“Some of you are wondering why you’ve been called from your classes this morning. Some of you are not,” Blackwood says, scanning the room. A handful of teachers stand against the stone walls between the somber portraits and arched windows—they stare at us and not at Blackwood. Conner is one of them, and he has the same probing look he wore when he was assessing me. I want to sink down in my chair, but I’m sure one of the teachers would notice and interpret it as an admission of guilt.
“A student was murdered last night,” Blackwood says without any fanfare, and surprise ripples through the crowd. “Stefano,” she continues. The students throw questioning glances at one another, shifting in their seats, and it seems like everyone starts whispering at once.
Layla looks at me in shock and I do my best to mimic her. Damn she’s good.
Blackwood clears her throat once more and the room instantly falls back into uncomfortable silence. “I am severely disappointed that we find ourselves in this position yet again.” She sounds more annoyed than upset. “You all have become too comfortable here, too sure that you are untouchable. I assure you that you’re not. Our tactics during the course of this investigation will not be typical, so do not presume. The guilty party or parties may think they’ve evaded discovery. But in the end, we will find you out and you will be made an example of.” For a split second, her eyes settle on me, and I can feel the blood drain from my cheeks.
When Blackwood mentioned student deaths to me in her office the day I arrived, I didn’t for one minute imagine she meant murder. My stomach churns uncomfortably, and I fight the urge to shift around, rub my hands over my face, do anything that might show how sick I feel about this whole situation.
“Your privacy is revoked, and you’ll be subject to tests and observation whenever and wherever Dr. Conner and I choose. And just because you can’t see guards, that doesn’t mean they’re not following you.” Blackwood smooths a wrinkle in her blazer. “For the time being, all meals will be served in your respective suites rather than the dining hall. That is all you need to know; you may go.”
I look at Layla, hoping she’ll explain the brevity of that speech and the cold cruelty of Blackwood’s demeanor. There was no sensitivity to the fact that students have just lost their classmate, no reassurance that we’ll be safe; in fact, it felt like the opposite—we’ve been assured that we’re not only in danger, but also potential suspects. However, Layla just stands and heads for the door like all the other students. No one says a word. No one looks at anyone else.
Someone taps my shoulder and I nearly jump out of my skin. My heart sinks when I whip around to find Conner right behind me.
“Follow me, November,” he says, and I catch Ash watching me from across the room.
* * *
Conner leads me back to Blackwood’s office. I take a seat in the armchair in front of Blackwood’s desk while Conner settles into a chair near the wall, his folder and pen at the ready. The fireplace is ablaze with crackling and snapping wood—a familiarity that I would usually find comforting. But the coldness in Blackwood’s and Conner’s expressions and the heavy stillness suck any sense of comfort out of the room.
We all sit there silently for so long that I wonder if this horrible moment somehow got frozen in time.
“So…,” Blackwood finally says. “You left your room last night after curfew, November.”
My pulse throbs in my temples and my stomach twists uncomfortably. I’ve always been good in conversations with principals and deans. And I’ve definitely been in trouble enough to know my way around them. But that was back when the worst thing that could happen to me was suspension, not an eye-for-an-eye punishment system. “Yes, I did.”
Blackwood folds her hands on her desk. “And a student is dead.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
I hesitate. “You just told us in the assembly.”
“Hmmm,” she says, and Conner takes notes.
I immediately regret my answer. I feel like I’m not only sweating all over her office, but that every single thought I’m having is knowable by her. The only tactic I really have is to take Layla’s advice. “Hang on. You don’t think I had anything to do with what happened, do you?”
“Oh, don’t I?” Blackwood says, and gives me a warning look.
“You read people or analyze them—you both do.” I wave my hand to include Conner. “And I know I’m new. But if you’re any reader of character, you know without a shadow of a doubt that I didn’t do it.”
“Don’t you dare suppose what I know or what I don’t,” Blackwood says.
“Don’t you remember what happened with Matteo? I didn’t even want to hit him in the face. You practically had to threaten me to get me to retaliate. If I’m uncomfortable punching someone, killing a person is an impossibility.”
Blackwood purses her lips and sits back in her chair. “Actually, if you planned to attack Stefano, the very first thing you might do is create a situation meant to illustrate how nonaggressive you are.”
I try to adjust my position, but there’s no place to shift to and I just wind up looking more agitated than I did a few seconds before. “I wouldn’t even be able to think of that, much less—”
“Enough,” Blackwood says, and her word is like a slap, which at least tells me that my naïveté must be convincing enough to frustrate her. “What were you doing out of your room last night?”
My heart races. There’s no way around it. “I was meeting Ash,” I answer.
“Where?”
“In the vine courtyard.”
She pauses a moment. “Why?”
I cringe reflexively. I’m in murky freaking waters right here. “To find out more about the school.”
“You were told that anything you need to know about the school, you could ask Layla.”
