“Yes, it’ll be quite a relief to have her gone,” the professor muses. “Her wailing has been quite disturbing, and frankly, I’m not sure why Professor Knox brought her here in the first place. Knowing him, it could be anything from her not addressing him correctly, to being late to class. That man does have a temper. It’s lucky Professor Thane is here to clean up his messes.”
At first, I’m confused as to why the professor would find wailing disturbing considering we’re in a dungeon, but then my thoughts snag on the name he’s just mentioned.Knox?It takes me a while to process what he’s said.
“Well, here she is,” Professor Yevar forges on. “You’d best be on your way. And do see to it that she has a thorough clean before classes.” He wrinkles his nose. “Well, at least before she attendsmyclasses.”
I scurry forward, fighting not to gag at the smell as I move to Satine. She flinches when I near her, and I squat, trying to make myself look as small as possible. Physically, she doesn’t really look like she’s been touched, but her eyes move from side-to-side wildly like she’s not sure where to look. Eventually, her gaze fixes on my face, and she frowns.
“New girl?” she croaks, like she hasn’t spoken in a long while. That’s all she manages before her gaze starts darting around again.
I turn my head, and I’m about to ask Professor Yevar the best way to get her out of the dungeon, when he waves his hand, and a shadow pathway opens up inside the cell. “That will take you to the corridor outside her dorm,” he tells me. “You’d best not stray from the path.”
I eye the pathway warily. I remember the warnings I’ve been told about how easy it is to get lost if you don’t follow the pathway properly, but it’s not like I have much of a choice. I don’t forgive Satine for trying to kill me, but I can’t leave her here.
Professor Yevar watches me impatiently.
Moving beside Satine, I slide her arm over my shoulder, and she lets me pull her to her feet. “Come on,” I tell her soothingly. “Let’s get you out of here.”
We stumble toward the shadow pathway that’s still open, shadows flickering like living beings, and Professor Yevar watches us go.
“Be careful,”Tarlaz warns in my mind, eyeing Professor Yevar.“I’ve never trusted this one.”
“I’ll try,”I reply.
“Thank you,” I mumble to the professor, and I glimpse his smile growing bigger before he disappears from view.
It feels like it takes forever for us to walk the shadow pathway. Shadows flicker around us on all sides in the gray landscape, and the entire time my heart is beating like crazy.
Satine’s head flops forward, and I adjust my hold on her arm, grunting at her weight. “What happened to you?” I whisper.
Her gaze connects with mine, but her eyes are still glassy and unfocused. “You’re not dead,” she rasps in disbelief.
“Not yet anyway,” I mumble, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up in a cell?”
She creases her brow. “I don’t… I can’t…remember.”
“Was it Knox?” I don’t know why I’m surprised that he would do this, but I feel like I have to ask.
“M-maybe… I think… Yes, Professor Knox. I think it was.”
I frown, my mind going to the disappearing students. Could Knox be behind it?Who am I kidding, of course he could.
“Has this happened to other students before?” I ask her, remembering what my roommate had said some time ago. That on the night Leira was taken, Satine had been called away, too. “Do you know what happened to Leira?”
Satine struggles to focus. “T-taken,” she mutters. “She was taken.”
“What do you mean, taken?”
“She didn’t— I tried to warn her,” Satine mumbles.
I try to get more out of Satine, but she sags against me, growing quiet, and I don’t press her. We walk in silence for a time, and I can’t stop thinking about what she’s said.Taken.
Is Knox behind this? And if he is, then surely Thane and the others know about it.Anger filters through me as I wonder whether my guys are the ones abducting the students. Then I think about the fact that they hadn’t told Kenzie or the other students where I was. I can’t stop the dark thought that comes next.That’s because they’d been planning to make you disappear, too.
We make it to the corridor outside Satine’s dorm room, and I leave her resting on her bed before going in search of Kenzie. She’s not in our dorm, and as the last notes of the dinner bell fade away, I peer at the map on the ceiling. I’ll be damned if I let Kenzie believe I’m dead, and maybe if the other students know I’m alive, it’ll be harder for the professors to make me disappear. Keeping my gaze to the ceiling, I try to remember the way to the dining hall and hope I don’t get lost.
Chapter Thirty-Three
~ Shade ~
