“They’re complicated.”
I didn’t try to hold back my splitting laughter. “Really? Really? That’s your excuse. Things are complicated. When have they not been complicated? I’m the freaking Vessel of Souls. You’re a fallen angel. Your whole job is to kill me.”
Alex didn’t say anything, and suddenly every inch of me was on fire. My heart was thundering through my rib cage.
“You want to kill me now?”
“No. Of course not. That’s not it. I just can’t talk about this here.”
“Were you not with me six months ago? Were you not the one who slapped the Somebunny loves you hat on my head?”
“Lawson, it was just a hat.”
“This isn’t about the headwear,” I spewed, tears breaking over my cheeks. “I picked you, Alex. I pick you. I’m not with Will. I thought you knew that. You. I want to be with you.” My voice was choked with big, body-wracking sobs. “I pick you.”
“Yeah.” Alex’s voice was soft but edged with something distant, something cold that I didn’t recognize. “Do us both a favor, okay? Don’t.”
The sound of his receiver clicking into the holder reverberated in my head over and over again.
I slipped into one of the upstairs bathrooms and locked myself in the handicapped stall in the back corner, crying until my chest hurt. After blowing my nose through an entire roll of toilet paper, I had mostly gotten a hold of myself and was about to put my feet down—I had braced myself against the stall—when I heard the ladies’ room door open and snap shut. Someone was panting like they were out of breath—or like they were about to cry.
I held my breath and glanced under the stall long enough to see a pair of white socks slouching into a pair of well-used sneakers. Their owner let out a half-scream, half-grunt before breaking into a torrent of huffing tears—not unlike my own. I was about to open the stall door and offer some help when the crying abruptly stopped. The sneakers turned and headed directly toward me.
My mind raced. I couldn’t spring out on the girl now that I had witnessed her obviously private moment. I thought about coughing or flushing the toilet when the sneakers veered left. There were a few short grunts and pants, then the sound of something hitting toilet water. I cringed. The toilet flushed. The sneakers went tearing out of the bathroom, the door snapping shut and leaving me with the sound of rushing toilet water. I quickly gathered my things, splashed some water onto my face, and hightailed it back to my room while I speed dialed Sampson.
I wanted to get out of Mercy. There was no coven, no witchcraft, no secret portal to hell on this campus and Will and I had now wasted the last two days—possibly the last two days of Alyssa’s life—looking for paranormal activity when there clearly wasn’t any. This was a normal school with normal school problems—girls crying in the restroom, cafeteria food that was as unrecognizable as it was awful, and queen bees who reigned with sneers and snarky one-liners.
I wanted to go back to work at the UDA. I missed my tiny, underground office with my perfect line-up of Post-it notes and pens. I missed Nina and Sampson and Vlad and even the hobgoblins with their constant fountain of oozy slobber.
And yeah, I even missed Steve.
“Underworld Detection Agency, this is Kale. What can I do you for?”
“Hi, Kale. It’s Sophie. Can you put me through to Sampson, please?”
Kale smacked her lips and paused. I could practically see her mind working, weighing whether or not to ask me about Vlad.
“I don’t know where Vlad is,” I added.
The next thing I heard was a series of beeps while Kale put me through.
“Sophie! Tell me you’ve got something,” Sampson said.
I blew out a sigh and caught myself, coughing so Sampson might miss my complete and utter dejection. “I was hoping you were going to tell me something.”
Now it was Sampson’s turn to sigh. “Everyone is coming up empty. The police force is stumped, there are no new clues, no fingerprints, no nothing. I was really hoping you’d find something, Sophie. I feel like you and Will are the only chance Alyssa has.”
I dug my teeth into my lower lip so hard I could feel the skin start to split. I didn’t want to fail Alyssa. I couldn’t fail her.
“I’ll get ahold of Lowe and have him pull you out tomorrow.”
“I’m really sorry, Sampson.”
“Hey, if there was nothing there, then there’s nothing there. We’ll try and follow another lead.”
I brightened. “There’s another lead?”
“No.”
The word hit me like a fist to the gut. “Um, can I call you back later?”
I didn’t stay on the line long enough to hear Sampson’s response because I heard the one sound that I would forever recognize since the first day it was burned into my own brain: a body slamming into a locker.
Chapter Five
Just down the hall from where I stood I saw the crowd and briefly wished for kick-ass leather and some kind of sword as I raced toward the students.