“We’re leaving tomorrow morning. My jet’s prepared, be downstairs at seven sharp.”
She heads for the door, then pauses, looking back, a sardonic smile on her face.
“Let’s try not to kill each other over the holiday. I’d cancel if I could, but imagine explaining that to our families. So, pretend, coexist, and when we return, you can let it all burn again.”
The door shuts behind her and silence envelops us.
Octavia exhales. “I can’t believe the nerve of that—”
“Octavia,” Ophelia interrupts gently. “Don’t.”
I glance between them before speaking quietly.
“Have either of you heard anything about Eleanor?”
They both go still.
“No,” Ophelia says softly. “It’s like she just… vanished.”
“She’s done that before,” Octavia adds, though her tone is less certain now. “Disappearing for weeks, sometimes longer. It’s not exactly new.”
She’s right.
Eleanor has always been like that, coming and going as she pleases, slipping in and out of our lives.
But this time feels different.
Maybe there’s more to it than any of us realised.
Or maybe we’re simply terrible friends.
Because not one of us ever stopped to wonder where she goes when she disappears like this, or what she does during the months she’s gone.
We’re all so wrapped up in our own lives that we never ask.
We call ourselves friends. The truth is, we know very little about one another. At least not the parts that matter.
I nod slowly. “Let me know if you hear anything.”
I push myself to my feet, turning towards the door.
“Piper.”
Octavia’s voice stops me.
I turn back.
Her expression changes, a hint of amusement appears in her eyes.
“You and professor Wardgrave,” she says lightly, arching her brows. “Care to explain that?”
Ophelia gives her sister a look, though she’s clearly trying not to smile.
But inside, I feel as though I might actually die.
And I’m not exaggerating.
My heart pounds so hard I’m convinced everyone in the room can hear it.
