by W. J. May
That being said...it wasn’t entirely true. While they might not have been allowed to join up with the Council until after graduation, the children got nothing but special treatment.
All-access passes into the sacred halls of the Oratory, private lessons from some of the greatest supernatural talents of all time. Classroom attendance was nothing more than a suggestion. Teachers and disciplinarians routinely looked the other way.
It was a charmed life. But in no way did that extend to murder.
Doesn’t matter what they think. I’ll just prove I didn’t do it by hauling in the real murderer myself. They’ll be so grateful, not only will they apologize but they’ll probably—
“Missing something?”
She bolted upright to see Julian leaning casually in the doorframe, watching her silent scheming with an affectionate smile on his face. There was a bag in one hand and a tiny silver device in the other. She realized what it was just as he tossed it into her hand.
“My phone!” She clasped it protectively to her chest, vowing never to part ways again. “How did you—”
“I saw you had to leave in a bit of a hurry. Thought you might want a few things.” He swept inside, setting the bag in the middle of the bed. “Consolation gift. You had a tough morning.”
She lit up with delight, tearing into the familiar wrapping. It was a cupcake from her favorite bakery on Carnaby Street. Neon pink and covered in sprinkles. She could just imagine how he must have looked standing in line to buy it. Just him and a bunch of nine-year-old girls.
“Carter had the same idea,” she told him as she bit into it with a grin. “Kept force-feeding everyone doughnuts—like they were going to forget what we were actually doing there.”
The smile faded slightly as she choked down a lump of frosting. There would be a few blessed minutes when she’d forget—then it all came rushing back to her again.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there,” Julian said softly. “I only got back to London this morning.”
“They sent you back to Bulgaria?”
He nodded, fiddling with the ribbon on the bag. There was a delicacy to the way he was holding his right shoulder. Like the bone itself had been recently pulled out of place.
“Is everything okay?” she asked pryingly. Usually when someone in her family devoted that much time to a single country, it resulted in a change of government.
He flashed a quick smile, scooping off a finger of frosting for himself. “I want to know if everything’s okay with you.”
The cupcake went back into the bag as she lowered her head with a sigh. It was one thing to relive everything with Natasha. It was quite another to talk it out with Julian. And while she was only planning on giving the broad strokes, once she started speaking she found it impossible to stop.
Words spilled out of her mouth in a jumble as she found herself going through everything, moment by moment. Remembering useless details and cataloguing nonsense observations that she’d all but forgotten at the time. The way the castle had seemed too quiet and she’d almost gone back to the dorms before Madame Elpis could catch her out of bed. The way her steps clattered noisily on the tile floor—even more so because she was convinced there was a rock in her shoe.
When she got to the body itself, the rambling reached an all-time high. She wanted to check for a pulse, but was too afraid to touch it. At first she thought he’d spilled his coffee, but then she realized it was blood. Why did blood look so dark in the moonlight? It was almost brown, when the movies always showed it as a bright red.
The agents were summarized quickly. Her uncle was just as protective as the rest of them, and she didn’t want to lose him in a fit of rage the way she’d lost her parents. The interrogation was quick, but thorough. She almost mentioned the shadow, but decided to keep it to herself.
Julian was a good listener. One of the best. Even Jason, who didn’t customarily open himself up to people, had occasionally found himself lying on his uncle’s couch. Head tilted back on the cushions, hands waving in the air. Like some impromptu therapy session, a wolf curled by his legs.
When she finished, he nodded slowly—eyes shining with concern. He’d seen as much from the Bulgarian safe-house. As soon as Devon texted him, he’d started watching from afar. But it was quite another thing to hear it from the girl’s mouth. The same girl he used to read bedtimes stories.
“The first time I saw a body...I thought something had spilled in his face.” He glanced out the window a moment before turning back with a sad smile. “I didn’t understand the blood either.”
Aria nodded fervently. Somehow, sharing that one particular detail helped most of all.
“The agents didn’t give him a second glance. They knew immediately what had happened.”
“Yeah, well, you get used to it pretty quickly.” Julian’s eyes swept around the room, lingering on the mountains of nail polish and teenage posters taped to the wall. “This used to be my room.”
Aria nodded practically. “Look about the same?”
He flashed her a smile. “You think your dad doesn’t know you sabotaged the lock on that window?” he quipped teasingly. “I can see it from here.”
Aria shrugged with a coy grin.
Since they were teenagers, Julian Decker and Devon Wardell had been inseparable. Closer than partners, closer than blood. Kind of like her and Benji. Maybe even more.
“Aunt Angel says one day you and my dad are going to run away together and build some kind of clubhouse—a midlife testament to childhood regression.” Aria dug her finger into the corner of the bag. “She says we’ll likely never see either of you again.”
“That’s true,” Julian said seriously, pushing to his feet. “I’m sorry for it, but there’s nothing to be done. In the meantime, enjoy your family while you can.”
“Thanks, Uncle Jules.” She headed out after him. “And...thanks for the cell phone.”
