Chapter Thirteen

Echo refused to bring us any more food to our room, which I understood. I wouldn’t either. Morrissey did, though—and Jon, of course—and I wondered if that caused a rift between Morrissey and Echo since they were roommates. I hoped not.

"How's Echo?" I asked Morrissey when she dropped off our breakfast Monday morning.

She shrugged, the gesture carrying a lot more meaning than when anyone else did it, because normally she just gave everyone her dark stare.

"I'm sorry about the séance," I told her, like I'd told Seph countless times for the rest of the weekend.

The staff had all come back early Sunday morning, but I didn’t hear about or see Professor Wadluck’s return. He was still missing. So was the headmistress. I’d gone to tell her about what happened to Seph and me and the strange voice in the gym, but Professor Lipskin intercepted me and snapped at me that she was gone for the weekend. I couldn’t find anyone else who wanted to bother to listen to me.

Seph’s nighttime tea was still delivered—by Jon since he was always offering to help. I was glad the headmistress hadn’t forgotten about her, but Seph didn’t want to drink it. She wanted to remember her sleepwalking, so I spelled a rope that literally tied our ankles together at night.

Morrissey nodded and stood there somewhat awkwardly for a moment. This was the first time I’d seen her with her cloak undone, and she looked so much smaller without it. Which was brilliant, in a way. I could tell her magic was powerful, but at first glance, someone could easily underestimate her. A leather cord tied with several teeth weaved through the belt of her red plaid skirt, which was paired with a black sweater. Smiling faintly, she spun on her heel on her way out and shut the door firmly behind her.

I stared after her for a long moment after she had gone, my plate of fried sugary bread and sausage still in my hand. "Why do you suppose she never talks?"

“What are you talking about?” Seph said absently, setting her plate on her desk. “Of course she talks.”

My jaw dropped. “Not to me, she doesn’t. What does she say?”

Seph shrugged. “Not much. Just that she’ll tell me my fortune in exchange for one of my teeth.”

Ohhh, that made sense. "Well, I'm sure she’ll talk once she has something to say to me. She’s probably a great roommate with how quiet she is. Are you wishing she were your roommate instead of me?"

“I’m quite happy with mine, thanks,” she said, pulling her plate closer, “even when she talks my ear off but especially when she gifts me the hair of our enemies.”

“Same. Even when she uses nouns as verbs.” I smiled and then gazed down at my own plate, mostly breads and little cups of different honeys and butters. I hadn't even requested that, but Morrissey had just known, I suppose. She'd paid attention to what I liked. 

My smile vanished. How was it that I had people who cared about me here where my enrollment was just an excuse for murder? I was conning all of them, and it gutted me with what it might do to those I liked if I left here. When I left here. Yesterday’s séance hadn’t really changed anything. Ramsey would still die. But would Seph be okay, or would the nighttime still haunt her?

Seph picked up her plate and dragged herself toward my bed where I was seated. Now that she knew her night misadventures weren’t dreams by giving up the nightly tea, a dark cloud followed her and weighed heavily on her shoulders. I hated it. I wanted my happy-go-lucky roommate back.

But today was day seven, one week to the day she’d started sleepwalking. One week, just like Leo.

"You're sad again," she said.

"More like still." I rested my head on her shoulder when she sat next to me. "I want everything to be simple again, you know? When life felt full and infinite and didn't suffocate with too many questions."

"Yeah. I know." She laid her head on top of mine with a sigh. 

"Ramsey killed my brother, and there isn't a yes no yes no about it," I said simply.

"I agree.” She lifted her head and picked at her food. “There is no maybe in this. Right?"

I groaned. My brain was starting to melt because I had no idea.

We both said the spell over our plates, and when our food remained food, we dug in.

"Want to go to the library before class and do some research?" I asked between bites of biscuit.

"Sure. I can research sleepwalking.” She shoveled up a forkful while looking at me closely. “And if Ramsey’s there again?”

I shrugged, picking up one of my biscuits, still warm and practically falling apart between my fingers. “Attack?”

"I’m glad I’m on your side," she said with raised brows. "And not just because you've saved my life countless times. I want to know what happened and why with your brother almost as much as you do, so I don't—" She broke off, her next bite of sausage falling limp in her hand.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders while mentally filling in the blank for her: so she wouldn't meet Leo's same fate.

* * *

The library was a bust. It turned out I'd already checked out all the books on the onyx stone, and as far as researching how to tell if someone could murder someone but at the same time not murder someone…well, the ravens had just blinked at me like I was an idiot when I'd asked for potential books on the topic.

