I shoot Talon a message
Me:
Get your ass in here.
Then, I shove off the bed and drop into the chair at my desk, firing up my desktop. Fingers twitch across the keys before I can think better of it. Search bar. Chase Harrington. Psi Theta. Evangeline Steele.
The results start stacking up. Yearbook archives. Old forum threads. Grainy party photos. My pulse hammers as images flicker across the screen.
Talon slips in, flopping onto my mattress with his usual smirk. But when I angle the monitor toward him, the grin fades. “Mornin’,” he mutters, eyes narrowing at the screen. “I’ve already seen all of these photos. Trying to piss me off again?”
I don’t look away from the screen.“There’s something off about him.”
Talon leans forward, scanning. “You really think you’re gonna find anything? Jasper, you’re digging through gossip forums like it’s gospel.”
“Maybe, but I’ve seen this before. Evie hung around him, right before… you know.”
Then he swears under his breath.
“Why Chase? Why Mara? And why the fuck does this happen two weeks before her father’s election? What does Harrington have that Mara’s father wants?”
Talon watches as tabs multiply across the screen. News articles are dry, but forums are full of speculation—nothing solid yet. Then, I land on the Psi Theta alumni site—pictures of the gala I remember. Black-tie event, kids sipping punch in a ballroom. My eyes catch a small figure in the background of one shot. I zoom in. A girl in a long black dress stands by the punch table. My blood goes cold when I recognize her—long blonde hair trailing in the water, eyes already filled with sadness before she even sees the camera. That’s Evangeline. My sister.
I fixate on the image. It’s Chase, arm casually slung around Evie’s waist. She’s smiling politely for the camera, staring into nothing, looking anxious. Chase’s grin is wide, practiced. Something about it makes my stomach drop.
“Evie?”
Talon shrugs, still scrolling. “Could be nothing. They were both invited, maybe just friends or something.”
“Friends?”The more I stare, the more questions burn in my mind.“And that’s how she ended up dead down in the catacombs.”
Footsteps at the doorway make both of us look up to find Dredyn standing in the frame, eating a donut. He enters, dropping the box on the desk beside us. He looks from my face to the screen, then to Talon.
“What’s with the grave vibes?”
“Chase Harrington. I think he had something going on with my sister before she was murdered.”
Dredyn’s grin dies. “Evie?”
“So, maybe Harrington dates everything in a skirt. Do we really think he had something to do with her drowning?” Talon says.
I ignore him and keep searching, even as Talon leans in to read over my shoulder.
A thread on the student forum catches my eye:
Chase Harrington + Evangeline Thorne. Coincidence?
The photos are grainy, but I can see Chase holding Evie’s hand at a Psi Theta mixer. Evie’s friends are tagging her with laughing emojis. “Poor Evie,” one comment says, “all alone with #Harrington.”
“There’s something here.”
Dredyn folds his arms. “Be careful. You’re poking a bear that’s got a fat political paw on its back and our girl in his clutches.”
Talon stretches, snagging his phone off my desk. “Well, I’m going to go see our girl at the library.”
I shrug, eyes still glued to the screen.“Tell her I’ll call later. I need to make a few… calls of my own.”
They both leave me alone to scroll endlessly on servers to try and find some sort of reason behind this connection. Then, a photo of my sister makes me freeze again. Posted the same night she texted me.
