He stood tall in a black suit, looking around like he didn’t want us to be seen together. It’d been months since I’d last seen him. I was happy his hairline was receding more.
I always hated the way he stared at me like he was now.
A nauseating blend of impassive but threatening.
You could fear this man without him actually doing anything to explain to anyone why you felt that way.
His eyes narrowed into cold slits. “Arisono asked me to come speak to her.”
“About me?” I asked. My voice sounded too pathetic for my liking.
He nodded. “She said you have two strikes.”
“Let me explain?—”
“No need. As I explained to you before, this isit. Your mother is already disappointed about the two strikes. You don’t want to make her feel worse, do you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Good.” He reached out to clap his hand over my shoulder. “Stay out of trouble.” He shot me one last unnerving look before maneuvering around me and walking away.
I hunched forward, resting my hands on my knees.
That conversation with him had created just as much anxiety inside me as the knife game with Enzo. The quiet hum of the library no longer sounded inviting.
I made a U-turn and headed back to my dorm instead, praying that I didn’t run into anyone else on my way there.
Sixteen
Enzo
I checked my watch,seeing the second hand nearing midnight, and stretched my neck from side to side. Every muscle in my neck tightened when I slammed the folder shut and tossed it aside.
Someone had dropped it off at my door two nights ago, and I still hadn’t found out who it was. I’d reviewed video from the CCTV footage at my door countless times, but couldn’t make out the person.
No one other than me—not even my parents—had a key to my wing.
At least, to the best of my knowledge, though it seemed I was wrong.
Information about Blair that I couldn’t find online filled the folder.
Information that neither Julian nor Nico had found, hacking into everything they could, searching for Blair’s secrets.
Inside the folder, they were laid bare, as if whoever had left it unlocked her brain and emptied it out for me. It still didn’t answer all my questions. I had plenty more,especiallyafter what I read.
Whoever left it knew Blair.
The real question waswhythey had done it.
They knew this information would make her Initiation harder. The more we knew, the worse we could make it on her.
I needed to find out who had played Folder Fairy and why they’d done it.
Cedric, Emeri, and Brooks had also received folders with the same information.
Initiations were to prove the woman we’d chosen as a Fawn was worthy. I hadn’t been lying when I told Blair failing Initiation meant death. It wasn’t us who killed them. They usually ended their own lives, not strong enough to withstand the mental torture we’d put them through. That didn’t happen often.
Tonight was Blair’s Initiation.
