Chapter 47

VALERIA.

My heart stops beating the moment I hear that statement. Suddenly, my hands are numb, slick with sweat. It’s like the entire dorm room is closing in on me, the walls getting closer as they cave in. I can feel my friends’ eyes on me, and suddenly I can’t move.

Celeste’s hand swipes the phone and turns it off, turning to me with wide eyes. “Valeria? What… what’s your pin doing in there?”

“You have your pin with you, right?” Stefano asks. “We should go to your dorm room and see if your pin is there.”

“Were you wearing your pin that day?” Auric inquires, getting closer to me. “Because if you weren’t maybe someone swiped it and planted it at the scene.”

The three of them begin to talk at the same time, and their voices are blending perfectly in my head, getting louder and louder until they reach a crescendo. They all hit my ears like a bomb, and suddenly something comes over me.

Perhaps it’s instinct, perhaps it’s clarity. Either way, I get up and run out of the dorm room, leaving the three of them alone.

I don’t dare look back. I just run until I reach the outside of the dorm building. I don’t even know where I am going or where I should go exactly, all I know is that I should get out of there as soon as I can.

Students are filing into the school, all of them scattered on the yards and the gardens like ants trying to deliver food in their homes. I push past some of them until my chest and my feet start to hurt. Finally, when I feel like my body is about to give way, I collapse in a hidden hallway in the main building.

I clasp my chest, trying to steady my breathing. Closing my eyes, I try to think back on that day when I saw Miss Sullivan dead.

I was wearing the school uniform. I was the only one wearing it, in fact. I didn’t have any other clothes. I don’t remember putting on my pin, but then again, I don’t remember ever taking it off and setting it aside when I change. All I know is that when I’m wearing the uniform, it’s there. No one would possibly go all that way and steal it just to put it in the crime scene. I couldn’t have dropped it there either.

I don’t know. The truth is, I don’t know what happened exactly.

The moment I heard that accusation, I got thrown back to the moment where I got possessed in a way, when I didn’t know what I was doing and it seemed like I was under someone’s control.

Could it be that I did something under the same influence?

I shake my head to get rid of the bad thoughts but I find that I can’t. I open my eyes again, deciding that I need to talk to Professor Blossom before the Black Coats get to him.

I run all the way to the principal’s office, hoping against hope that he’s there. I swerve into the hallway where his office is, but then I see him walking down the hallway with two guards flanking him.

“Professor,” I pant, blocking his way to get his attention. “Professor, I need to talk to you.”

The guards stand in front of me with their arms outstretched.

“No, let her come close,” he says, and he sounds wary. The guards move away like he tells them to, but even when he motions them to give us privacy, they don’t leave. He sighs. “What is it, Miss Marcus?”

A lump conveniently forms in my throat, but I manage to swallow and say, “I… they blame me for the death of Miss Sullivan. They will arrest me, won’t they?”

Professor Blossom’s eyes widen. “Where did you get that information? I already told them that you’re innocent.”

“There must be something we can do.” I sound desperate, even to my own ears. “Please, professor. I don’t want to be jailed.”

He stares at me for a couple of moments, confusion invading his face. I know that he wants to press me, but it seems that he sees the severity and the urgency of the situation because he relents. “Very well. I will bring you to my office and perhaps we can—”

“You’re not bringing the girl anywhere, Professor Godfrey Blossom.”

I whip around to look at the source of the voice, and my knees nearly collapse when I see the Black Coat leader along with six other men.

They’re about to arrest me.

Professor Blossom grabs my shoulders and pushes me behind his back to protect me. “Merlin, you do not need to do this. The girl is innocent and you must leave her alone.”

The Black Coat leader Merlin only smiles knowingly, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a silver student pin sealed in plastic. It still has dried blood on it. Even from afar, I can see my name on it. It is indeed my pin.

“Then why is this in the crime scene?” Merlin demands, shaking the bag. “Why is this there, hidden and almost stomped right into the drain? She and the other student of yours are the only people in the bathroom at that exact time. How would you explain that away?”

Professor Blossom stands his ground. “They have already explained their side to you. They do not owe you any more explanations.”

He only sneers. “If you’re not hiding something, just hand the girl over to me.”

Tension floats in the air, the kind that’s so electrifying that I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I step forward to surrender myself to questioning before things can escalate, but then Professor Blossom stops me.

“If she goes to the station for questioning, she will go with me,” he declares. “And there will be no news about this getting out before you prove your theory. Unless you have anything that places her in relation to the victim, then the story remains buried.”

Merlin glares at him for a couple of seconds, then he motions his men to disperse so only the three of us could ride to the station.

Needless to say, the ride is awkward and tense. I don’t want my friends to worry about me for being gone too, so I make a note of asking for a phone call once I’m in the station.

But the real thing I’m worried about is the questioning.

What if it leads to something I’m not ready to confront yet?

I keep taking deep breaths as the carriage gets closer and closer to the station. When we finally arrive, Merlin is the one who leaves first, flashing me a cold smile before heading out.

I’m about to follow him when suddenly, Professor Blossom stops me. “Do not be nervous,” he says. “I know that I have suspected you before, brought you in for questioning myself… but I know that you are innocent. I believe that you had nothing to do with any of the deaths. It is, however, unfortunate that you were the one who discovered the bodies both times. I don’t want that to get to you. I want you to go in there and defend yourself.”

I nod, but I lower my gaze anyway. “And what if they still end up thinking that it’s me who killed Miss Sullivan? What if they put me in jail?”

A look of strange determination appears on his face. “I will not let that happen.”

He gets out of the carriage with an air of confidence that seems to have come from nowhere. He helps me get out, and I expect the other Black Coats to grab me and cuff me immediately.

But to my surprise, the Black Coats are all in the station.

And they’re in a state of panic.

I can hear frantic voices from the outside. I can hear thudding and footsteps and crying. A loud woman crying, standing out from all the sounds.

Professor Blossom glances at me, and together we go in. But Merlin meets us along the way. “Do not come in,” he says breathlessly.

“And why is that?” the professor asks. “We are here for questioning, aren’t we?”

“That is no longer necessary,” he says without looking at any of us in the eye.

“Why?” I ask. “What’s happening inside?”

Merlin swallows hard and tilts his head as though debating his words, then he says at last, “You’re not the killer. I know that now. We found out that Mr. Briggs has just been murdered in his very own home. The real killer is still at large.”