Page 146 of Let Us Prey

“Like the Scoobies!” Rufus chortles. “Jinkies, Dolly, a clue!”

I roll my eyes and elbow him in the ribs. “Yeah, and most TV shows prove no one gets away without leaving some evidence. It couldn’t hurt to snoop around in case they did.”

Cori snickers, muttering, “That’s it, no more true crime for you. You’re not Sherlock Holmes.”

That sends us all into giggles, and my tension evaporates again. At least now I have some actionable steps for when rehearsal is over. I’ll need to talk to my boyfriends too. If we’re going to survive the rest of the semester, we need an offensive plan—traveling in pairs will not cut it. I sigh, turning my attention back to the screeching dogs on stage. I’ll have to watch this nonsense until Rufus calls a dinner break.

And that’s when the body drops from a rope, bouncing in the air in the middle of the stage like the motherfucking Phantom of the Opera.

Circus

Felix

Surprisingly,Henny has been true to her word for the past two weeks since the break.

The plagiarism thing disappeared with a wishy-washy apology note. Those two-faced bullies snipe at her in class, but no gross or dangerous pranks have popped up while she’s been rehearsing. We all take turns escorting her around campus, and she’s begrudgingly allowed it. The second dead student and fourteen missing made it an easy sell.

It was like evil was on pause until the end of the year—until last night.

My tiger instincts knew better, but she didn’t want us watching the practices, so it didn’t spoil the show. The hanging Chad last night proved our princess isn’t safe, nor are the rest of the preds who attend this school. We have to amp up investigating this shit now—follow leads to connect the students who disappeared or track down more herbologists about the poison. The living room in the Tower is full of ‘mystery’ boards, so we’ve got our hands full tracing every minuscule detail tofind a motive.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll get any further until we find out why this is happening now, and Renard agrees. No matter how we spin all the events on campus, they don’t have a common thread except they started once our intrepid bunny arrived. The killer doesn’t leave clues, and the gargoyle is still putting out discreet feelers regarding magic in our midst. But the danger is getting worse, and no one will bring in the SBI to get it under control.

I hate being unable to control shit.

Sighing, I fidget in my seat as we sip our illegal drinks in the fancy ass theater the Shirdals built as a monument to themselves. It’s easy to forget this talent show horseshit is an annual event because I never attend. Fitz usually suffers through it to support Chess, but he takes his payment in spades afterwards. Our two winged grouches are stuffed into seats as well, and I guarantee those fuckers haven’t come to this in the centuries they’ve been here. We’re here to keep our girl safe, so despite the likelihood of this being shitty as hell, we’re not going anywhere.

That’s some fucking personal growth on all our parts—go team.

I chuckle at my internal joke and Fitz arches a brow at me. “Something funny, broski?”

“Don’t call me that,” I mutter. “But yes. I was thinking about how much all five of us have changed over the past year—in a good way.”

Chess leans over my twin, giving me an amused smile. “Yet you haven’t asked Angel out yet and you’re the last one, Felix. Aren’t you worried she thinks you got coerced into this arrangement? She’s slowly gaining more and more confidence, but it seems fragile. The damage done to her in the past isn’t fully healed.”

Pondering that for a moment, I look at our rag-tag family. Fitz and Chess haven’t been with her together—yet—but they’re tighter than ever with one another and her. Aubrey and Ren seem to be cagier than normal, but they’ve found something to share with her as well. And she obviously adores them separately, despite all theirancient shifter quirks. I’m the only one who hasn’t taken the opportunity to get to know the princess better in a private setting—and I don’t just mean sex.

I’m falling behind because of fear and Khans don’t do that—especially rightful kings.

“You’re right,” I whisper as the lights finally dim. “I’ll ask her out after the show.”

The dragon looks at me in amusement, shaking his head. “Seems like a good time, tiger. You’ve got the flowers and everything. Glad you figured out where we were herding you.”

Blinking, I look down at the colorful bouquets of exotic flowers Renard assembled from his private garden. “This was a trap?”

“True story, bro. Jalepeno Jackass over there came up with the plan and we all contributed.” Fitz frowns as the spotlight hits the stage. “Now, hush, so we can support Chessie and my baby girl.”

I gape at him, shocked they shamelessly admitted conspiring against me—even my family! Did I really have my head that far up my ass? Scrubbing my hand over my face as an overture starts, I think about it and realize they’re probably right. I’m not just ‘taking it slow’ with Delores; I’m keeping her at arm’s length despite agreeing to this polycule.

That’s not fair to either of us, and tonight, I’m going to change it.

Of course,I’ll have to survive this nightmare first.

Chess’ hesitant description of last year’s show didn’t quite prepare me for the disaster masquerading as talent at this school. Mind, a few students had good singing skills, though not in the arts program, and a couple did a decent job on instruments. But the non-theater arts majors doing scenes or dance numbers with nothing more than rich kid egos have been excruciating.

Like the eyeball scarring bouncing of the princess’ enemy squad as they emulate a movie they clearly didn’t get the point of. So far they’ve butchered the music, fucked up basic dance, and are bounding out of their lingerie more than anything else. The fact that I can tell it’s so terrible means the tricolored badger directing has to be losing his fucking mind.

My eyes cut to the balcony Fitz and I combed over last night, making sure there wasn’t a shadowy presence lurking. Dolly finally admitted it after we grilled her about every second of the rehearsal, but she wasn’t happy about it. She’s been adamant we can’t see her piece until tonight, but the last practice this morning made us all uneasy.

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