“I…well…”
“Unless you mean to learn more about the students, which I have already told you is strictly forbidden.” Her tone harshens and she leans forward.
“I just…I wanted to learn more about what the school is really like.” Here we go.
“By breaking the rules.”
“No,” I say carefully. “I’m not saying that it’s good to break the rules. But if I’m going to live here with these people who’ve known each other for years and understand the way this place works, I have a ton of catching up to do. And I’m the only new advanced student. Fifty percent of me was just curious.”
“And the other fifty percent?”
“I didn’t mean that literally.”
“But you did mean there was another reason.”
Great. I’m stepping in one sinkhole after another. “Ash is interesting…I, well…He’s cute.” True, but totally meaningless. And it places me well within the clueless range.
Blackwood leans back in her chair like she’s wondering how deep I’m going to dig myself in—I’m wondering the same thing. “Dating is not allowed,” she says flatly.
“But looking is, right?” I know I’m pushing it here, but if I don’t sell this reason, she’s going to go digging for another.
For a second, she doesn’t move. Then she says, “I’m going to lay this out for you as plainly as I can, November, because otherwise I fear you will yammer on about every kind of nonsense, and I don’t have time for nonsense. Last night you were out of your room. Last night one of our students was murdered. If there is some evidence or reason that I should not suspect you, you should state it now.”
“I…” I’m completely at a loss. “I’m sorry I left my room and broke the rules. I shouldn’t have. But I absolutely did not kill anyone. I wouldn’t do that. I just wouldn’t.”
“Did Layla know you were gone?”
I resist the urge to rub my forehead, because I can’t show them how rattled I am. This is bad. Real bad. �
��No. But she heard me when I came back.”
“Did you speak?” Blackwood asks.
I nod. “I told her I was out with Ash and she got angry.”
“Did she report you?”
“I told her she didn’t have to because a guard had already seen me.”
“Which hallways did you take that night?”
It takes all my willpower to stay still. “I took the staircase closest to my room.” Does she know I’m lying? Can she see it?
“And Ashai?”
I pause. “I don’t know.”
“But you were with him.”
“I was paying too much attention to not getting caught myself that I honestly couldn’t say which way he went.”
“But he came and left when you did?”
“I assume so.”
“But you don’t know.”
I want to say something that prevents Ash from looking suspect. The last thing I need in this dangerous situation is to make an enemy out of him. But for the life of me, I can’t think of anything. “No, I don’t.”
“Whose idea was it to go to the vine courtyard?”
I tense. “Ash’s. Well, both of ours, really. It’s my favorite place on campus.”
“And Ash was generous enough to break the rules to show it to you?” There is an insistence in her tone, and I know that I’ve somehow made this worse, not better.
“We just thought it would be fun.”
“And how was Ash benefiting from this arrangement?”
She clearly knows him. I shrug as casually as I can in this tension-filled room. “I can’t be sure, but my guess is that he wanted to be the first person to figure out the new girl.”
Blackwood glances at Conner, but her expression reveals nothing of what she might be thinking.
Conner levels his gaze at me. “Did Ashai tell you which way to go?”
The image of Stefano’s body lying on the cold hallway floor flashes through my thoughts. What’s Conner fishing for with a question like that? “Like I said, we were both in a rush to get to our rooms when we got inside. We didn’t really talk.”
By the way Conner looks at me, it’s clear he knows I’ve evaded the question. I also know that he’s not going to let it go unless I turn the tables on them.
I shift the conversation back to Blackwood. “The bigger question no one seems to be asking is why a student died here at all. Because based on what you told me the day I arrived, this isn’t the first death. I know you’ll find me innocent. I have no doubt about that. And whenever you clear my name, I want you to get in touch with my dad. I’m not staying in some remote castle where people attack and kill each other.” I hadn’t realized how badly I’d wanted to say that until it just came tumbling out.
Conner looks at Blackwood. Her hard gaze doesn’t waver. “That’s not for you to decide,” she says.
My voice rises. “Like hell it’s not—”
“No.” Her tone is commanding. “Your family, just like every other, signed a waiver when you were admitted giving the Academy final say in what happens to you while you’re here. I will decide who is guilty. Just as I will decide how much freedom you will have during this investigation. And I most certainly will decide when you can leave. So if I were you, I would stop before I also decide you’re being disrespectful and give you a night in the dungeon to sober up.”
I swallow. The reality that I’m trapped here at Blackwood’s discretion with deadly secret society kids and no way out makes it hard to breathe.
Blackwood holds me in her stern glare. “You may return to your schedule, November. But this conversation is far from over. Also, you’ll have to get by without Layla taking you to your classes for the time being.”
I freeze, instantly worried about Layla and whatever Blackwood is planning. I want to ask, but I’m positive I won’t get an answer.
“And congratulations,” Blackwood continues. “You’re the first student in modern history to accumulate three marks in their first week. Stay tuned for your punishment.”
