m positive he’ll find a way to do mischief to himself with it.

Zephyr is huddled in a ball on the bed. Hellfire, I almost feel sorry for him. His luxurious hair is a tangled greasy mess and he’s gaunt. He looks peacefully asleep now though, which is a relief. Spying the marker in the corner, I bend to pick it up. His scribble draws my eye. It’s the chemical composition of SupeZ except . . . different. Shit. I wish I was better at formulas.

Straightening slowly, I back up, trying to read the spidery scrawl. Dammit, I’m no chemistry expert.

“I saw it, clear as day. A proper vision!”

Whirling around, I stare wild-eyed at Zephyr, who’s crept up behind me. I calculate the distance to the door. Too far.Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I got distracted by the formula. I edge around him slowly, never daring to break eye contact. He’s dangerous like this. He doesn’t mean it, but . . .

“I’m through the worst, Lorelei. I’m lucid.”

I let my guard down slightly.

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