Eternal

And this time, I believed him.

“And really, Tyler—mano a mano?” I was smiling now, hoping to break the heavy tension in the air. “Does anyone actually say that in Texas?”

He laughed, the familiar playful gleam back in his eyes. “Heck if I know. It sounded good, though, right?”

* * *

“What’s for lunch?” I asked, tossing my bag to the empty chair beside Sophie.

“Chili,” Marissa said, pointing to the steaming bowl on the tray in front of her. “And it’s pretty good.” Beside her, Max gave a thumbs-up with one hand while he shoveled a spoonful into his mouth with the other.

The spicy smell made my stomach roil. “Maybe I’ll just get a sandwich.”

“Yeah, me too.” Sophie rose and fell into step beside me.

“Hey, wait up!” Cece hurried to catch up with us.

We were halfway across the dining hall when Joshua waylaid us, stepping into our path with a frown. “Hey, I just heard what happened to Aidan. You guys okay?”

As always, bad news traveled fast at Winterhaven. We hadn’t even been back at school a full twenty-four hours yet. “Who told you?” I asked, curious.

“Tyler. We’ve got third period Spanish together.” He glanced over one shoulder, toward the table where Jack sat surrounded by his football buddies. Shaking his head, Joshua turned back toward us. “He told me about Jack, too. Unbelievable.”

“I know, right?” Cece shot Jack a deadly glare.

“Dirtbag,” Sophie added.

“So,” Joshua said, “what’s the plan?”

I shifted on my feet, feeling vulnerable. I could have sworn that every pair of eyes in the dining hall was focused on us, watching us. “The plan?”

“Yeah, you must have some sort of plan. Right? Oh, and Bronwyn and I kinda broke up over break. It’s a little awkward right now—do you mind if I sit with you guys?”

“What? No, of course not. We’re just getting sandwiches.” I shook my head, confused. I was getting mental whiplash from trying to follow the train of conversation.

“Thanks.” His mouth widened into a smile, and I couldn’t help but notice that his gaze shifted to Cece and lingered there a little longer than it should have. “Okay, I’ll see you back at your table and we can talk about the plan.”

I nodded mutely. He was going to be disappointed to learn that I had nothing. No plan.

When we finally made our way back to our table with our sandwiches and drinks, Kate, Tyler, and Joshua had joined Max and Marissa. Even without Aidan, it was going to be a tight squeeze.

“Where’s the rest of the band?” I directed at Max. He always sat with them at meals—at least, he always had before now.

Max just grunted, motioning toward the table behind us. Beside him, Marissa smiled sweetly. A battle hard fought, I supposed.

Sophie leaned toward me. “Marissa told him everything,” she whispered into my ear. “Well, almost everything. Just so you know.”

I didn’t have time to ask her what she meant by “almost everything” before Joshua launched right into investigative mode. “Okay, so you think this Tribunal is somewhere in France?”

“Paris,” I said. “At least, that’s what I heard.”

“And Cece tried to project to Mrs. G.?”

Cece nodded. “A bunch of times. No luck, though. I think the place is protected, wherever she is. I can’t project to her or to Aidan.”

“So presumably they’re in the same place,” Tyler reasoned.

Joshua drummed his fingers on the table. “And you talked to Ackerman?”

“Yep. No luck there, either,” I answered. “Ackerman had some story about a family emergency. Which we all know is a bunch of crap.”

“The woman’s got to have a cell phone, right?” Tyler said. “There must be a faculty directory or something.”

I shook my head. “Matthew says he’s never seen her with a cell. He showed me the directory, and it only lists her Winterhaven office number.”

“Matthew?” Max asked, his brows drawn.

“Dr. Byrne,” I corrected, my cheeks flushing hotly. “Sorry.”

Max still looked confused. “What has Dr. Byrne got to do with this?”

Marissa kicked me under the table. I didn’t tell him everything, she mouthed. It occurred to me then that Tyler didn’t know about the Megved stuff either—which meant neither did Joshua.

I swallowed hard. “He’s . . . my psychic coach, that’s all. I asked him if he could help me contact her.”

Somehow, I was glad the guys didn’t know. It just felt . . . I don’t know, too personal to share with them. Of course, it also meant they were missing a big piece of the story.

I glanced over at Josh, who was now busy debating the wisdom of asking other teachers if they knew how to contact Mrs. G. His expression was earnest, his concern evident. I remembered the sight of him standing beside Jack on the edge of that blood-soaked field last spring, remembered how he’d created—or somehow became—the distracting fog that helped save us all. He’d risked so much by joining us in the fight and all because Aidan and I had stood up for him and his shifter friends.

Yep, I trusted Joshua. Completely.

My gaze slid over to Tyler. He was a friend, no doubt about it. And yet it had been so easy to imagine that he’d been the one tampering with Aidan’s work. I didn’t trust him, not fully. And it wasn’t just that he’d hooked up with Kate when he was supposed to be at a dance with Cece. No, there was more to it than that. I couldn’t quite figure him out, wasn’t entirely sure what motivated him.

What had drawn him into our little group? Was it just our connection on the fencing team? Or was there something more? I shook my head, realizing there was a lot about Tyler that I didn’t know.

Still, there was no doubt that he was a part of us now. Max too. And if they were going to help me find Mrs. Girard and get Aidan out of wherever they were keeping him, then they probably needed to know the whole story, skeevy bits and all.

They deserved to know. Which meant I needed to talk to Matthew and get his permission first. Because this was his secret as much as mine, and—

“Violet?” Cece nudged me in the ribs. “What do you think?”

“About what?” I shook my head, trying to clear it.

“You haven’t been listening to a word Josh said, have you?” she asked.

I felt my cheeks flame. “Sorry.”

“We were talking about this whole ‘war’ thing,” Kate offered. She turned toward me. “Remember what Jack said yesterday, about how Mrs. G. might be trying to protect Aidan? It makes sense, really, when you think about it. If he’s her ‘greatest creation’ and all that. I mean, maybe this is just part of some big plan.”

Joshua nodded. “Yeah, maybe she needed him to get into trouble so that she had an excuse to lock him up somewhere safe.”

Tyler looked unconvinced. “Well, why wouldn’t he be safe here?”

“Julius and those two female vamps were able to track him here,” Marissa said, suddenly looking pale. She combed a hand through her long dark hair, her fingers visibly trembling. “Wherever they’ve got him, it’s with a bunch of powerful vampires, right? Probably the best place for him, if something big is going down. If they want to keep him safe, that is.”

“Yeah, but safe from what?” Sophie asked.

“The war,” Joshua answered with a shrug.

I sighed in frustration. “Which brings us right back where we started. And no closer to getting Aidan out than we were before.”

“But think about it, Violet,” Kate said. “If we’re right and she’s got him somewhere to keep him safe or