My stomach drops and I stand up quickly. I can’t get out of this room fast enough.
She pauses. “Unless you’re guilty of Stefano’s murder, in which case your punishment is already decided.”
LAYLA IS STILL nowhere to be seen and it’s well into evening. And with each hour that she’s gone, my anxiety gets incrementally worse. I push the last of my dinner around on my plate as I fidget in my chair at the round table in our common room. Everywhere I went this afternoon the guards were watching me like hawks. To top it off, I’ve been so tense I haven’t had an inch of space to process what I saw and what’s happening.
The door to the suite swings open and my head snaps up from my plate. Only it’s not Layla, it’s Ash. I stand up so fast I almost knock my chair over.
“Are you insane?” I hiss at him. “Don’t you think it’s basically the worst idea in the world for you to be here right now—especially alone, without Layla, on the day that they’re questioning everyone?” The shock is obvious in my voice.
“It would be, if I were the type to get caught. But fortunately, I’m not that type,” Ash says, sounding as calm as I am nervous. “Or at least I wasn’t until someone talked to the headmaster and I received three marks.” He walks past the couch and fireplace, stopping a few feet away from me.
I rub my forehead. For a second I wonder about Conner asking me if Ash told me which way to go and if Ash did have something to do with the murder. Could Ash have set me up? “You know I can’t lie without it showing on my face.”
“So you didn’t lie during your interview?”
“Well…”
He looks at me like I’m an open book. “You lied for you, just not for me?”
I fidget. “That’s not exactly how it went, either.”
Ash takes a step closer and I’m suddenly aware that there are a table and a window behind me and nowhere for me to go if I need to. “As far as I understand it, you didn’t do me the courtesy of telling Blackwood that I was headed to the boys’ dormitory. And not in any way headed in the direction of the hallway where you found Stefano’s dead body.”
I can feel the color drain from my face. “Oh god, you didn’t tell her that—”
There’s a light knock on my door, and we both turn. “May I come in, miss?” Pippa’s voice calls, and as the latch starts to lift all I can think is Please don’t let her have just heard Ash say that I saw the dead body.
Ash ducks into my room and I sit back down at the table, trying as naturally as I can to push my food around on my plate the way I was doing before he showed up.
“Oh, you’re not finished,” Pippa says. “I’ll just turn down your bed and refresh your water—”
“No, I’m done,” I say quickly, and stand up. I smile to ease the nervousness in my rushed response. “Please feel free to take the plates. And there’s no need to turn down my bed. I’ve got it.”
She looks doubtful as she collects the rest of my dinner onto a silver tray. “It won’t take more than a minute.”
“Really, truly,” I say, and keep up my smile until she pulls the door closed behind her.
I run into my room, my heart pounding a mile a minute, only to find Ash lounging on my bed with his arm tucked behind his head.
He reaches out and touches my water glass on my bedside table. “You should have let her give you more water. You’re actually running low.”
My mouth opens. “What is your…What are you doing?”
He looks amused. “Talking to you.”
“How can you be so damn nonchalant about this? Do you know how serious this all is?” The words coming out of my mouth take me by surprise. Usually it’s Emily saying some version of this to me.
Ash props himself up on his elbow—the picture of leisure. “I understand better than yo
u do. But flailing about like a ball of nervous energy isn’t going to make any of it better.”
“Oh, and letting Pippa come in here while you’re lounging on my bed would have been a fantastic idea. You could have gotten us both in trouble again,” I say in frustration.
He stands up. “It’s funny, I didn’t take you as the risk-averse type.”
I run my teeth over my bottom lip. “Normal risk? I’m all in. Death risk? Not a chance.”
Ash steps past me and locks my bedroom door, and I immediately realize my mistake. I willingly sent Pippa away, which means I’m now alone with him when I have every reason to be suspicious of him.
He raises an eyebrow, and I’m guessing that my nervousness at being locked in this room must show on my face. “Then what are you doing at this school? Our entire lives are a death risk.”
Ash is standing so close I could count every one of his long eyelashes if I wanted to. And when I hold my breath for a second too long, I’m positive he notices.
“You know what I mean,” I say in the steadiest voice I can summon.
“No, I really don’t.”
I look from him to the locked door and back again. “Why are you even here, Ash?”
“Layla made it clear to me that I had to take responsibility for asking you to meet me last night.” His expression actually looks sincere for a moment, not like he’s trying to charm me or analyze me.
I feel an immature twinge of relief that Layla’s also mad at him and not just at me.
We stare at each other for a few seconds.
“Did she tell you that I found Stefano?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
“She did.”
“Please tell me you didn’t repeat that to Blackwood.” I can hear the fear in my voice and I’m sure he can, too.
He hesitates for a second before answering. “The only thing I told Blackwood was that we were both in such a rush I didn’t see which way you went.”
Killing November Page 12