Page 57 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 3
“Grayson?” she asked.
He froze. Was she a student that he’d met somewhere? But no, other than his roommates he hadn’t really met any students, not well enough for them to say his name in that familiar, yet hopeful way.
“Grayson? It’s you, isn’t it?” she asked, trying to be heard over the din of the music, but not scream it for everyone to hear.
“Who are you?” he asked.
His gift was ready to crush her if she was something more than what she’d seemed. Dare he squeeze her while looking straight at her?
“I look different too and it’s been so long,” she said with an awkward laugh. He then noticed the red carnation on her dress.
A reporter!
He scowled and stepped away from her as he realized what this must be about. His mother. His stepfather. The murder.
“I’m not giving any interviews,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument.
“What?” She honestly looked confused. “No, no, you don’t… you really don’t recognize me?”
“I have no idea who…” He stopped and really looked at her. The memory rushed back so strongly that he actually swayed as it hit him. “You used to have pigtails and–”
“Rabbit teeth, yeah, I know!” she laughed self-consciously. “I got those fixed and I only wear pigtails on the weekends when I’m off.”
“Rachel. Rachel Willis,” he said. “You were my next door neighbor–”
“And friend? Don’t you remember? Maybe you don’t want to remember that time,” she said awkwardly.
This couldn’t be a coincidence that his childhood friend and neighbor from the last house he’d lived in–where he’d killed his bastard stepfather–was here. In the Ever Dark. He squeezed her. She jumped and spun around looking for whoever had done that. But, of course, there was only them.
No structures.
“What are you doing here, Rachel?” he asked harshly.
She refocused on him. “Your mom…” At his stiffening, she paused but then rushed on, “I’m a reporter on her local station. When it came out that you were here, she contacted me. Wanted to just deal with me.”
Grayson frowned. Even though he had checked her for structures, his gift was still ready to leap out of him. He felt like a cat that was puffing up to appear bigger. Anyone who passed him was being squeezed. His senses extended further outward as his alarm grew. He felt trapped in this huge room by this very small woman.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Grayson said.
“Wait! Grayson, don’t go!” She stepped towards him.
He had no idea that he’d stepped back.
“I have nothing–”
“I’m not here as a reporter!” she insisted then grimaced. “I mean I am. This would give me the break I’ve… well, even if you won’t be a story, it doesn’t matter. I promised your mom I’d speak to you on her behalf and–and get you to come home.”
His gift swelled to fill the whole room. There were gasps and cries of shock. Everyone was looking around them for a reason. And then, at the very edge of the room, just out of eyeshot, he felt a structure.
A Sect member… They’re here!
Senses
Earlier…
Ryder stretched his arms over his head and cracked his neck. One of the students–a man in his thirties with a wide, inviting grin and a slinky form–came up to him and touched his shirt. He wore a black button-down shirt with a silver design of wolves on a hunt across his right shoulder and down his arm. The man’s finger traced one of the lines of the wolf’s tail.
“You don’t look like a Mirryr,” the man said in an Australian accent. “I mean you actually look like one person. But you’re definitely a Vampire.”
