It makes sense,I tell myself, digging my nails into my palms, trying to get the feeling in them back. If it was Callisto who killed Ada Astra, they did it to free Catherine from her contract. And if Penny ever finds out I’m in the same position, I know she won’t hesitate to do the same to Aliz.
“We still have time,” Aliz whispers, and I feel her at my side. “We’ll break the contract. I promise.”
I can’t look at her. I walk to the window to try and calm down.
And when I look out into the night, I seeit.
Stretching out in the shadows, past the river and the glass ballroom, is the maze. A shiver runs through me. It’s a perfect circle, smaller than I thought. The hedges, just like in my dreams, are overgrown, some passages blocked entirely by their creeping branches. I set the lantern on the floor and stare out. At the centre of the maze stand four sculptures, each holding a moon. Just like in my dreams, the first quarter moon is gilded gold. The rosebush is not visible from here.
And as I stare at the outline of the maze and the pattern of hedges, something clicks in my mind. Aliz comes to stand next to me, tense as she takes in the site of our shared nightmares.
Without saying anything, I reach into my satchel, drawing out my notebook. In it is my map of the tunnels. The centre is still missing, but the same three tunnels, the curves I drew from memory, appear now near the entrance of the hedge maze.
“It’s a map,” I whisper.
“What?”
I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but Aliz’s breath is on my ear. Her low voice, which I could listen to all day, harnesses me, pulling me away from the maze and back indoors, into Ada Astra’s bedroom. I can hear my own careful breaths, far too loud.
Aliz’s fingers stop on the notebook, not prying it away from me, but tilting it enough that she can see it. Her fingers press against mine. We’re too close. Close enough for the mark to burn my skin, not with an itch, but with another feeling entirely. A craving. It whispers to me of what I want.
Biteme.
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to rid myself of the thought, but I can still feel her breath on my skin. The dreams I try to not think about come to life. Her fangs, my blood. I want her to consume me again.No,I tell myself.
“Am I too close?”
Each new beat of my heart is like a knock on a door, demanding to be let in from the rain. “No,” I whisper, waiting for her to come even closer. Her other hand rests gently against the glass. I should run. But I want her so much that I tremble.
The hand on my notebook glides to my wrist, and the bound pages slip to the wooden floor. Aliz reaches down for it, shoulder brushing my thigh. She stays on her knees, staring out the window with a grimace. Then she glances up at me. Her eyes are black.
“No,” Aliz says, as though she knows exactly what I’m thinking.
She stands up, and slowly, the urge leaves me. Shame stings my chest, and I breathe out, unable to look at her. The thought wasn’t my own. And although I should be terrified by what crossed my mind, Aliz was able to control herself. Just as she promised.
I look through the window, slowly putting back the pieces of what I was thinking before she came to stand besideme.
“The maze,” I say again, keeping my distance. “It looks like a map.”
“A map?” Aliz’s voice is soft. “To what?”
“I could be wrong,” I say, pressing my hand to the glass, staring out into the night. “But I think it’s a map to the library.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
I take Penny’s call the next morning sitting on the bench by the river. My eyes are bleary with sleep, the same torturous dream still echoing in my mind. The hunting lodge, the maze, Aliz’s fangs. It’s only nine o’clock, so the campus is empty. Most human students have by now adjusted their sleep schedules to match those of their vampire classmates. I stare up at the grey sky and the heavy clouds threatening rain.
“Why didn’t you pick up yesterday?” she asks, voice sharp.
I swallow my irritation. “Believe it or not, I’m trying to find the fucking library,” I say. “But I’m getting closer to it. I think I’ve finally figured out the map.”
There’s a heavy pause, and when Penny breaks it, her voice is surprisingly small. “You have?”
“I think so,” I say. We will put my theory to the test tonight, and then hopefully, if it works, by tomorrow I will be free.
“That’s good,” she says. “On Monday night you’re going into Inverness,” she says. “The blood party is being held in the city centre.”