He pulled open the door with a wink.
“Don’t tell your dad.”
THE PAIR OF THEM HEADED downstairs, to see Rae and Devon whispering together in the kitchen. One was holding a cell phone. The other was absentmindedly twirling a knife.
Both stopped talking immediately when they entered, glancing up in surprise.
“Jules.” It wasn’t often someone entered Devon Wardell’s house without him knowing about it. “What are you doing here? I thought you were still—”
“Change of plans,” Julian replied simply. “At any rate, it sounds like things are more interesting back here in England. Couldn’t keep myself away.”
Devon nodded slowly, glancing at his friend’s dislocated shoulder before discreetly nudging his wife. She swept forward without a word, embracing him warmly, healing at the same time.
“I’m glad you’re here. We could use another pair of eyes.”
Especially when those particular eyes could see into the future.
“Are you guys finished plotting?” Aria said lightly, studying their faces to pick up on any subtle clues. “You could always clue me in—”
“Nonsense,” Rae declared, clapping her hands with a brisk smile. “No one’s plotting anything. Now what would you like do today my darling, darling dear?”
Aria stifled a smile. ‘Darling, darling dear’ only made an appearance when things were really bad. She and the psychic exchanged a comical look as her parents flashed matching smiles.
“Together?” She lifted her eyebrows doubtfully. “You guys are going to be home?”
“Absolutely—nothing but free time.” Devon kept his eyes on his daughter, angling himself purposely away from the clock. “So what’s it going to be? Hiking in Angola? Kite-surfing in the Bering Strait? There’s also, you know...board games and stuff.”
It took everything Aria had to keep from laughing. Give her parents a bomb ticking down beneath a stadium of people and they wouldn’t break a sweat. Give them free time, though?
“Aren’t you supposed to be on a mission in Malawi?” s
he asked.
Devon’s face stilled for a moment before he shook his head. “That’s Gabriel, not me.”
“Uh-huh.” With her dad’s own tatù, she could hear Gabriel still ranting to Natasha across the street. If he was supposed to be in Eastern Africa, it was news to him. “And you,” she turned to her mother, “aren’t you supposed to be headed back to France?”
Rae opened her mouth, then turned helplessly to Julian—who shrugged with a smile.
“What do you expect—you’ve got a smart kid.” He grabbed a water bottle from the fridge then breezed towards the front door. “I’ve got some things to take care of at home, but I’ll be back later tonight.” He gave Aria a tight hug as he passed. “Hang in there, kid. We’ve all been through it.”
Her lips curled up in a grateful smile. Somehow, that last part helped most of all.
As soon as the door closed behind him, she launched into her interrogation anew. Hoping to tap back into her parents’ rage, or at the very least catch them off guard.
“So who were those guards? Maize and...?”
Rae hesitated a moment, then answered.
“Windall.” She glanced at her husband uncomfortably, then settled down at the kitchen table. Aria was quick to do the same. “What happened at the school wasn’t about you, Arie. Those two have been after Carter to resign for years. You found the body—it was a perfect opportunity.”
Aria’s mouth fell open in shock. “They actually want him to resign? But they seemed to respect him so much.”
“They do respect him,” Rae said quickly. “But those two and a few others aren’t comfortable with the idea of a single family having so much control. They been dissatisfied for a long time.”
“—shouldn’t even be agents,” Devon muttered under his breath.
“Dev,” Rae said sharply.
“What does that mean?” Aria pounced on the opportunity. “What do you mean they shouldn’t even be agents?” When she didn’t get an answer, she pressed her palms into the top of the table. “They got me interrogated on the front lawn by Aunt Natasha. I have a right to know.”
Again, her parents shared a quick look. Then Rae leaned forward with a sigh.
“They were on the wrong side of the battle at the sugar factory.”
For a moment, Aria was unable to speak. Their faces flashed through her mind. Hard and cold. Dislikable. But never would she have guessed...
“They fought for Cromfield?”
Devon nodded grimly.
“They weren’t the only ones.”
To be honest, the possibility had never occurred to her. To an inexperienced mind, battles were black and white. All the good guys won, and all the bad guys died. She never imagined there was an in between. That people were left standing on both sides.
“What happened to the others?” she asked incredulously.
“Most of them died.”
There was a quiet pause.
“...and the ones who didn’t?”
There was a sudden buzzing and Devon reached into his pocket, glancing at his phone before looking back up with a frown. “You haven’t seen your friends this morning, have you?”
Aria shook her head in confusion. “No. Why?”
“They’ve all been marked as truant.”
Truant? With the campus on lockdown?
She was about to pull out her own phone and see what was going on, when she glanced out the window over his shoulder and saw a familiar glint of red hair hiding in the bushes. She was on her feet a second later, edging around her father as she bolted up the stairs.
“Nope—haven’t seen them! Good luck!”
She took the stairs three at a time, darted into her bedroom, leapt straight out the open window, scrambled across the newly renovated roof, then went shimmying down on the other side.
