I checked my phone. 9:47 PM.
Thirteen minutes.
The Artemis Building was on the other side of campus. If I hurried, I could make it in time. I turned and started walking, then jogging, toward the southeast end of campus where the old administrative buildings stood.
When I arrived at the Artemis Building, I headed straight for the eastern wall, because that was exactly where the Selection List got posted each year.
“Julian?” I called out, squinting into the darkness. “Are you here?”
Then I saw it. A piece of paper on the wall.
I reached up and grabbed it, my breath catching. It was formatted exactly like the Selection List. That same official layout, the same crimson wax seals around the edges, the formal typography. But there was only one name on it.
JULIAN VALCOURT
There was also an arrow at the bottom indicating I should flip it over. On the back, there was a message written in Julian's handwriting.
It’s your turn to find me, Violet.
First location hint: Where we first laid eyes on each other. Where it all began.
Catch me if you can, baby…
- J
A smile spread across my face. He was giving me another hunt. Only this time, I was hunting him.
I looked at the clue again.Where we first laid eyes on each other. Where it all began.
That could only mean the St. Dionysius statue. I'd just been there.
I shoved the paper in my jacket pocket and spun around.
I cut back through the quad, lungs burning as I ran harder than I had in months. The campus felt different now that I was chasing instead of being chased. My heart was racing, but not with fear. With anticipation.
The St. Dionysius statue came into view, looming out of the darkness. I slowed to a walk as I approached it, pulse still hammering. My eyes scanned the surrounding paths, the shadows between the trees, the benches, the low stone walls.
Nothing. No Julian leaning casually against the pedestal. No dark silhouette stepping out from behind the nearby hedges. No familiar presence watching me from the shadows.
I frowned and stepped closer, circling the statue once, then twice. For a split second, disappointment flared in my chest.Then my gaze dropped. There, taped neatly to the base of the statue, just above the engraved plaque, was another piece of paper.
I crouched and peeled it free, my fingers already tingling.
Too late, baby. But I’ll give you another shot. You can find me at the place where we first spoke.
My eyes flicked up again, instinctively searching the darkness as if I might catch Julian watching me read the note.Then I huffed out a breath that was half laugh, half groan. Of course he wasn’t there. He wasn’t going to make this easy for me.
The place where we first spoke.
My mind immediately jumped back to my first day on campus. The chilly fog in the air. The walkway I’d headed into after my first-ever conversation with Jeremiah, only to run straight into Julian. The weight of his attention. The sound of his voice for the very first time, low and amused and unmistakably dangerous.
I straightened, folding the note and slipping it into my pocket, and a grin tugged at my lips. “Oh, Julian,” I murmured to the empty quad. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
I took off again, breaking into a run as I headed toward the eastern quad, every sense alert now.
The colonnaded walkway was empty when I reached it. Shadows stretched between the pillars, deep and narrow, perfect places to hide, and my footsteps slowed as I moved beneath the arches, the sound echoing faintly in the quiet night.
This was it. The place where Julian and I first spoke.
