Chapter 121

KATHERINE.

Unfortunately, the weekend had gone by in a blur so I was back in school. Uncle Lander had driven me to school and Aunt Vivian and Kit had tagged along, so I had spent almost half an hour saying goodbye to them.

Now I was making my way over to my dorm room and missing home already. The first thing I saw when I opened the door was Lenore’s bags on boxes and I smiled at the fact that she’d moved back in before my gaze settled on Satomi who was sitting on her bed and currently frowning at me. “Ugh,” she groaned as her shoulders sagged like I just ruined whatever plans she’d had and got to her feet.

“You too,” I muttered while she headed for the door, giving me a dirty look, which I returned, before she left the room. Then I walked over to my dressing room to return the things I’d taken home and after going back to the room minutes later to see that Lenore still wasn’t there, I sat on my chaise lounge, waiting for her to get back because I figure she had to be somewhere close since I met Satomi here.

My gaze slid over to her boxes and I realized that some of them were wrapped gift boxes when I noticed the note hanging on one that said ‘For Theo’, his face popped up in my mind and I smiled. I should go see him.

****

The library was pristine when I got there and if I hadn’t been here when the malevolent ghost attacked, I wouldn’t have believed it happened here. The shelves had been arranged and filled with books, and students were moving about, making the building feel alive in a much better way than the malevolent spirit did. “This should be your dorm room,” I said to Theo when I spotted him at the stone table.

Without glancing over his shoulder, he heaved a sigh and said, “And there goes the peace.” He then glanced over his shoulder just as I got to him and I flashed him a smile.

“Aww, you missed me?” I asked and he blinked at me, but his mouth twitched into an almost smile for a moment. His hair looked extra shiny today and I swallowed as I remembered how soft they’d felt in my hands ‘that’ day.

“Why have you made it your life’s mission to bother me?” he replied and I shrugged, my smile widening before I took a seat next to him. The thought of running my hands through his hair came to mind but I quickly dispelled it

“Why not?” That earned me a head shake from him before I glanced around at the books neatly arranged on the shelves and when I returned my attention to him, I said, “I do not believe you did all this by yourself.” He didn’t respond to that, but gave me an expression that seemed to ask ‘Why are you here?’. The only reason I’d come here was to see him and I did ‘not’ want to say that.

I glanced at the table and saw that he was marking down places on a school map and when I saw the list of missing students, my smile slipped off. “What have you found out about the missing students?”

He also glanced at the list and his shoulders sagged a bit. “... Not much. Just where they were last seen or seen heading to.”

“And where is that?”

“Clearberry.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I remembered Mara Blackwood, the lady of the lake, and the lifeless look in her eyes as she headed toward the dark forest. “That was where Chelsea was last seen,” I muttered and the fact that she was dead made tears burn my eyes. I blinked them away before they could fall, hating the fact that the school had let her die and wasn’t even going to find her killer. I didn’t know where the rest of the students that had gone missing with Chelsea had been seen last though, and before I could ask, Theo spoke.

“That was where all of them were last seen. All the students that went missing in the past too went missing in or around that area.”

My brows snapped together because this was the first time I’d heard of that and I shifted in my seat. “What about the students that went missing in Dumein and Staerdale?” I replied and he pressed his lips together.

“They don't have a Clearberry, but they do have a forest like Pinebush.”

“Pinebush?” I asked before realizing that was the real name of the dark forest and my eyes went round. “I– Could they be in the dark forest?”

“The only way to be sure would be to check,” he said before leveling me with a look as I opened my mouth, wanting to say we should go check. “No one goes into the dark forest, Katherine. There are things far scarier than malevolent spirits in there.”

“...And if they’re in there?”

“Then I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do.”

****

There was nothing we could do if the missing students were in the dark forest and there was nothing the school would do because they didn’t consider those students to be ‘important’ and they obviously knew the person behind it. Theo had told me to not even think about going into the dark forest – he’d really driven it home – and I wasn’t going to. However, I couldn’t help but feel that we were just leaving the missing students to die if they were truly there… and I’d be left to die if the person responsible for taking them decided to take me too.

I sucked in a breath and pushed away from the tree I was leaning against before I began to head toward Stavenger Hall with those thoughts swirling in my mind. A flash of golden hair caught my attention, making me pause, and my mind went blank when I saw Blake taking a seat on one of the benches that lined the path while his hand was pressed to the side of his head. I scowled and began to march towards him. It seemed like he had a headache and unfortunately for him, I was about to make it worse.

“Blake,” I angrily called out when I was close enough and he looked up from his phone before giving me a small smile. “What the hell is your problem?” I burst out as I came to a stop and his smile slipped off before he shot me a confused look. “Don’t give me that stupid look.”

He let out a harsh breath and sat upright on the bench. “Look–”

“No, you ‘look’,” I cut him off and he raised a brow. “What the fuck?! I’m not even going to bring up the fact that you abandoned me when I was hanging off a fucking cliff, but seriously what the fuck is your problem? Don’t you think we need to talk about this?” I gestured at the both of us and he tipped his head to the side. He looked bored and slightly annoyed now and I had the urge to slap the expression off his face.

“And what is that?” he asked monotonously and my frown deepened while irritation pricked at me. “I don’t know how or why you got it in your head that we’re mates, but we’re not.”

“Is this you rejecting me?” I asked and he made a frustrated noise.

“It’s me telling you that you’re wrong.” So that was the angle he’d decided to go with. Unbelievable. The least he could do was tell me he didn’t want to be my mate.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I bit out and he gave me a blank stare. I couldn’t believe that I’d thought he was nice… that I’d developed a crush on him.

“Walk away, Katherine.”

“Fuck you, Blake,” I replied and he heaved a sigh before getting to his feet and rushing off. “Asshole!” I hated him… I hated him so much.

Seething, I turned around and made my way over to my dorm. Lenore still wasn’t in the room and I was grateful for that because after I shut the door behind me, I screamed, releasing the anger that had built up in me.