“What do you want?” I ask. Part of me is actually curious and the other part of me wants to just kick him in the face and get the hell away from him.
“The wolves,” he whispers.
I try to keep my face steady. “What wolves?” I ask. “You and I both know that you were not attacked by wolves that night.” My voice is steady.
“That’s true but I must say, the conversations I have had with Headmaster Underwood since that night have made me rethink the things I have seen.”
“Underwood?” I say. “Where is the Headmaster?”
Allbright shrugs. “He’s around,” I suppose. “It turns out he isn’t very interested in staying on as Headmaster or President of the Society now that the Vessel is gone. It seems he’s much more interested in wolves. Dire wolves, to be exact. And something tells me you know a thing or two about that.”
My mind races as I go back over all the things that happened the night of our attack. Could Allbright have seen Marco? And if he had, how did he make the wolf connection?
“I…”
“Daddy?” Quinn appears near the path by the dorm. She hurries over to the footbridge and looks curiously at me and her father, no doubt wondering what we could possibly have to talk about. “Daddy, it’s time. They’re waiting for you.”
Allbright nods. “Go ahead and tell them I am on my way, darling.” He turns back to me and tilts his head in Quinn’s direction. “Such a sweet young girl, don’t you think? Would be a shame if something happened to her.”
“You’d harm your own daughter to blackmail me?”
He laughs. “I wouldn’t be doing anything to my daughter.” His words are like a slap. After everything he’s done, he thinks he’s going to use me for his own ends? Not going to happen.
“Footprints,” he says.
“What?”
“Footprints. The ground where you and I fought. There were large male footprints. He was barefoot.”
“And?” I find that I’m not as frightened as I am curious. I need to know what he knows, and then I—we—will deal with him.
Allbright smiles, and it’s a smile that makes my skin crawl. “Well, the authorities were consumed with tracing the wolf tracks back to their origin, but I was curious about the man’s footprints. So I traced those back, right to where they started. I know the wolf came to your aid. I know because I saw the dark-haired man carry you away. So, I’m prepared to make you a deal.”
He straightens his shoulders and looks away for a moment, like he’s resetting himself. “You will deliver your wolf to me, today. And in exchange—”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He raises a finger to indicate he’s still talking. “And in exchange, I will not only keep our little family secret between us, but I also promise that no harm will come to Quinn.”
“You’re crazy.”
He shakes his head, has the nerve to smile again. “Look, if I had the time, I could locate him myself. But Underwood doesn’t want just the one wolf. He says there are three of them and he wants the complete set.”
“I don’t—”
“I didn’t get a good look at the face when he carried you off, but I believe you called him Marco?”
Hearing him say Marco’s name makes everything in me seethe. I ball my hands into fists and feel the energy crackle around them. I lift up my hands and prepare to strike. “You’ll never—”
“You have a lot to learn. You were never supposed to be a mage.” Allbright sends a whip of magic around me, forcing my arms to my sides and my pressing my legs together. “I would like the names and locations of all three of them in my hand by sundown today. You can find me at the Cottage.” He pushes me off the footbridge and into the pond.
I land on my back and sink down the few feet to the bottom. It isn’t deep; I can see him looking down at me from the bridge. He lights a cigarette, smiling, and tosses the match into the water. It fizzles out over my face.
I wriggle and strain against the magic ropes and break through them pretty easily. Allbright wasn’t trying to kill me that time. I wade over to the side of the pond and crawl onto the bank. When I get to my feet, a huge white wolf is standing in the shade of the trees. His amber eyes flash in the sunlight and he lets out a keening howl.
“I’m sorry!” I scream. “I’m so sorry!”
I open my eyes and I’m in a white bed in a plain room, surrounded by plain white curtains.
“You’re awake!” Roz whispers. “Nurse! She’s awake!” My friend grabs my hand and brushes my hair out of my face. “Someone said you fell in the pond,” she says. “What happened?”
The pond. Oh my god. I try to replay it but all I hear is Tobias’s howling.
“How did I get here? What time is it?” I say. “Where are my clothes?”
“Joely, you should rest,” Roz says.
I shake my head. “Something’s wrong. I didn’t fall in the pond. It was Allbright. I have to go.”
Roz’s eyebrows shoot up. “They took your clothes. Everything was soaked.”
“No! I have to go. The guys are in trouble. I have to warn them.”
“Here.” Roz hands me her phone. She doesn’t have any of them in her contacts.
“I don’t know their numbers,” I say, panic gripping my throat.
Roz looks around for another moment and when she doesn’t find anything for me to wear she pulls off her tee shirt. “Get that gown off.”
I step out of the infirmary and it’s completely dark outside. The quad is empty; all the protesters have gone home for the night. The place is like a ghost town, except for all the trash and broken protest signs littering every inch of the quad.
Allbright had set the deadline for sunset.
