“No, you really don’t,” Damon jokes.
“You deserve the world,” Sage says.
“A safer world,” Damon interjects.
“I’ll make the world safer,” Sage counters.
“I’ll protect her.”
“She doesn’t need protecting, do you, Daredevil?”
I just shake my head at them and hold up my hands even though I don’t miss that he’s called me by my nickname. “Get to class. You’re going to be late.”
"Worth it," Sage whispers in my ear.
I shiver and watch as he flies off, a guard hot on his tail.
Damon cups my face. “You need a new nickname.”
“Oh, yeah? Warrior Babe doesn’t suit me anymore?” I ask lightly.
“If you’re being honest, you prefer Daredevil to Warrior Babe, don’t you?”
I say nothing because I can’t lie.
“That’s fine. You can pick his nickname so long as you pick me.”
“Damon…”
“You will have to pick. Once the killer or killers are dealt with.”
“Dealt with?”
“If we’re dealing with two, the fight they could put up will be far worse than Spring with her violence and Thistle and his going after you.”
“All the more reason for us all to be careful,” I say, my heart pounding this time in fear.
“I’m always careful.”
“Why do I doubt that?” I ask dryly.
Damon winks, and he takes off.
“About time you could join us for class,” Professor Fern Stone says.
I lower my head. Of course the professor who is taking over for Professor Luna at least for the day would be my old Magic of Music professor.
Quickly, I go to take my typical seat, only someone else sits there, and I have to fly all the way to the back to take the only desk still available. Along the way, I hear more and more comments, the majority referencing my sister until it reaches the point that I want to explode. They are torturing me, and there’s one way to end the whispers. One way for Bay to stop all of this nonsense. One way for the others to leave us alone now and forever.
My classes go by in a blur, and I zoom back to the cottage. All I want is to be able to talk to Bay, but she’s not here.
I call her, but she doesn’t answer, and my text is ignored for an hour.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back to sleep in the cottage tonight,” she sends.
“If I’m asleep when you get in, wake me.”
“Is something up?” she texts.
“I just want to talk.”
“About?”
This time, I’m the one answering with silence. If I tell her, she might not come, and right now, I really need her to.
Unsurprisingly, I have too much on my mind to sleep. Considering I don’t even bother to lie down in bed, I can’t possibly try to sleep. I just pace back and forth in the kitchen since she tends to come in the back door versus the front. The thought crosses my mind time and again that I could wait in her room, but I don’t. The risk that she might find that offensive is too high. I don’t want to risk her wrath before I have a chance to explain my position.
When Bay flies in, she rolls her eyes but smiles. "You waited up for me?"
“It’s not that late,” I return.
“It’s after midnight.”
"Sometimes, I stay up until midnight doing work."
"Well after midnight." She waits for a beat. "Three in the morning."
"Oh. Time got away from me. And you too, maybe?"
“Maybe.” She sighs across from me.
“Long day?” I ask.
“Not any longer than usual.”
I lift my eyebrows. “You’ve been up for almost twenty-four hours straight.”
“I’m not sleeping much,” she admits.
“You and me both. Why aren’t you sleeping?”
She sets her teeth on edge. “There’s so much going on right now, you know?”
“Oh, I know. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I was thinking… Hear me out, okay?” I blow out a deep breath.
Bay eyes me curiously. “What’s going on?”
“I just think you should cooperate with the authorities,” I blurt out. “Just let them use telepathy on you. You can prove your innocence just like that, and everyone will stop with the talking behind our backs. The whispers, the glares, all of that will just disappear.”
Bay’s face falls into a mask that conceals her every emotion before shattering into a perfect picture of anger and rage.
“You think I had something to do with our professor’s death?” she explodes. “You think I should cooperate with the authorities? The guards and the police haven’t come around asking me any questions. They don’t suspect me, so why should you? Who gives a flying fuck what the other kids are saying? They’re beneath me, and they should be beneath you. They can say whatever the fuck they want, but you hear me out, okay? You ever suggest that I should just let them use telepathy on me again, and I’ll tell them to use it on you. How about that?”
“Bay,” I protest.
She holds up a hand. “Don’t talk to me.”
She blows past me to her room. I follow, but she locks the door. By the time I force my way inside, she’s gone. Her room is empty.
Fire and brimstone, that didn’t go as planned at all. Clearly, Bay’s done something she doesn’t want the police to know about. The only question is what?
Chapter 24
My heart’s broken as I sink to sit on the edge of Bay’s bed. She’s gone off to Zoth. She’ll tell him what I said, and it’s going to form a wedge between us. She’ll cling to him all the more, and she’s going to start to hate me.
Honestly? I’m starting to hate myself.
How could I have doubted Bay? I assumed the guards and police were considering her a suspect, and just by that assumption, a part of me, deep down, considered her one too. She had every right to be upset with me. What I did was unforgivable.
It doesn’t matter what everyone else is saying, what they’re whispering. They don’t know Bay like I do, and even I failed her.
I’m the worst sister in the world.
Not only do I
