“Neither will sharing her, but here we are.”
She frowns. “Sharing?”
“You thought I was her only plaything?” I laugh. “The sun gets easily bored with games.”
Suddenly, several police officers swarm the cafeteria, and almost all students stop talking as they crash our lunch breaks.
“Everybody out. Head back to your dorms, quietly and orderly. Those who live off campus must report to our temporary station outside. You must all vacate the property now.”
“What?” I mutter, staring at the cops, whose voices blast through the cafeteria.
“Spine Ridge University is going on lockdown. No one gets in, no one goes out.”
CHAPTER 32
Xavier
The doors to the Skull& Serpent library are slammed closed by the dean, and I jolt up from my seat just from the way he waltzes in. The noise instantly dies down between the Carusos, Riveras, Torres, Navarros, Reeds, Prestons, and Fletchers. All the kids are gathered here, because it’s one of the very few places left where the cops don’t dare to march in unannounced. But being inside the Skull & Serpent Society still gives me the creeps. I fucking hate this place, though not as much as the Phantom Society.
“What the fuck is going on, Dad?” Silas says, scratching the back of his neck. “The cops have swarmed everywhere, and it’s all closed down now.”
“How am I supposed to visit my friends, huh?” Aspen asks.
“Why the fuck is the campus closed down?” Heath asks, putting up a smoke, but Silas rips it from his fingers and chucks it in the bin.
“Not inside.”
Normally, Silas wouldn’t care, but his dad is watching now, and he seems pissed the fuck off.
“Listen up, everyone,” Felix says. “I brought you all here because this is the only place we can still speak without being listened to. Detective Foley and his men have wiretapped and bugged pretty much every office in the goddamn building.”
Everyone gasps in shock.
“But why? We haven’t done anything. We’re just students,” Cecilia asks.
“Because there’s a goddamn murderer on the loose, and they’ve pinpointed their location at Spine Ridge University,” Felix growls back. “One of you”—he points—“is a fucking serial killer, and they’re endangering the rest of you.”
He grinds his teeth, visibly upset, as he paces the room, while everyone looks at him. The tension is palpable. “It has to end, now.”
“How do they know the killer is here?” Melody asks, with a sickly-sweet voice. “I haven’t seen any blood on anyone.”
“I don’t know. Foley refuses to give me any proof. Says he’s got it all. But he’s got a judge’s order, so I’m pretty sure it’s legit,” Dean Felix responds.
More gasps follow. The only quiet one is Sunny, and when his eyes settle on her, it feels like the temperature in the room suddenly drops five degrees.
“I cannot protect every single one of you if you keep having run-ins with the law.”
“Weren’t you a killer in your earlier days?” Sunny taunts. “Maybe it’s you.”
His eye begins to twitch. “Don’t test me, Sunny. Do you want me to bring in your mother?”
She shrugs. “Go ahead, I don’t care.” She jumps off the windowsill where she was sitting. “I’m bored. When are we going to do something about those damn cops, though? Can’t we just kill them and get it over with?”
“That is not an option, and you know it.”
“Maybe our dads can bust us out or something?” Levi suggests.
Apollo smashes his fist into his palm. “Or maybe we can just bust some jaws, give them a message.”
