Mirage (22 page)

He nodded. “Okay, we’re good, then. You guys sit tight; I’ll be back in a bit.” He pulled open the door that led to the back stairwell—the fire exit—and stepped out. As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, everyone started talking at once, the sea of voices rising in an incoherent, nervous buzz.

Fire drills were always announced in advance, and no one had ever mentioned a Code Yellow—at least, not as long as I’d been at Winterhaven. So yeah, I was a little nervous, overly aware of the fact that our teacher had just left us alone.

“I wonder what you’re supposed to do if you’re in the bathroom,” Tyler said, raising his voice to be heard over the din. It was a good question, actually.

“I wish I had my cell phone,” came a voice behind me, and I turned to see who it was—Sarah Mason, an empath like Marissa. She was usually the girls’ team second seed, behind me, which meant she didn’t like me very much. I could only assume that her current choice of seat had something to do with Tyler, since she was looking at him now with puppy dog eyes.

“What are we supposed to do, just sit here and do nothing?” she whined.

“I guess we could practice,” Carlos offered, rising to his feet. Carlos was the captain of the boys’ team, although he usually ranked in the bottom third. He was a good leader, though.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be practicing,” Sarah argued, and I had to admit I agreed with her. Who went on about their business during a lockdown?

“You were the one complaining about doing nothing,” Carlos said with a shrug, then sat back down.

Tyler leaned toward me, his breath warm against my ear. “I’ve got my cell in my bag,” he whispered. “C’mon.”

He stood and held a hand out to me, and I took it to stand, following him as he picked his way through the crowd to the cubbies by the door, where our bags were stashed. I didn’t even bother to ask why he was breaking the rules by carrying his cell around campus. Nothing Tyler did surprised me.

“Max has sixth period free,” he said, crouching down to rummage inside his bright turquoise bag. “I’ll text him—maybe he knows what’s going on.”

I’d almost forgotten that Tyler and Max were roommates. Considering how much time Max spent with Marissa, I doubt Tyler saw much of him, but still. It shouldn’t surprise me that they were friendly, despite the fact that they were polar opposites, as far as I could tell.

I stood there watching while he typed his message.
Dude, whassup? Uknow?

Not fifteen seconds later, there was a ping.
A body. In woods by river.

Tyler’s eyes, widened with shock, met mine for a brief moment, and then he started typing furiously.
What u mean, a body? Dead?

We waited a bit longer for Max’s reply this time.
Think so. Lots of police and EMTs. That’s all I know.

Tyler’s reply was brief.
Thx.

“What the hell?” he said aloud. “I didn’t hear any sirens.”

“Me either. Do we tell them?” I tipped my head toward the rest of group.

Tyler shrugged. “Your call.”

“I don’t know. Kind of sounds like speculation at this point, you know?”

“Agreed.” Tyler’s gaze met mine. “So, what now?”

“I need to talk to Aidan,” I blurted out. Not that I expected him to know anything more than Max did, but just because I needed to hear his voice.

“Here,” Tyler said, handing me his cell. “But be quiet about it, or everyone’s going to want a turn.”

“I don’t need the phone,” I said, gesturing for him to put it away. “I can talk to Aidan without it.”

Tyler reached for my arm, his eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?”

Uh-oh.
How was I going to get out of this one without revealing too much? “What do you
think
I mean?” I hedged. “We’re at Winterhaven, remember?”

“And you’re a precog, remember?” he shot back.

Crap.
I should have known that Tyler would want a better explanation than that. Sometimes I forgot how smart he was. “I can’t explain it, Ty. Okay? It’s just some weird … anomaly.”

He looked confused. “So you’re saying you’re a precog
and
a telepath?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not really telepathic. It’s just … with him.”

“You’re only telepathic with
him
?” His voice rose a pitch. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Shhh,” I said. I reached for his hand and dragged him into the girls’ dressing room, as far away from everyone else as possible. “I told you, I can’t explain it. But he and I have this weird psychic connection, and yeah, we can communicate telepathically. It’s not really that big a deal.”

