He stepped inside her room, looking too big for the area.
A thrill chased through her at seeing him actually in her room, where she’d imagined him so many times after that one dream meeting when he’d probably saved her life. Oh, she knew it couldn’t really have been him. Perhaps she’d seen a picture of him that had sparked her dream. Maybe she was just going crazy—or somehow the fates had shown him to her.
Right now, she wouldn’t bet her life on her sanity. Reason had fled the building the second she’d walked into that diner and met her dream man, who turned out to be a vampire with some demon blood. One who’d almost mated her. The idea was incredible. “Do you ever feel like you’ve just lost your sense of reality?”
He looked out her window at the pounding rain. “Tell me about a normal day here.”
She ran her hand along the familiar stone wall, already knowing each groove and divot. “Morning prayer was at five, breakfast at six, and classes began at seven.” Truth be told, she hoped never to have a schedule again. “Lunch was at noon, dinner at five, studies until eight, and then a good-night meditation and hot chocolate, warm milk, or apple cider. Then bed.”
He turned and leaned against the wall, somehow looking at home against the hard surface. “You’d drink something hot every night?”
“Yes. We’d toast and say something positive about the next day. Something to look forward to for all of us.” She’d actually enjoyed that practice. “Is that significant?”
He lifted a powerful shoulder. “Maybe. If you really have no recollection of being hypnotized, then it stands to reason you might’ve been drugged.”
She licked her lips. “There are times I remember being exhausted, even though I thought I’d slept all night.” A cold ball of dread dropped into her gut, spreading chills through her body. “If I was drugged, what else might they have done to me? And why?” She shivered.
“We’ll find out.” He glanced at his phone. “We’ll search for any records about the students who attended this part of the school. Unfortunately, you don’t have any records at the main Stoneton Hills Academy, so it’s doubtful your friends did either.”
She jolted. “No records? But I attended Stoneton for years.” Or did she? “I can speak five languages, Garrett.”
“You can also kill immortals,” he murmured. “More specifically, me.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The place gave him the creeps. It was cold and barren; the complete opposite of the woman who looked so lost in the small room. She was vibrant and alive, and she must’ve been miserable in such stark surroundings. Garrett took her hand. “Let’s check out the monks’ building. What did these men look like, anyway?” Her hand felt small and chilly in his, even through her gloves.
“Like monks. They wore brown smocks and looked like men. They didn’t speak. There was nothing remarkable about them.”
He hustled them outside and tried to keep her from getting wet in the rainstorm, ducking his head as they ran. The wind slashed at them, and the rain held a bite. The doors of the other building were already open, so he hurried her inside and stopped to wipe off his face.
Sam Kyllwood stood in the center room, which was empty. “Checked out all the rooms. There’s a kitchen, several bedrooms, and a couple of offices. Nothing interesting.” He swung a lantern in one hand and grimaced as lightning struck outside. Then he looked them over and focused on Garrett. “Did you find anything in the main building?”
“No,” Garrett muttered. Somebody had cleared out the entire building. He’d have a couple of teams check every inch of the school, but he wasn’t confident they’d find anything.
Dessie released his hand and wandered over to the far stone wall. She cocked her head, her heart audibly speeding up.
“What is it?” Garrett asked.
“I don’t know.” She placed her palm on a rock in the center of the wall. “I’ve seen this before.”
Garrett and Sam instantly walked toward her and began pushing on the wall. Garrett knocked along the smooth stones, noting a hollow sound. He then traced a series of perfectly aligned rocks to the side, in front of an empty bookshelf. There was something off. He felt beneath a shelf, found an edge, and pushed. A door opened in front of Dessie.
“Oh, no,” she whispered. The woman sounded faint.
“Stay here.” Garrett took a lantern and ran down rough stairs, finding a wide-open room that smelled like bleach. He turned to look up at Sam. “It’s vacant down here, but there’s a boatload of electrical wiring. We need to tear this place apart.”
Dessie turned even paler but reached for a hand-carved railing and started down the rocky steps.
“Stay up there,” Garrett said.
“No.” She kept descending, with Sam at her back. With each step, she seemed to get shakier. Finally at the bottom, she gagged and then swallowed rapidly.
It was obvious she was terrified, but she was facing whatever had happened in that room. Garrett couldn’t help but be impressed by her. “You don’t have to be down here.”
She gulped and looked around as if afraid monsters would emerge from the walls. “Yes, I do.”
Garrett crouched and gingerly lifted a wire, which was frayed in several spots. “Does this place seem familiar in any way?”
