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With that, he hung up.

“Fuck, fuck...” She looked around, then at me. “We have to get out of here. Now. Otherwise, he'll smell us.”

“I'm taking the book,” Larissa said quickly.

“No!” Emely snatched the book from her hand and hurried to the table to place it where it had originally been. “If Alarik sees that it's gone...”

“Relax, he won't.” Miles placed the glass ball on the side table, and the other three rolled to the edge of the table before falling down and making loud noises as they rolled from the carpet onto the floorboards.

We all looked at him in alarm.

“If you're that loud, then yes!” Emely replied, picking up the glass balls to put them back into the last three of the four holders on the ornate side table. “Now let's get out of here!”

Chapter 25

Miles

Alone In This World

RealTunesStudio

I was just about to leave the Vanderwood main building through a side exit when someone grabbed my arm.

The grip wasn't particularly firm, but the coldness of this person immediately penetrated my coat. And this was a damn felt coat.

I turned to the petite girl with snow-white hair, who was almost two heads shorter than me, and raised my eyebrows with a smirk.

“What do you have to do with him?” she hissed quietly, looking around before I could answer.

When I didn’t respond, her gaze wandered back to me, and she stared at me with a fixed expression.

I shrugged.

“Unfortunate coincidences lead to happy acquaintances.”

“Miles!”

I lowered my voice and put a finger to my lips.

“I have to keep quiet. If you understand...”

She raised both eyebrows.

Rarely did she show such lively facial expressions. Sometimes I wondered who would win if Adrian and she competed in a contest of emotionless faces.

“I can't believe it,” she finally blurted out, staring into space. “And he talked to you of all people about J...”

Indeed, he had. If I had known earlier what a bizarre game was going on here, I would have come up with a plan and played along.

“He despises you,” I said, wanting to find out if she already knew that. “So, Julie,” I clarified, but then had to laugh. “What did you do to the poor man?”

As far as I knew, she was his student. And I hardly believed that Quentin despised her because she rocked back and forth, threw paper balls at the dogs – as I liked to do in Professor Copeland's English seminars – or because she got bad grades.

He hated the Quatura.

Maybe I should have probed deeper. Damn. I would have to ask Adrian if he could get me some information on the guy.

“I didn't do anything,” she blurted out. “He's crazy.” She seemed to be searching for words. “He's researching...”