Three.
Avery crossed the campus in a hurry with Patrick by her side. The wind picked up and the temperature had inevitably dropped. Students still lingered by the marble water fountain and the wrought iron gates of her dormitory, Crepuscule Hall. Patrick already stood out and she didn"t like attracting more eyes. Drawing the hood of her jacket up, she pointed him down the long staircase that led to the entrance of her home.
"Down there, to the left. The staff shouldn"t be around so we can warm up inside." She said though strongly suspecting that Patrick didn"t care either way.
Since they"d left the theater, his eyes picked out every aspect of the campus. He particularly seemed to enjoy the ma.s.sive mountains in the back drop and the green ivy that crept up the walls despite the frosty season. The place was extremely different from the harpie home base-- a place that Avery had the pleasure of seeing a few months back. Where Mayweather Academy had bomb shelter worthy brick buildings, the harpie island had tropical huts and little roofing to block out the sky. Where the harpies valued openness, Mayweather Academy harvested gates and locked doors to keep them cut off from the world.
They made it down the steps in a hurry. Patrick"s long strides made Avery jog to keep up. They crossed over the lawn and reached the door. Inside the halls remained silent and thankfully empty. Avery snuck in quietly but Patrick couldn"t manage to keep his mouth shut.
"What"s the deal with the gates? Are you guys locked in here at night?" His voice cut sharply through the silent halls.
"It"s not a prison." Avery said while jimmying the k.n.o.b. Patrick fidgeted oddly, despite what she"d said. Trying to force a rea.s.suring smile, she finally opened the door to her room, ushered him inside, and hit the light. The room illuminated and the heat pumped through the vents. Avery gestured to the desk chair but Patrick sprung onto her bed. Folding his legs, he sat contently.
Avery knew Leela would be at the movie for at least a few hours so they had time to chill. Letting him have the bed, she sat by her desk.
Patrick suddenly spoke.
"So, what is Mason to you?"
Taken off guard, Avery double took.
"What?" She spit out as an instant reaction.
"Don"t stress. I"m not going to tell Adalyn." He held his hand to his heart and gave her a sideways smile.
"I"m not worried about that. Mason and I aren"t anything." She said immediately. She managed to keep her tone down but didn"t care to look at Patrick anymore. Eyes floating toward the right, she spotted some overdue homework. Grabbing a pen, she began to write out a few absent thoughts-- honestly anything to keep busy. She could feel his dark eyes flutter over her form and see his broad shoulders draw into his body.
"So you"re telling me he stays here with a pretty girl like you and you guys are just friends. Really really?" His tone remained high with some hint of amus.e.m.e.nt and intrigue weaved into his voice.
Avery refused to look at him, hoping he"d stop if she continued to ignore him. She"d had people ask her a million times about her relationship with Mason. She hadn"t grown used to it, just sicker of it. Scrawling on the paper, she gave the weakest and most unconcerned shrug she could.
"Really really."
"Are you sure you"re not holding out to be something more?" He abruptly got off the bed and inched closer. So close, she couldn"t ignore him. Avery finally looked up at his towering form.
"Why won"t you get off this?"
"I"m sorry. I"m not trying to embarra.s.s you, girl. I"m just trying to see if you"re available. I"ve been out of the game for a long time and now I"m testing my options. Interested?" He smiled again, more slyly. Lowering his eyelids and giving her a stare that cut all the way down to her bones, he posed his body forward until every one of his muscles became apparent against his tight shirt.
She didn"t need a psychology degree to do a quick evaluation of his character. Patrick didn"t know her but hit on her relentlessly. He even eyed Leela in the theater with the same appraising look he gave her now. Major playboy, Avery decided, and she wouldn"t go for that type.
"Look, I think you"re getting the wrong idea here. I"m not, this isn"t-" Avery forced herself to stop and take a breath before she could stutter more. "No thanks."
"So you just don"t date. Saving yourself or just crushing on another guy?" Patrick was quick to question her logic.
More fl.u.s.tered than she would have liked, Avery turned away and kept at her paper. The black pen she wrote with began to dry up. Knowing it wouldn"t last her another second, Avery stood and trashed the pen.
"Hey, I don"t know you well enough to have a moment here! Anyways, it"s neither!" She said to him, having to maneuver swiftly so she wouldn"t b.u.mp into him.
Reaching for her desk, she dug around for a pen. Her desk had been stacked high with paper, broken pencils, and empty soda cans. Hands shaking, she shifted chaotically through the mess. Cursing her luck, she backed up. Her eyes shifted toward Leela"s desk and she acted on it without thinking. Leela"s wooden desk remained spotless. Papers had been filed carefully with blue and purple paperclips to divide up the stack. Avery couldn"t spot pencils on top so she went for the drawer. Grabbing the handle, she yanked.
"If you can"t give me a good answer, then I don"t have to leave you alone about it." Patrick said childishly.
Avery didn"t answer, frozen. Completely forgetting about Patrick, she stared before her. Inside Leela"s drawer, dead set in the middle of the organized paper, rested an amulet. It had an iridescent blue fog twisting just below the gla.s.s surface. Avery finally twitched. Reaching out, she gathered the warm amulet in her hands.
