A pause, and then…Do they suspect you?
No, I don’t think so. Not yet anyway.
Did you talk to Nova? What’s the verdict? Are you in, or am I on my own?
I hesitated. This was my chance to back out. I didn’t have to help her. I didn’t have to dig myself deeper into this mess. Then I looked down at Asteria’s charm that I still wore around my neck, even though its spell was long since broken, and knew I’d already made my decision.
Nova’s out, but don’t worry, she’ll keep her mouth shut. I’m in.
There was a longer pause, and then the reply appeared.Thank you.
Telling her she was welcome would be a lie, so instead I typed.When?
As soon as we can. I need to make some arrangements first.Monday night?
My heart throbbed like a wound in my chest. Monday was only three days away. I had no idea how we were going to pull this off with security crawling all over the Playhouse, security that was only going to get more intense now that Jess was missing. My fingers shook as I typed my reply.
Okay. I’ll be in touch. Lay low.
“Wren?”
With a yelp of surprise, I dropped my phone on the flagstones. My mom was standing in the doorway.
“Honey, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I gasped, quickly snatching my phone back up, and making sure my texting app was closed. “Yeah, you just scared me.”
“How much of our conversation did you hear?” she asked.
“Not much, but my friends are blowing up my phone,” I said, holding it up. “They’re saying the Conclave is flipping out because Jess’ body disappeared from the morgue?”
My mom frowned. “How do they know about it?”
I attempted a roll of the eyes. “Come on, Mom, be serious. How often do you successfully hide stuff from me around here?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Touché.” The smile faded at once. “This is a lot. Are you okay?”
I shrugged. “I think so.”
“Because the Conclave will get to the bottom of this, sweetie. We’ll have answers soon.”
The words were meant to be soothing, of course, but all they did was make my heart start pounding like a bass drum.
“Yeah,” I said with a forced smile. “Yeah, I’m sure we will. I’m uh… gonna go get dressed.”
“Of course, honey. I’ll let you know if I hear any news.”
“Thanks,” I said, and headed for the stairs. Once my bedroom door was shut behind me, I pulled my phone out again, opened the group chat, and scrolled the messages.
Z:OMG THEY KNOW
E:they don’t KNOW
Z:my grandmother keeps staring at meeeeeee
E:because you’re probably acting weird just be normal.
N:imagine Zale being normal
