But no. I stare at the empty path. The leaves rustling in the breeze. No one is there.
I hadn’t been sleeping well lately. Ever since I’d begun helping Amy look into the murder. Was I being paranoid?
I’m staring at the empty dirt path, the thick foliage lining the lake’s edge, when a squirrel’s furry head pops out of the bushes and looks right at me.
A nervous laugh escapes my chest. Yep. Paranoid.Get a grip.
I run faster on the way back home, just in case. Overhead, the sky has grown dark. Long, twisting shadows dart in and out of my path, and tree branches reach across the sky like skeleton fingers. I’m slowing to a walk to catch my breath when I hear another sound behind me. Footsteps.
I whip around, my heart lurching with fresh panic—thatwas not an animal—but when I look behind, no one is there. Nothing but a thick haze.
It’s nothing,I convince myself.Just go home.
But when I’m nearing the bridge, I get the unnerving sense that someone is behind me, their breath tracing the back of my neck. I reach up and touch the skin, shuddering.
I walk faster, but there it is again. The crunch of boots over icy ground. I pause. The footsteps stop too.
I consider my options: I could scream for help, but there’s no one out here. Or I could run. I’m not that far now. Yes. I could run. Or…I could see what he wants.
I turn slowly. Behind me, I think a figure stands in the path, hidden in shadow.
“Hey!” I shout, but before I can get a good look, they slip off the trail. Are they on to us? Have they been following Amy too? What exactly do they want from me? Not wanting to find out, I break into a sprint back toward campus.
After catching my breath, I look back the way I came, unsettled, and wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing.
Chapter Thirty
Maya
January 2012
I ran through the darkwintry campus. it was hard to focus on anything but the secret I shared with Nate, and on the evening of Winter Formal, I’d been so distracted I’d completely forgotten to turn in a problem set, which was a large percentage of our grade.
Rushing through the halls, I arrived at Professor DuPont’s office out of breath, problem set in hand, and what I saw past the open door made me stop. To my surprise, Lila was leaning over his shoulder, pointing to an open book on his desk. Her mouth was so close to his neck, he must have felt her breath on his skin. Our eyes met, and something flashed across hers, though she didn’t back away, and instead held my gaze like a deer caught in headlights.
“Oh, sorry. I can come back.” Sensing I was interrupting an intimate moment, I looked away, embarrassed.
“No, it’s okay,” Lila said. “I was just leaving.”
She gathered her things and, on her way out the door, her arm brushed against mine. She paused, and when our eyes met, hers were filled with warning. She looked for a moment as if she was going to say something, but she averted her eyes and continued out the door.
I frowned, my heart beating faster as anxiety rose within me. I remembered the times I’d seen them together before. But this felt different. This time he hadn’t been watching her with admiration, but with something darker, like he wanted to possess her. I thought of what she’d whispered in my ear in the library:Be careful.Of what? Of him?
When I looked back at him, he was watching me with concern.Handing him my problem set, I avoided his eyes, trying to hide my unease.
“Maya.” Professor DuPont’s voice was more stern than usual. “I’m concerned about your performance the last few weeks.”
I swallowed. It was true, I’d been distracted and let my grades slip. “I don’t know what happened…”Nate. Nate happened.
Professor DuPont drew out a piece of paper on his desk—the test I’d taken last week—so I could see it marked up in red. “I’ll let you redo this one. But next time, I’m marking you down.”
I mumbled some incoherent response and was on my way out the door when he said, without looking up, “And…this isn’t my place to say, but I’d like you to be cautious around Nathaniel Banks.” My skin prickled.How did he know about Nate?“You’ve been a straight-A student until now. It would be a shame if he were the reason you failed my class.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Naomi
January 2023, four months before her death