We were missing something, a key part of what Leo was trying to tell me. But what? I had no idea, because apparently, I wasn't asking the right questions, at least to the ravens.

Then a thought struck, but not the one I wanted.

“Ah.” I slapped my forehead. “I forgot my Death, Dying, and Reliving paper in our room.” It was a reflection report on the cautionary tales we’d heard so far, the scroll rolled up on my desk where I’d told myself I wouldn’t forget it.

“Come on.” Seph grabbed the sleeve of my cloak and pulled. “If we haul balls, we won’t be late.”

“How does one haul balls without said balls?”

Chuckling, we rushed down the crowded hallway bustling with students, giving the gym a wide berth, and pushed into the entryway. It was deserted, everyone else already where they needed to be.

But something sat by the side of the girls' stairs. Something out of place and…wrong.

Seph came to a stop. "Is this some kind of joke?"

I didn't know because I still didn’t know what I was seeing. It looked like a pile of black cloaks from this angle. I came closer, but Steph stayed behind.

"I don't think you should, Dawn."

"Why? It's just someone's dirty laun—" I stopped short, my stomach kicking in on itself.

On the side of the pile, a pair of arms jutted from the sleeves at odd angles, the elbows pointed straight up. Not someone's dirty laundry. Not at all.

Sweat broke out on my body, making me feel hot and cold at the same. My mouth dried up, leaving a bitter taste, and sticking my tongue to the roof. What exactly was I looking at here?

I crept closer, still clinging to a sliver of hope that this wasn't real, that it was staged. But reality bled that hope away. I sucked in a breath, a horrible sense of dread dragging over my flesh. A red curl peeked from one of the folds in the cloak and ran along a line between the stones like blood.

Seph must've seen on my face what I saw because her voice shook violently as she said, "Dawn…"

I knelt, my whole body stiff and jerky, removed from what I was seeing because I still couldn’t make sense of it. It was morning, arguably the busiest time of the day…and no one had seen whatever it was I was seeing? It didn't add up, which was why I peeled back part of the cloak.

My heartbeat stalled. Sounds escaped from the back of my throat, parts of gasps and chokes and words that had no meaning. This wasn't real. Vickie's eyes stared up, glazed with death, and staring up at nothing. but it was the angle of her head, the awful twist of her neck that seared to the backs of my eyelids. Her head lay on the floor, her arms held above her…and the rest of her body that had appeared to be a pile of laundry…

Pressing my lips together tightly, I lifted the hem of her cloak—and immediately dropped it and shrank back.

Seph wretched and stumbled to her hands and knees. I pressed my hands to the cold stone floor while the sight in front of me threatened to summon up everything I'd ever eaten.

Vickie had been bent backwards, nearly snapped in half. Her pelvis jutted up, and her legs, shoulders, and head supported her like a tripod.

What had happened here? I gazed upward, not really seeing anything at first, and then blinked at the stairwell. The same stairwell she'd dangled me off. Had someone done that to her?

I pulled in breath after breath, fighting for each one, because the air seemed to have thinned. Ramsey had been there last night. That couldn't be a coincidence. But why her? Had she gotten in his way this morning? Or was this someone else’s doing?

The Gathering Room's doors opened, and out came Headmistress Millington.  She slammed to a halt and stared at the horrible scene in front of her.

"What—?" She covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I-I…" I shook my head, unable to do anything but kneel there and tremble.

"We found her," Seph whispered to the floor, still on her hands and knees. "We found her like this."

The headmistress pulled her hands down to her sides and fisted them, her shoulders heaving. "To your room. The both of you. I don't want this to spread before I know what happened." Her voice tremored.

Somehow, I found a way to put my legs underneath me, and with the wall of the stairwell's help, I climbed to my feet. My mind buzzed too loudly. My chest pinched too much with nothing but shallow breaths. My movement toward the steps felt like I was wading through honey. All of it was eerily familiar, almost exactly how it had been like after I'd found Leo dead. The shock numbing certain parts of me, but not the ones that hurt the worst. And the face of a killer firmly rooted in my mind. Because if not him, then who? Sure, Vickie probably had enemies for days, but how many of them could kill someone?

Besides, Ramsey had been there while she dangled me from the very steps she'd fallen from. 

The killing rage refueled like I was currently reliving my worst nightmare. I needed to go to him. Ask him questions and then cut him open.

Seph clasped my hand on the way upstairs, her presence a comfort despite my vicious thoughts. When we got to our room, we crossed to our respective beds and sat in stunned silence. After batting at Seph’s cloak strings to try to get her to play, Nebbles gave up and fell asleep on her boot.

