Page 60 of The Pretty Savage

My heart had a problem with killing him, but that didn't mean I couldn't cause havoc and uncover all those nitty-gritty details Heinrich needed. And if he still wanted Adrian Zylla dead, then he could send one of his other pets to do it, because I wasn't going to. And the moment I got back to my room I was going to go through the information that was already given to me again.

There were sparse details about Tyler's time here, but I was going to use it and find out what happened to my childhood friend. There had to be something more in the dean's office, and if my memory served correctly, there was a cabinet with all the student files against the wall next to the desk. The chances of Andries keeping anything about Tyler were slim, but I had to check.

If not there, then his laptop maybe. I just couldn't leave this place without checking.

They told me he had disappeared, just simply vanished one night and no one knew where he went. I wouldn't have blamed him if he did, but the Tyler I knew would have found a way to contact me without alerting The Schatten. The Tyler I knew would have never left me behind to suffer at the hands of The Schatten, because he knew what they were and what they would create if they kept me.

So I refused to believe their lies, and I refused to believe that my best friend would just vanish without a word. He would've left a note—something.

Heinrich said the Zylla family was involved in Tyler’s disappearance, but I couldn't trust him either. I couldn't trust anyone until I found concrete evidence that could support Heinrich’s claims, because from what I had seen of the Academy so far was that it held so many secrets etched into the dark walls of its buildings, and one wrong move could cost you your life.

I was surrounded by killers right now. I couldn't just approach this like every other mission I had been on.

There were no backup plans I could fall on if shit went sideways. If someone figured out who I was and why I was here. I couldn't exactly just jump off the cliff and disappear into the night if Adrian or one of his friends decided I was as good as dead.

I wasn't going to make assumptions about him and his involvement in Tyler's disappearance, but I obviously couldn't trust him, and he made it clear that he hated me. That he wanted nothing to do with me. Which only added fuel to the anger I felt over the things he failed to mention.

It was silly, feeling this betrayed when he didn't exactly promise me anything. We weren't together, he wasn't mine, and he didn't need to tell me what he was doing or with whom, but the way he touched me last night, the way he held me, and the way he murmured soothing words made me think I had maybe misjudged him. That he maybe carried a mask around other people but was different behind closed doors.

But this morning proved otherwise.

So until I figured out what was going on here, he had to stay away from me. I wasn't going to jeopardize this mission just to get a taste of something that could never belong to me. And Adrian Zylla could never and would never be mine. That was clear as day.

So instead of sitting in the corner of the library I found after history class, I marched across campus toward the cemetery Dante had mentioned, ready to get there before he did. I trusted no one in this place and least of all people that held secret underground fights and were involved in something as shady as The Schatten itself was.

My head turned up toward the sky and my breath hitched in my throat at the sight in front of me. Well, more like the sight above me, and I couldn't look away.

Two eagles, not too far away, were soaring through the sky, low enough for me to see the white marks on their necks and their tails. Their calls echoed around me, and I stood frozen in the spot even as other students rushed next to me, giving me dirty looks because I was blocking the path leading toward the main building.

They looked so beautiful. So free up there in the sky as the snow fell, dancing on the wind with no care in the world.

I wanted to have that, to be so free, so unabashedly loose with nothing holding me back. I envied the power they emanated, ruling over us without ever having to lift a finger. I envied these beautiful creatures, because they had everything I ever wanted.

But I didn't have time to dwell on things I couldn't change, or to envy those that had what I so desperately wanted. My phone rang in the back pocket of my pants, the reminder I had set to go and meet with Dante alerting me it was almost time, and I started walking again, peeling my eyes off of the pair soaring high up in the sky, uncaring for anything else in this world.

When I was just a child, I would sit by the window in that massive house at The Schatten Estate, staring at the backyard where crows gathered, just mingling around, looking at the mansion we were secluded in. Their dark, beady eyes should've scared me, but even as a child I could recognize how smart they were, how much power they held because people often underestimated them due to their size and the sheer fact that they were birds and not human beings.

I decided then and there that I would be just like them—seemingly harmless on the outside, but deadly on the inside. When my training started I held on to that promise, and it was what landed me in the top-ranking line, ready to join the agents in the field. I just never realized how much trouble that was going to bring my way.

I turned around, looking at the spot where the eagles were, but I couldn't see them anymore. I wondered what they were doing here, considering they usually migrated farther south during the winter to look for fresh food and water, but I had a feeling that these forests still had enough wildlife they could hunt and the lake underneath wasn't exactly frozen yet.

Maybe they had their nest somewhere close by? These mountains went high above the Academy, the top hiding behind the misty clouds, shrouded away from the human eye, and even though it looked mesmerizing, I wouldn't want to be trapped somewhere up there during the winter. Not when the wind relentlessly swept over the mountain and especially not as the snow started falling faster, covering the ground more and more with a white blanket.

I was thankful my boots could sustain this kind of weather, but I had a feeling I would have to buy some warmer clothes, at least until the rest of my things would arrive. I didn't expect them to come within a day or two, but if they weren't here by the end of this week, then I would have a real problem.

Most of my weapons were in those trunks I left with Alena to be sent to the Academy, since I couldn't exactly bring them with me on an airplane, and I only had a gun and a few throwing knives I had managed to get while in Frankfurt, along with the one I had strapped to my thigh right now. But it wasn't enough.

Nowhere near enough, especially since I had a feeling that whoever had killed Rebecca would come back, and I wasn't planning on being a sitting duck while someone tried to kill me. To make matters worse, Rebecca knew how to fight. She gave me hell while we fought and I couldn't understand how someone could overpower her and kill her in such a brutal way.

Unless… Unless there is more than one person, I thought to myself.

But as soon as the thought popped inside my head, I shook it off, refusing to think about it right now. I had a list of things I had to do, and worrying about some random girl's murder wasn't one of them. It shook me, that I could admit, but not because I wasn't used to death, but because of the way it was done.

I would need to check in with Alena in a day or two, so maybe I could ask her and see what she knew about it. There was no way in hell we had a rogue agent working alone. Heinrich was too careful to let something like that slip by. Those that managed to run away always returned back—either on their own two feet or in a body bag. There was no other way.

I looked to my right as I passed the admin building, rounding the corner slowly. My eyes focused on the windows on the upper floors, trying to figure out which one was Andries’s office. I was far too tired when I just arrived to pay attention to all the details, and I would need to find a way to walk through the building again and figure out where things were located. There would be alarms, that I had no doubt about, and I would need to disable them if I wanted to get into that office.

Andries was an asshole, but he wasn't an idiot, and the files I had on the Zylla family told me Gerard Zylla valued Andries more than some of his other soldiers, and I wondered what that was about. Andries wasn't part of his family, and I couldn't imagine that Adrian liked the man either, considering his father seemed to care more about the dean of the Academy than his own son.

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