"This-"she stopped short, unable to finish that thought.
He peered around her shoulder, reached out, and fingered the angled gla.s.s.
"It"s a communication amulet. Why are you freaking out?"
Moving stiffly, Avery dropped the amulet back into the desk and shut the drawer with a firm click. She backed into Patrick, the impact helping her stir from the daze, and then twisted around to face her bed.
"You don"t understand." She said, face white and body cold. "Leela shouldn"t have that."
Patrick looked around the room for some clue. Finding none, he looked back toward Avery.
"Why not?" He asked carefully.
Avery let out a gasping breath. Pressing her hand to her heart, she forced herself to breathe. Blood still pounded in her ears and her shoulders trembled.
"Look, a few months ago harpies kidnapped Leela. She was compelled and she shouldn"t have any memory of it. She shouldn"t even know what harpies are! So why does she have a harpie amulet? Who could she be talking to?" Avery was trying to whisper but failed when hysteria crept into her voice.
Leela hadn"t mentioned anything to Avery and it seemed like harpies would be a big detail on her mind. Avery couldn"t grasp the idea. Patrick, on the other hand, didn"t look as surprised as he should have.
"Did you ever consider the chance that they left it with her but she doesn"t know what it is?"
Avery wrapped her arms around herself.
"Maybe." She admitted after a moment. "Why would they want her to call them? Especially if she doesn"t know how to use it."
"Then why are you whining? Confront her on it."
Patrick"s tone dropped and he strolled to the corner of the room next to the half open window. His muscles tensed and his smile had long since faded. Avery knew she may have ruined the moment, but this was more important.
"I should call Mason. He"ll need to know." Avery decided.
Patrick suddenly turned and was on her in seconds. Towering above her, he s.n.a.t.c.hed Avery"s phone from her fingers before she had a chance to react.
He held the metal tightly until it squeaked in protest. Talons now visible and full height intimidating, he looked down on her.
"No." He licked his lips. "No, no calling Mason. I don"t need trouble."
Thrown by the abrupt change in events, Avery held her hands up as a sign of innocence.
"Hey, I"m not saying that it"s your fault or you failed. I just need to talk to him." With quite a bit of effort, she kept her voice at bay. Harpies had notoriously bipolar tempers and she wouldn"t bait him.
"Have you ever considered that he doesn"t want you to call him? He"s a fugitive in our world and he doesn"t need any attention drawn to him while he"s over there. Consider that girlie."
"Okay." Avery measured her words carefully, and her hazel eyes kept studying his ever changing posture intently. "I won"t. Please just let me have my phone back. You"re going to break it."
His eyebrows lifted an inch.
"I"m not stupid. The second I leave, you"ll dial him."
Avery stayed immobile. The atmosphere had already filled with thick tension and she was witnessing a short fuse. His hand still held her phone tightly, far above where she could reach it. Her hand twitched and she felt the familiar simmer of magic beneath her skin. A few months ago, after she accidently gained the magic of the Willow amulet into her body, she could actually use the magic as a powerful weapon. She"d taken out harpies twice Patrick"s size and with practice, survived an all out harpie ma.s.sacre. Times had changed since then. The magic still pulsed beneath her skin but it hadn"t grown much inside of her body. Mason also harvested half of the magic-- if not more. Avery knew using it was risky at best. Options raced through her mind, but none of them good, she didn"t fight.
"Okay." She whispered.
Patrick smirked and twirled the metal device in his hands. In a quick motion, he dropped the phone into his pocket and the device disappeared. Avery watched it go. She knew Mason"s number by heart. But that wasn"t a detail she"d mention to Patrick.
"I"m trying to be nice to you." He said after a moment. "I"m trying to be friends with you. Shoot doll, I wouldn"t mind being more than friends with you. But I cannot, I will not, fail at my job because of a human girl"s stupid actions."
Avery nodded. Throat closing, she backed up a step. The tiny and slow motion didn"t make him react. Clenching her fist, she forced the magic simmering beneath her skin to calm and dissipate.
"Fine. Just... there"s always a possibility that I"m in danger, here and now. Leela having this amulet...it can"t be good news," Avery bit out. There was one more possibility on how Leela had acquired that amulet-- a darker and more horrifying one that Avery had yet to consider and one she didn"t want to face.
"You don"t trust me?" He asked the painfully rhetorical question.
Avery jumped when a sudden knock came at the door. She whirled to face the wood. They didn"t have peep holes so she couldn"t peer into the hall. Either way, any human meant Patrick had to go. She danced around him, slipped to the window, and lifted the heavy gla.s.s open. A cripplingly chilly gust met her face and froze her fingers. She backed up, dusted the powdered snow off of the sill, and looked toward him.
"Please go. I have to answer that."
He frowned but didn"t argue. The loud knock came again, except this time more persistent.
"Fine." He said shortly. "I"ll see you around."
She maneuvered out of the way and watched him crawl through the gap. The harpie even had some height on Mason so the fit wasn"t an easy one. Once he cleared it, she happily slammed the window shut. The door came next and Avery composed herself before opening it.
