Page 61 of Virgin Sacrifice

On the other hand, I also couldn’t afford to delete it—it was one of the few clues I had to go on.

Someone had killed Sandra and wanted me to know it in the most graphic way possible. They wanted me to see her body, the still-bleeding heart on her corpse. They wanted me to know they were capable of murder. That they knew who Penelope was.

Who I was.

One of the things Mami had taught me when we rebuilt our lives from scratch was how to hide information for a rainy day, so I saved the photo and the message from my phone to a secure cloud location and then used a program to permanently wipe the data from my phone.

The bloody heart, the stickers, the sheep, and now my birthday message. Someone wanted me scared.

That would be their mistake.

I had died too many times to let fear hold me back now.

Chapter twenty-eight

Luz

Despite my protests that my ankle was starting to feel better, Autumn took me to the campus medical clinic first thing on Monday morning. After a two-hour wait to see a very curt university doctor, I left with an ankle brace, crutches, and strict instructions to stay off it for the next few weeks and not to even think about going for a run for at least a month.

“Oh, careful,” Autumn said, offering me her shoulder for support when I lost my balance for a third time walking home from the clinic. I was quickly learning that cobblestones and crutches didn’t go together.

“Sorry about that,” I mumbled, embarrassed to need her assistance. The doctor had given me a note excusing me from classes this week while I was supposed to be taking it easy, but I couldn’t afford to sit around in my dorm room doing nothing.

“Holy shit, Luz, what happened to you?!” a familiar voice called out from across the way.

Aaron bounded over with the energy of a Goldendoodle but with concern written all over his face. “I know you said you hurt your ankle, but . . .” He trailed off as he took me in with wide eyes, brown hair falling in front of them.

I plastered on a grimace and offered a shrug. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I’ll be back on my feet in no time.”

Autumn coughed behind me while he looked at my crutches skeptically.

“Can I offer you a hand?” he said earnestly, causing me to roll my eyes.

Ignoring his offer, I pushed my crutches into the ground and propelled myself forward. The only way I was going to get used to the things was to keep using them. That and something in my gut still told me to keep Aaron at a distance.

He and Autumn followed me cautiously, one at my side and the other at my back, and I pretended not to see their outstretched arms as they waited for me to topple over at any moment.

There were a few more close calls, and by the time I finally arrived back at the dorm, my armpits ached, and I was uncomfortable and sweaty despite the early November chill in the air. But I made it on my own. At this rate, it would only take me another couple of hours to recover before my evening class.

Aaron stood outside our dorm, rubbing the back of his neck as he took in my flustered state.

“Are you sure I can’t give you a hand getting to class later, Luz? I feel bad watching you hobble around campus.”

I attempted to wave him off and nearly lost control of one of the crutches, barely managing to stop myself from tumbling over. “I’ll be fine, but the three of us should grab breakfast tomorrow. It’s been too long, and Autumn and I need to hear all about how Halloween was.”

Aaron’s eyes lit up like a small child’s at Christmas. “That sounds great! Our usual spot tomorrow, then?”

I nodded along with a big smile and left Autumn to wrap up some pleasantries with Aaron while I made my way to the elevators, knowing she would catch up with me.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, as the saying goes.

The days dragged by slowly.

Locke was conspicuously absent once again, leaving Dominic to lecture in his place, which somehow felt less satisfying than it did before. Although my ankle was already starting to feel better, it still took me three times as long to get anywhere, so most of the time I resigned myself to studying in my room.

Having been cooped up all week, something inside me was looking forward to the meeting with Alister, though I was loath to admit it, and I found myself nervously counting the minutes until three o’clock on Thursday afternoon.

It was an unseasonably warm day, so I had chosen to wear a pair of bike shorts with an oversized collegiate-style Hollow Oak crewneck and my birthday present from Autumn, a pair of white-and-green New Balance 550s.

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