He looked at me skeptically. “You don’t think it’s that big a deal? Seriously? It’s not normal, not even by Winterhaven standards. You’re either a telepath or you’re not, Violet.”

“Will you just shut up and let me talk to him?” I begged, suddenly desperate to hear Aidan’s voice in my head.

He held up both hands, palms out. “Hey, go for it.”

“Just … be quiet for a second, okay?”

Without a word, he folded his arms across his chest, leaning back against the row of lockers that lined the far wall.

“Thanks,” I said, then took several deep breaths, trying to focus. Aidan had been screwing around with the serum over the break, and he’d had another bad reaction over the weekend. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the last time, but bad enough that I worried our connection might be temporarily down again.

Still, I gave it a try.
Aidan?
I called out, hopeful.

There was no reply, though I did feel the telltale tickle in my head. It was faint, but it was there—our connection. I tried again.
Hey, Aidan? You there?
I was trying my best to yell telepathically, which was not an easy feat.

And then I heard it, a faint whisper in my head.
Vi?

I turned so that my back was facing Tyler.
Where are you? What’s going on?

Nothing. I waited, willing the connection to strengthen. There was a brief buzz in my head, and then,
Violet?
again, so faint and indistinct that I wasn’t certain I hadn’t imagined it.

I turned back toward Tyler. “It’s not working.”

His gaze was unflinching. “If you say so. Want me to go get my cell for you?”

“No, it’s okay. Just … never mind, I’ll find him later. We should probably go back inside.” The loud, raucous voices hadn’t quieted any since we stepped out, meaning that Coach Gibson was still MIA.

“Nah, I like it better in here.” He pushed away from the lockers, taking two steps toward me. “So, how was your Thanksgiving?”

“It was nice. How ’bout yours?” I regretted the words the instant they left my lips. It had been his first Thanksgiving without his dad.

“It sucked,” he said. “My mom made this big production of making me carve the turkey—you know, since I’m the ‘man of the house’ now. First she cried, then she drank, and finally she passed out. All the makings of a memorable meal.”

“I’m sorry, Ty.”

“Nah, it’s okay. My grandma put her to bed, and I took the train into the city and hung out with Max and his family for the rest of break. Oh, and I ran into Kate.”

I let out my breath in a rush. “Please say you didn’t.”

“Why do you care?” he said with a smirk. “She’s a lot of fun, even if we can’t speak telepathically to each other like you and the boyfriend can.”

My face flushed hotly. “I wish you’d stop screwing around with my friends. Seriously, it really pisses me off.”

“Why do you always assume that I’m just screwing around with them? Maybe I really like Kate.”

“No, I meant it literally. Stop
screwing
my friends.”

He just shrugged, which only made me more furious.

“You realize that she isn’t over Jack yet, that she’s totally on the rebound, right? She’s probably just using you.”

“Hey, I’m totally down with that.” He reached down to readjust the colorful string bracelets he still wore around one wrist. “She can use me anytime she likes. Anyway, I’m touched by your concern for my feelings.”

I shook my head. “You’re disgusting.”

In the distance, a siren wailed. The public address system crackled back to life. I cocked my head to one side, listening. “Attention, please. The Code Yellow remains in effect. I repeat, Code Yellow remains in effect until further notice. Thank you.”

Tears suddenly burned behind my eyelids. “I can’t believe we’re standing here arguing when there’s apparently a dead body out there. What if it’s a student?”

He nodded, and the tension between us dissolved at once. “I’d say chances are pretty good it
is
a student. Or a teacher, maybe. Where the hell is Coach Gibson?”

“We should go inside,” I said, craning my neck to see what was going on back in the studio. It looked like almost everyone was still sitting around talking. Faces looked pale, pinched with worry.

Tyler winked. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, Violet.” With a cheeky smile, he reached for my hand, grasping it firmly in his. “C’mon, we’ll tell ’em what we know.”

20 ~ The Scooby Gang

A
s soon as sixth period ended the following day, we assembled in the chapel, all of us. Even Jack, though he made sure to keep his distance from Kate.

“What are you guys thinking?” he asked, moving to stand beside Aidan.