She blinked when the bright hallway lights reached her. At first her guest resembled a blurry shadow before her eyes finally adjusted. She recognized Nate.
"How was the movie?" Avery asked automatically.
Nate rocked back on his snake skin boots and earned her attention again with a grunt.
"I didn"t watch it. Leela bailed early." He made a face and changed the subject. "Look, we don"t need to do the chit-chat thing. Leela still has my jacket and I need it back."
"She"s not here." Avery opened the door wider to reveal the rest of the room. Leela"s bed, up against the wall closest to the door, remained made and empty. Nate took a half hearted glance.
"She said she was coming to see you half an hour ago." He made a gesture to his silver wrist watch. "The campus isn"t that big."
Avery agreed but that"s not what had her at a loss for words. She"d already been panicking about Leela. This wasn"t a good update.
"Did she call you?" He asked prompting her to snap out of the trance.
Patrick had taken her phone but Avery doubted that there would have been a call anyways--especially if Nate and Leela left the theater over half an hour ago.
"No. I haven"t heard from her since we split in the theater." Avery wrapped her fingers around the door frame and squeezed. Nate bit his lip. Face red and green eyes cast down to the garish carpet, he folded his arms and asked the inevitable question.
"Is she out with another guy?"
Avery sputtered out a quick answer.
"No, Nate, chill--" He interrupted her before she could finish.
"Don"t tell me to chill! She told me she"d be here with you. How many times has she told you she was hanging out with me but lied? She"s telling us both that! Get it dumb girl? That"s why neither of us see her at all."
Avery shut her mouth. Digging her nails into the wood, she held herself up. Feeling light headed, she thought it over. Leela had a real racket going. Avery would never talk to Nate to confirm her location. Nate wouldn"t expect Avery to tell him anything either. The idea had been thought out and thought out well but it wasn"t fool proof. Avery had gone quiet during her thoughts only letting the sound of her pounding heart fill up the room.
"Say something." He growled to finally stir a reaction from her.
"I"m not sure what"s going on with her. But let me talk to her first, okay? I don"t think she"s cheating at you." Correction, Avery didn"t think it was as easy as that.
She mumbled a few more rea.s.surances to Nate and then sent him off. Closing the door and sealing the room in darkness, she let out a long breath. One thing was sure. Leela was lying. And it couldn"t have been over anything good.
Four.
Avery shut the door and leaned against the smooth wood. The night dragged on and fatigue weighed heavily in her muscles despite her active mind. Her eyes skirted the room. Leela"s desk attracted her attention. She maneuvered over to it and popped open the cabinet, heart racing as she was unsure of what to expect. Multicolored high lighters, notebooks, and thick texts lined one corner. The other had a few tightly wrapped bags of candy and crackers. Avery scoured the corners, pulling everything else onto the floor. Nothing out of the ordinary. She began to shove them in, ready to go onto the bed next, but stopped when she heard something.
The door k.n.o.b jingled. A key slid into the lock and the bolt twisted. Avery dove for her bed. Grabbing the fluffy blanket, she pulled it over her shoulders and then buried her head into the pillow facing away from the door. Black hair falling over her face, she closed her eyes and forcefully slowed her breathing. The door slid open and a wash of yellow light spilled inside from the hallway lights.
Leela walked in and paused. She stayed quiet but Avery could hear her steady breathing, a few footsteps and the door click shut. Without the hallway lights, the room returned to complete darkness.
"Avery, are you awake?" The girl asked softly.
Avery refused to even budge. The lack of light worked in her favor and Leela didn"t stare.
Avery listened to the girl walk across the room. Her desk drawer slid open and with a barely audible clatter, Leela plucked something out. Then the girl quietly crept back for the door. Hallway lights visible again and room temporarily illuminating, she slipped outside and clicked the door shut in her wake. Avery wouldn"t move until the door locked loudly and she couldn"t hear anymore footsteps in the hall.
Finally budging, Avery freed herself from the tangle of sheets. She"d dove underneath them with jeans, boots and all, leaving a trail of slush and dirt across the bottom half of her bed. Avery didn"t grumble. Hyper focused on the situation at hand, she looked around. Leela had left nothing and taken nothing. The perfectly made sheets still sat starch and smooth. Avery went for the desk next and slid open the drawer slowly.
A few folders and papers sat neatly. Avery rustled through them. The harpie amulet was gone. Heart skipping a beat, she shut the drawer and backed off.
A sudden tap at the window nearly made her heart stop. Glancing over quickly, she spotted Patrick. Hunched over and clinging to the sill, his ma.s.sive white wings encircled half his body. She rushed to open the window, slamming the gla.s.s too hard with the quick movement. The result was a nearly deafening crack that only added to her anxiety.
"What do you want?" She hissed. Her eyes jumped around him, peering into the night. Her window faced away from the school, towards the woods and one of the emergency fire exits. The rustling trees and the snow covered ground stared back at her.
"You"re worried about your friend?" He asked.
"She"s up to something. She"s calling a harpie. I"m sure of it!" Avery cursed. That wasn"t the worst part. Leela had taken pains to hide it from her as well.