One wand made of wood and mother-of-pearl.
—
“Say it again,”says Raven, her eyes hard. “Warden Stone donated a wand, as in…”
“Hecate’s wand, yes. The same wand Adelina Ward used to raise the malum.”
Adelina needed a powerful wand to conjure chaos, and the only wand powerful enough to do it once belonged to the goddess of magic.
From her seat on the couch, Raven stares in shock at the document as I pace. I can’t sit still, not after what I just found. I rushed over to Atticus’s apartment and was thankful Raven let me in. I bet I sounded like a maniac pounding on the door.
“How did he get Hecate’s wand? I thought it was taken from Adelina when she was locked away.”
“His predecessor must have kept it in storage. Only now did Stone decide to donate it.”
“Why, though?” Raven asks.
“I don’t know. I just know that it’s not a coincidence. Where’s Atticus? He needs to hear about this, too.”
“He hasn’t come home yet.”
“Yet?” I stop pacing. “What, you haven’t seen him at all since yesterday?”
“No,” Raven says, rubbing her arms for heat or comfort. “I thought he was with you…”
“He wasn’t.”
“You don’t suppose he went back to the tunnels to find proof? Maybe the malum…?”
“No.” I cut my hand through the air, banishing the thought. “Maybe he just went somewhere quiet to sketch. Remember how he used to do that?”
Raven nods, like she’s forcing herself to believe it, too. “You don’t think Stone might…” Raven pauses, as if wondering if she should say it aloud. Then she continues, “You don’t think Stone’s responsible for the malum’s escape, do you? You don’t think he’s picked up where Adelina left off?”
“I don’t know,” I say again. Dread sits uneasily in my gut. “I mean, wouldn’t that jeopardize his position as warden? It still doesn’t feel right. We’re missing something. He may have known what was down there, but I can’t imagine him setting the creature free.”
Raven hums, staring at the page.
Without Atticus, the group feels incomplete. There’s a gaping void in his absence. I go to the window and search for him in the distance, but all I see is gray. Late autumn has sapped all of the color out of the world.
Even if we could prove that Stone is behind it all, who would believe us? We’re just a few disgruntled former employees, with nothing to lose and everything to gain from taking down the university’s warden. We were fired. Who would listen to us?
“Raven,” I say, my breath catching on her name.
She glances up at me, her dark eyes wide and curious. I admire the curve of her lips, the furrow of her brow. Being near her will always make my heart race.
I lick my lips and drag my teeth over them, chewing on the words I’ve always wanted to say but never had the courage to speak until now. “I…I know it might be too late, but I want you to know how much I care about you.”
Raven’s gaze softens as she stands up and joins me at the window. “I care about you, too, Dorian.”
Her tone isn’t at all what I expected. I don’t think she understands. “No, Ilikeyou, Raven. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I don’t just like you. I’ve been in love with you since we first met. And I have to tell you before you go away, because otherwise I’ll never move on.”
There it is. The truth. Finally out.
Raven doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then she places her hand on my gloved one. “Oh, Dorian, I know. I’ve always known. Just like you’ve always known Atticus has a huge, terrible crush on you, right?”
I guess I’ve never been that good at hiding my feelings for her; I’m practically a lovesick puppy. But Atticus—it was only recently that I knew it to be true. I’d been so preoccupied, so lost, I never really realized. But Raven saw it. She knew.
“How ironic,” I choke out, “the guy who can see the truth through touch couldn’t even see the truth in himself until it’s too late.”
