Page 321 of Blood & Betrayals

“You’re here with us,” he says, kissing one corner of my lips and then the other.

I concentrate on his face and relax my muscles.

“No doom master in sight, okay?”

I nod and press my forehead to his cheek.

“He can’t want to keep this charade up much longer.”

“I just don’t know why he hates me so much.”

“Yeah, okay,” Alice says, throwing me an exasperated look.

“What?”

“I mean, you have gotten in a lot of trouble since you got here,” she says with a nonchalant shrug.

I’m about to protest, but the evidence is damning, so I keep my mouth shut and bury my face in Connor’s neck, inhaling his cloud and rain scent.

Connor rubs my back. “Hey, one day down.”

I pull back and grab his face, kissing him deeply. Connor smiles, and I tuck my head beneath his chin. “Let’s watch a movie or something? I need a distraction.” Alice nods, and she closes her laptop before grabbing Connors. She types in the password and loads upNexusbefore scrolling through movies.

“Do I want to know how you know my password?” Connor asks.

“No, and give me my wife. It’s my turn.” Alice tugs on my arm until I leave Connor’s lap. She pulls until I am on the other side of her, and then she presses play on the movie.

“Okay, but if I’m sitting here, you have to cuddle me,” I tell her. Alice wraps her arms around me and teasingly sticks her tongue out at Connor.

Connor pouts, sitting on his own, and I blow him a kiss. “Don’t worry, she’ll be bored with cuddling in approximately four minutes.

“Okay, four minutes and counting.” Connor sighs.

I laugh, and Alice squeezes me tight. Trying to prove a point, she holds me until we both fall asleep on Connor’s bed.

117

Summer

My eyes open, and I am instantly alert. I don’t remember exactly what I was dreaming, but I can still feel the spirit clinging to the corpse, its blood on my skin, and the vacant, dead eyes fixed upon me.

I stretch as I take in the room from this new angle, groaning as my muscles protest from the odd position I slept in. Alice is taking up most of the bed, lying sprawled out, her hand on Connor’s face. I sit up and bite back a laugh as I snap a photo before getting out of bed.

Dread fills me again when I remember the day I have ahead of me, another day with the headmaster, another day without Connor and Alice. The stranger pops into my head, and I allow myself a moment to miss him. I want to reach out to him, but I’m unsure how to move past what he said on the phone.

I stand at the end of the bed and watch my family sleep. They look so peaceful. I consider waking them to let them know I’m going to go work out, but they’ve also had a traumatic couple of days. Deciding I will be quick, I pull on my workout clothes and quietly slip out of the room.

I inhale deeply and skip down the steps, my thoughts a chaotic mess as I walk quickly toward the gym.

“Summer?”

Stopping in my tracks, I force the facade back into place and turn to see a familiar kitsune female watching me from down the path. She looks familiar, but I can’t remember where I know her from. I think her name is Lucille or Lucy.

“I heard about… Well, I heard… you screaming that day,” she stammers, sadness and compassion radiating from her.

Right. She lives down the hall. I look away, unsure what to say.

“I called for the headmaster when I heard.” Her soft voice betrays all the trauma she felt just from hearing my reaction to my dead best friend. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” she says before turning and walking away, unaware of the small sliver of kindness she’s just given me.

---