I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t like the way he was eyeing me. Quick as I could, I hurried away.
“Who are you going to talk to now?” Veronica asked.
“No one,” I hissed. “I know who killed Balthazar and kidnapped Wendy.”
“Excuse me?”
“It was Virgil Tacitus,” I said.
There was a long pause on her end as I strode toward the doors. When she finally spoke, she sounded shocked and flustered.
“There’s no way. It…it can’t be. He was Balthazar’s favorite student. He…you’resure?”
“My gift never lies,” I said, turning the corner and walking back into the foyer.
“But…Virgil?”
“He had to have had a reason,” I whispered as I stepped out into the night air. “Maybe he didn’t like some?—”
My words were cut off by the sound of breaking glass and Veronica screaming in my ear.
“Veronica!” I was far enough from the door that I was able to speak freely.
As an answer, all I could hear were the muffled sounds of male voices, Veronica shouting and grunting, and the rattles and thuds of a struggle. My skin went cold and my mouth dry as I sprinted for my car, my heart thundering against my ribs.
“Veronica!”
There was no response.
I leapt into my car, started it, and sped off into the night to the sound of squealing tires.
18
VERONICA
My eyes snapped open, and I sucked in a breath. A weird, groggy confusion cloaked my mind, like I’d just been woken from a deep sleep by the sound of a blaring car horn. I swallowed twice, my throat dry as a bone, vision blurry. For a few seconds, I lay there, trying to figure out what had happened. The last thing I remembered was talking to Declan while he was at the New Year’s gathering.
Things came back slowly: all the questions he’d asked, the people he’d interacted with—all but the last few minutes after he’d spoken to Gavin.
After blinking rapidly a few times, my vision cleared, and I took in my surroundings. The ceiling was painted a dark cream color. Turning to check the walls, I finally noticed a strange sensation around my neck. I reached up to feel what it was, but a faint burning on my wrist made me stop. That was what had woken me.
Lifting my hands as far as I could, I stared at the strange cuffs around each wrist. What looked like hemp woven bandsencircled both, locked in place by a dull metal clasp at each end. A purple glowing rune shone on the metal. When I twisted my arm around to get a better look, I hissed in pain. Not hemp. Wolfsbane fibers dried and woven into rope. They weren’t secured to the table or bound together like restraints, but that didn’t matter. With these on me, I’d never be able to shift, and if they were locked in place with magic, the only way to remove them would be magic.
I thought of any unbinding or unlockingcharms I was good at, and when I remembered one, I tried it. As soon as I tried to access my power, though, it was as if a concrete wall had been thrown up against the pathway leading it to my mind.
Panicked, I finally touched what was on my neck. A metallic collar of some sort was on me, not tight enough to choke, but tight enough that I couldn’t get my fingers between the band and my skin. Touching it sent a sizzling sensation through my fingertips. A magic neutralizer. Shit.
“Ve…Veronica?”
I sat up slowly, my vision spinning slightly. The quiet voice came from behind me. Turning, I found that the room was actually a bedroom with simple blue paisley wallpaper, dark gray carpeting, and a few pieces of upholstered furniture, though that furniture was bolted to the floor.
“Wendy?”
The girl was on another bed, wearing the same neckband, but her wrists were bare. Her face was a mask of both confusion and joy, and tears shone in her eyes.
“Veronica!” she leapt off her bed and rushed toward me, jumping into my outstretched arms.
She crashed against me, knocking the wind from my lungs, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing as if my life depended on it. Deep down, I’d believed she was still alive, still okay, but at least once a day, dark thoughts trickled in, and I had to stop myself from believing she was a corpse lying in a ditch somewhere. Now she was here, hugging me, breathing, and whole.