“That we should stay out of the woods,” Cece offered.

“That’s a given,” Joshua said. He slipped into the first row, stretching his feet out into the aisle. He must have grown a full foot since last year, I realized, surprised. “Seriously, Cece, don’t even think about it,” he continued.

Beside me, I saw her roll her eyes. “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. Only my astral self goes out there, and I’m pretty sure the Stalker can’t touch her, badass that she is.”

“I just wish we knew what we were dealing with,” Aidan said. “Luc feels sure it’s an imposter, not an actual vampire. But how does an imposter do that type of damage?”

Jack grimaced. “I think there are ways.”

“Yeah, but why here?” I asked. “It just seems like too much of a coincidence that he’d strike here, doesn’t it? I mean, what are the chances?”

“We’re not that far from Manhattan,” Marissa reasoned, “and the train runs down along the river. It’s possible that it
is
a coincidence. He might have been on his way somewhere and just happened to cross paths with the victim.”

The victim.
She’d been identified as a local woman—a drug addict, apparently, who’d obviously been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But unlike the Stalker’s previous victims, who’d been discovered in time for life-saving transfusions, this one hadn’t been so lucky. The groundskeeper had discovered her bled-out body out in the woods, apparently several days after she’d been left there.

I shuddered, horrified by the idea of something so awful happening so close by. “Luc’s sure there’s no one new in the area? A rogue vampire who’d do something like this? I swear, it’s almost as if he’s trying to send a message, thumbing his nose at Mrs. Girard or something.”

“Or
her
nose,” Aidan added. “We have no real reason to assume the Stalker’s a he.”

“All the victims have been females,” Kate said with a shrug.

Sophie turned to face Kate, who was sitting behind and to the right of her. “Yeah, but it’s not like they were sexually assaulted or anything.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Kate leaned forward, resting her elbows on the back of the pew in front of her. “I can’t believe the police have nothing, though. There has to be some sort of evidence left behind. Fingerprints, footprints, something.”

“Not if he’s careful,” Jack said. “An experienced criminal knows better than to leave any clues at the scene of a crime.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Well, it’s not like he murdered this woman and then disappeared into thin air,” Kate argued.

“He could, if he’s really a vampire,” Aidan said. “In fact, he could do
exactly
that.”

Kate nodded. “Yeah, but even so, there’s got to be a trail of some sort, and I bet we’re more equipped to discover it than the police are. Hey, maybe if we ask Jenna—”

“Of course!” Jack said excitedly. “In wolf form, she should be able to sniff something out. Even in human form, her senses are heightened—better than ours, for sure.” He turned toward Aidan. “She can scent a vampire, right?”

Aidan just nodded, his arms folded across his chest, which I couldn’t help but notice seemed far less defined than I remembered. He looked almost … gaunt.

“You want to talk to her?” Jack asked Aidan. “Jenna, I mean.”

“Not really,” Aidan muttered, shaking his head. “But I will.”

I turned toward Cece and Sophie, who were staring curiously at Kate. Beside her, Marissa was doing the same. I couldn’t blame them—after all, that little exchange with Jack had been the most those two had said to each other in weeks. For a second there, it had almost seemed like old times, and everyone appeared to be holding a collective breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

Of course, after Tyler’s little revelation yesterday, I should have known better. Clearly, Kate was finally moving on. I just wished it had been a healthy kind of moving on, rather than a fling with a guy who was sort of dating one of our friends.

Then again, who was I to judge? I was dating a vampire.

Cece glanced down at her watch. “I’ve got to head over to student council, guys. God, I hate this new schedule.”

“It’s definitely a pain,” I agreed. “We’ve got a half hour of fencing practice before dinner, but it’s not going to be enough, not with the big All-Ivy tournament coming up.”

After yesterday’s lockdown, the school administration had set a temporary new curfew. Everyone had to be inside, accounted for, by sunset. All extracurriculars—clubs, meetings, practices—had to be shortened and crammed in before darkness fell. My own schedule was a mess, and I had only fencing to deal with. I had no idea how Cece could possibly fit everything in.