Her friends were waiting for her. All three of them. Plus James.
“Ugh, what are you doing here?” she asked in disgust.
He gave her a superior smirk. “You mean, why am I spending my time in the company of a known felon?”
She was about to clock him upside the head, when Benji ruffled her hair.
“There she is—our little inmate.” The entire group fell silent and he glanced around in surprise. “I’m sorry, are we not joking about that yet?”
Lily swatted him before giving Aria a tight hug. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. I can’t believe they interrogated you!”
“Lucky it was just Natasha,” Benji said wisely, glancing between her and Jason. “It could have been a lot worse.”
Aria glanced up nervously, but Jason was staring fixedly at the ground.
“Yeah, lucky for us.”
She stared at him a second longer before turning back to the others.
“So how bad is it at school? Does everyone think I did it?”
There was an awkward silence none of them seemed willing to fill.
“Some of them might,” Benji said hesitantly. He backtracked quickly at the look on her face. “I mean, they don’t really think you killed him. They just don’t know what to make of the fact that you found him. And after your outburst in his class earlier that day...”
She let out a miserable sigh.
“That’s just perfect. My parents are inside, plotting to torch half the Council for daring to put me through this, while the kids at school are placing bets on whether I snapped the man’s neck!”
James took a step backward, looking rather pale.
“Is that what happened?” he asked softly. “Did someone snap his neck?”
Lily slipped her arm around him, while keeping her eyes on his sister.
“No one is going to pin this on you,” she said fiercely. “We simply won’t allow it.”
“And how do you suggest we stop it?” Benji interjected. “You know how the Guilder rumor-mill works! The thing has a life of its own!”
“What are you saying?” Lily protested. “That she should just take this lying down?”
‘Of course not. But it’s pointless to try stopping these things before their time. Get out your side of the story, then ignore the rest. It will run itself out sooner or later. In the meantime—”
“No,” Aria said quietly, “Lily’s right. We need to stop this thing before it gets off the ground, and there’s only one way to do it.”
Jason shook his head blankly, looking at her for the first time. “How’s that?”
They locked eyes for a split second before she cocked her head with a little smile.
“We’re going to find the real killer.”
Chapter 5
Normally, if someone were to propose a covert manhunt for a supernatural murderer, their friends would step in to intervene. At best, they’d talk them down. At worst, they’d question their sanity. But Aria and her friends weren’t exactly like most other teenagers their age.
“That’s a great idea!” Lily exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of it before?”
“Find him?” James repeated blankly. Despite his other neuroses, the boy sometimes acted as an unexpected voice of reason. “You want to find the man who snuck on to campus and killed one of our teachers in the Privy Council’s own backyard?”
“Brilliant,” Benji said approvingly. “We should get started right away. We’ll need weapons, snacks, and other provisions. Mainly coffee. We should get that one settled first.”
“Yeah, but you want to find him—”
“What makes you think we’ll be able to find him, when half the Council’s been called back and they still don’t have any leads?” Jason asked curiously, breaking his no eye-contact rule to look at Aria for the first time. “My mom saw everything in your memory. Your mom will be sure to get it from her. Between that and Uncle Julian watching the future—”
“We’re going to be the ones to find him, because we know something that the rest of them don’t,” Aria said with a superior smirk. “I saw someone leaving the history building the night of the murder. Th
ey slipped out the back quick as a shadow, but they were there.”
The others stared at her in shock.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Lily finally managed, glancing towards her house like she was considering remedying the situation right then. “Arie, it’s an official investigation—”
“You weren’t at the interrogation,” Aria interrupted. “There was no way they were going to believe me. The agents who brought me in were just aching for me to fail. They accused our parents and Carter of nepotism, and said the results of the memory tatù didn’t mean anything because they came from my aunt. If I’d told them I saw some kind of shadow, they’d laugh in my face.”
The rest of the friends absorbed this with various levels of unease. As fast as they’d latched on to the idea of a secret investigation, they didn’t want to impede the real one. If there was evidence out there and they were caught withholding it...there was no end to the trouble it could cause.
“You’re sure you saw someone?” Benji asked under his breath, hesitating nervously but always the first one to stand by her side. “You’re absolutely sure?”
Aria nodded quickly, eager to get him on board. “Positive. They were running along the other side of the history building, back across the lawn. I couldn’t get a look at their face, but they were moving so fast it had to be some kind of ink.”
“Well that’s a start right there,” Lily said hopefully. “Not too many people out there with a speed tatù. If we could get a hold of the PC records, that should help us narrow it down.”
Aria beamed back at her, but the others weren’t entirely convinced. Jason in particular looked highly uncomfortable—like certain parts of the story weren’t adding up.
“A shadow streaking away from the scene of a murder...and my mother didn’t see that?”
Natasha Stone might have been relatively new to the supernatural community, but there was a reason she was one of the most in-demand agents the PC had ever seen. The woman was a force of nature. And that tatù of hers didn’t miss a thing.
...usually.
Aria looked away with a blush. “She was...focused on other things.”