“Do you think it was Ramsey?” Seph asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

Seph released a long breath. "I can't stay here anymore. I need to go if it’s going to be like this."

Maybe she was looking for my acceptance, but I couldn't give it to her. She had every right to leave here, more than anyone. But what if I could make it better for her? Today, before the one-week clock ran out? Find answers and erase the threat so she could focus on her necromancy instead of everything else? I owed her that much, and more.

* * *

At lunchtime, a rush of shrill voices came down the hall instead of heading to the Gathering Room. Then something thudded against our door in quick succession.

It was Morrissey, balancing three plates of food between two hands.

"Why is no one going to lunch?" I asked, taking two of the plates from her.

She cocked her head at the hallway as more tense voices floated through.

Vickie. Vickie, Vickie, Vickie. Everyone now knew.

“Thanks for this." I nodded and handed off a plate to Seph, who curled her lip up at it. It was piled with creamy mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans, buttery rolls, and what looked like braised lamb, her favorite. Some of my favorites too. Too bad I’d never eat again after what happened this morning.

Morrissey raised her brows, like maybe I was forgetting something.

"Uh, you want to come in here and eat?" I asked.

She shook her head and frowned, and as she did so, her gaze strayed toward Seph's desk behind me and to the side. She froze, completely immobile, and I turned to look. One of Seph's dolls lay on top surrounded by stacks of books, this one with wavy red hair. Vickie’s hair. And the doll’s legs and arms and back were…twisted.

Without thinking, I snatched the doll off the desk and stuffed it into one of my robe's pockets. Then immediately regretted it at the glint of suspicion in Morrissey's sharp black eyes.

Real smooth. No one would ever suspect a thing of me, especially if I kept that up, and I hadn't even done anything to Vickie. My conscience was slipping as if I already had blood on my hands.

But who had done that to the doll…and to Vickie? Not Seph. She wouldn’t go that far. Besides, she’d been with me the whole morning.

"Well, thanks again." I shut the door in Morrissey’s face maybe a little too quickly, then turned. 

Seph sat on her bed deflated once again, seeming to have zoned out to what had just happened.

"Hungry?" I asked as I crossed to my desk. Had she even seen the doll? I should’ve showed it to her, but the dark cloud hovering over her stopped me.

"No."

"Same."

"I think I might go see if Morrissey will read my fortune from one of my teeth."

"Yeah. Go. What else are we going to do?"

"Think. And I'm so tired of thinking." She stood and crossed to the door, the torchlight dancing over her bald head, then paused. "See you in a bit?"

I nodded. "I'll be here. And just one tooth, okay? I like yours, and I don’t care if that sounds creepy."

She crossed toward me then and threw her arms around me, crushing me to her. "Thank you." 

I hugged her right back, so tight that maybe I could forget everything if I squeezed hard enough. “I’ll compliment you on your teeth any time.”

“That’s not what I meant, dork.” Her voice shook as she pulled away and swiped at her cheeks. Her big dark eyes sparkled as she looked at me. “If I do leave here, I’ll be leaving the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” A small smile tugged at her mouth. “I’m talking about you, Dawn.”

Then she left, leaving me all alone to my thoughts. I hadn’t anticipated making friends while I was here. I’d thought my need for vengeance had completely soured my carefree self and made me a stranger in my own skin. How wrong I was.

I owed it to her to keep her safe. I touched my fingers to the dead man’s hand in my pocket.

Open.

I could end this right now. In a way, this was perfect timing. The juniors were confined to their quarters, too, so with Seph awake and with Morrissey, I was free to shadow-walk.

I pulled out my desk drawer to retrieve my death charms from the velvet bag tucked inside a book—and froze. They were gone. I'd had about twenty of them in here, and every single one was missing.

My mind automatically bounced to Seph again. Had she taken them? But no, she would've asked first. I touched a hesitant finger to the doll in my pocket as a hot, oily feeling sank down into the pit of my stomach. The doll hadn't been lying in view this morning. I would've remembered something like that. Did someone else know Seph's form of doll magic and that was what had killed Vickie? Because Seph wouldn't have done it. She wouldn't. Even when Ramsey had been trying to subdue me in the library, she hadn't really hurt him.

So, who had been in our room? The same person who kept rousing Seph out of her sleep? Ramsey or…or Ryze?

I pinched my lips together and whirled toward the door, my mind made up.

It was time for answers.

And if I got the wrong ones, it was time for punishment.