I don’t think I’ve done anything to justify her panic, butsomeonehurt her. Maybe that prick I yanked off her.
Even if I’m not going to blame her for a reaction in the heat of the moment, I’m not going to push my luck either. She wouldn’t want my comfort.
I draw back into the shade of the library’s scrawny maple, but Elodie doesn’t head my way. She strides off past the bank without looking back.
Both buildings are closed for the evening, so the lot is empty. I lope across to check what she wrote.
Seeing it up close doesn’t enlighten me. The chalk scrawl isn’t any letters I recognize but several rough symbols in a ring around the flower.
I guess they mean something to Elodie. I don’t have a clue what.
Lifting my head, I gaze off in the direction she went. The pain I heard ripples through me again.
She doesn’t want me in her face, but that doesn’t mean I have to completely ignore her. I could make this one of my little missions.
What would be the right offering?
As I set off for home, I sort through my memories of the past few years at Luminary. I don’t let myself get too focused on what the other students are doing, but I’ve trained myself to take note of the small pleasures people take for themselves. The unguarded moments are usually the truest.
Ah. There’s something.
With a pleased smile lifting my lips, I veer toward the nearest corner store.
Twenty-Three
Elodie
After my last class of the morning, I open my locker with a brush of my fingertips and a tingle of magic, and my gaze shoots straight to the bag hanging at the back. The bag that holds the folded pants and vest I’m going to wear to The Eclipse after school.
It’s still there, because why wouldn’t it be? I’m getting paranoid. It’s way safer bringing my outfit change with me and heading straight to the club than having to stop by the house and risking more questions from Aunt Daphne.
I toss a couple of textbooks onto the top shelf and reach to close the door. Then I pause, staring at the bottom of the locker.
A familiar orange wrapper is lying askew on the beige metal. Bending down, I pick up the packet of peanut butter cups. A sticky note flutters off—a hasty scrawl that simply says,Have a great day!
The package would have been just thin enough to squeeze through the slats in the locker door. I glance up and down the hall, but no one is looking my way. I have no idea when this mysterious gift was even left here.
Is it a gift? For all I know, Other Elodie’s murderer laced my favorite snack with arsenic.
How would anyone even know this ismyfavorite snack? Luck of the draw, or did my double have similar tastes despite her refined lifestyle?
Apparently she enjoyed pizza now and then, so I guess it’s not totally implausible.
No quiver of condensed ephemera radiates off the wrapper, and it’s hard to imbue food with magic for long anyway. Inorganic materials tend to hold imposed energy better. I don’t think it’s going to explode or assault me.
I hesitate and then tuck the package into my satchel. I rarely indulged in candy even in my real life after my glim activated, but I should hold on to the evidence in case it is connected to the killer somehow.
The handwriting on the note looks vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?
As I scrutinize the messy ink lines, a cheerful voice rings out beside me. “Hey, Elle, ready to grab lunch?”
I jerk my head around, crumpling the note between my fingers at the same moment. Mia beams at me in her typical cheerful way. Stella looks on from behind her with a faintly amused expression.
“We were thinking of heading off campus to try that new tapas place that opened down the street,” the taller girl puts in, tipping her head so her auburn ponytail swishes against her blazer.
Mia nods eagerly. “I heard the croquettes are amazing! Madison and Cadance are going to meet us out front.”
I step to block all view of my locker, as if my friends could tell what’s in the bag that holds my sort-of costume. The thought of being surrounded by the four of them for a whole hour while I’m scrambling to unravel this murder plot makes my stomach lurch.
