“But he was so excited for the game,” I blurt. “Why would he run away before the game? It doesn’t make sense—at all—to think he’d run away before then. Running away…it doesn’t fit with him at all. He was happy and liked school. Was doing well in all his classes and had a ton of friends. Everyone liked him.”
“Were you two romantically involved?” Professor Messor asks, and I can feel Maxon’s eyes fall on me as he waits for my reply.
“No. We were just friends. And I know I haven’t known him that long, but I’m telling you, he’s not someone who’d pack up and run away.”
“That’s the thing.” Professor Messor paces to the window behind her desk. “He didn’t pack a single thing. Didn’t leave a note. It does not fit with what we’ve seen before from students running away, which does happen, by the way. I get a few who attempt it every year.”
“I remember when Tabor ran away,” Maxon says, voice void of emotion. “He packed a bag and was spotted before he even made it into town.”
“I remember that too. Which is why I have several professors out on the grounds searching for Blaze.”
“He wouldn’t get lost,” Maxon chides. “I don’t want it to be true, but you have to know the only reason Blaze wouldn’t show up to a game was if something terrible happened.”
Professor Messor says nothing. She looks more upset than ever, her lips pressed into a thin line, her knuckles white as she clenches her hands into fists. Finally, she turns to me. “Thank you, Miss Blake, for answering my questions. You both may go now.”
“I…I actually have one for you.” The lump in my throat is back, and I look at Maxon, seeing worry in his ocean-blue eyes.
“Can a demon cross through a portal?”
“No,” she says firmly, so sure of herself she’s not even fazed by my question. “If a demon had broken into the academy, we would have known about it immediately.”
“But…what about something that could get into the academy? Like a rogue reaper?”
“No,” she responds quickly. Wringing her hands once more, and showing—for just a split second—just how nervous she is. But then her expression hardens, and she straightens her shoulders, drawing herself up to her full height.
“You two are to go straight back to your house,” Professor Messor says, and walks us to the door. “Until we get things sorted out, I fear it is not safe for students to be walking around alone. Or at all.”
“Yes, Headmistress,” Maxon says.
“Professor Dalmatius should be there by now, and will give you further instruction. As senior students, I expect you both to set a good example for the younger reapers and remain calm,” she presses, not needing to clarify that she means don’t go around telling others we suspected a demon to be lurking in the halls.
Though she thinks there could be one too.
“I am sorry,” she says, tone softening when we reach the door. “I know he was a friend to you both.”
All I can do is bob my head up and down, throat feeling too tight to speak. I’m starting to get emotional, not just from the loss of a friend but because I’m getting pissed as hell.
Terrence went missing not long ago, and his disappearance was brushed under the rug. If his case had been taken seriously, maybe Blaze would still be here.
“She’s totally lying,” I whisper once Maxon and I are through the lobby.
“I know,” he agrees.
“So you think there could be a demon?”
“I think there’s something.” He looks down at me, blue eyes glistening in the flickering candlelight. “And whatever it is has shaken Professor Messor to her core. I’ve never seen her like that once in the five years I’ve been here. She knows more than she’s letting on.”
“But why lie to us?”
“To prevent a panic. If thereisa demon lurking about, the last thing we need is a bunch of panicked students running about. Demons feed on that negative energy, you know. We could, without meaning to, give it more power.”
I bite the inside of my cheek and hurry to keep up with Maxon. “If she’s not going to do something, then we have to.”
Maxon comes to a dead stop. “What the hell do you expect us to do? We’re students, Addy. We’re not trained to deal with stuff like this!”
He takes a step forward and I grab his hand and jerk him back. An electric spark shocks us both. “You just admitted that she’s lying! We both know Blaze didn’t run away, Terrence didn’t either. So what happened to them? Where did they go?”
“I don’t know.”
