Page 173 of Skalterra By Nightmare
Liam dropped the paper and ran his hands over his face.
“She was trying to protect you—” I started.
“I didn’t ask for that,” he snapped. “I don’t care how many people come to gawk at me if it means Riley is found.”
“I know—”
“Then why did you take them down?” His voice rose into a shout, but he immediately retreated back a few steps and hid his face in his hands.
“I’m sorry.”
“My best friend is gone, and everyone is rushing to forget he ever existed. The same way they did when my parents left.”
I felt tiny and stupid standing in the entryway of the hotel room in my blazer and pencil skirt. I knew taking the posters down had been wrong. I knew he’d be hurt if he found out. I had no defense for myself.
“Liam—”
“Do you know how to get to campus from here?” He wouldn’t make eye contact with me, staring instead at the door behind me.
“Yes.”
“And you remember where College Hall was?”
I nodded, and even though he refused to look at me, he must’ve seen the affirmation in his periphery, because he nodded too.
“Okay. I’ll be at the train station. If you get lost, you can call me.”
He grabbed his hoodie and his backpack from the bed, and I stepped back into the bathroom to clear him a path to the door.
“Liam, I’m sorry,” I said as he passed. He paused with his hand on the door handle.
“Don’t overthink your interview.” He pulled the door open, and finally looked back at me. His features were set in a stern frown, but his eyes were wide with hurt. “You’ll do fine.”
He stepped into the hall, and the heavy, metal door swung shut, leaving me alone in the hotel room.
I didn’t even have the luxury of feeling sorry for myself, because no matter how I looked at it, I deserved Liam’s anger. I knew it had been wrong to take the posters down and that it had been wrong to lie about it.
And it had beendumbto never get rid of the evidence. The flyer was now ripped to shreds in the trash basket of the hotel room, and every step I took along the sidewalk loosened the knot in my chest a little more as I put distance between me and it.
I wished Liam had been meaner. I wished he’d said something terrible that would put him on the same field as me. Instead he’d made sure I knew how to get to my interview and wished me luck.
He really was the worst.
He deserved better.
Von Leer University’s campus was just as beautiful as it had been the day before, and as I traveled between the spots of shade provided by the oak trees, I kept my eyes on the squirrels, counting their tails and wishing Liam was here to help.
In a weird way, my blunder with the flyer was helping me. I was much more worried about Liam than I was my approaching interview.
I felt like a faker walking up the steep, stone steps to the massive double doors of College Hall, like the building itself knew I didn’t belong there. The entry hall smelled like an old book, with a dusty quality that was more inviting than off-putting, and I took a deep breath, trying to let the cozy scent calm me.
A plain white print-out taped to a music stand that read “Admissions Offices” stood in the middle of the hall with an arrow pointing to the door on my right. The frosted glass of the windows showed several silhouettes already inside, though it was hard to make out much else.
I took another steadying breath, vaguely wondering if Liam was okay at the train station, and then pushed into the office.
“Name?” The woman at the front desk wore glasses on top of her head as she typed at her computer. She kept her eyes glued to her screen as I approached, seemingly unaware that her bun was already unraveling despite the bits of hair that hung in her face.
“Wren Warrender.”
