Awakening (Covenant College #1) (27 page)

I didn’t know how to respond, so instead I studied my cuticles. I could definitely use a manicure.

“We can’t afford for you to join the other side, Zoe.”

I raised my eyes and met Professor Blake’s steady gaze. “I’m not joining any side. I’m here to make sure that the monster that killed Tara doesn’t kill anyone else.”

“And then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“After you get one monster, are you willing to let all the other monsters live?”

“Who decides who the monsters are?
You?”

“You seem to think it’s you.”

“I don’t know who is and who isn’t a monster,” I admitted. “I just don’t think that being a werewolf or a vampire necessarily makes you a monster.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Maybe they’re like humans. Maybe there are good vampires and good werewolves.”

“That’s a simplistic thought.”

“Or maybe it’s just logic.”

I didn’t wait for Professor Blake’s response. Instead I trotted down the dark hallway. I didn’t stop until I reached the light outside.

Thirty-Two

After returning to the dorms, I told Paris about my afternoon.

“I’m not sure joining up with them is a good idea,” she admitted.

“I’m not sure either.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Knee-jerk reaction to Tara’s death?”

“You can still get out of it.”

“Can I?”

Paris and I decided that we needed a mundane evening, so we hauled our laundry to the basement. Thankfully, it was empty except for Mark. I hadn’t told Paris that Mark was part of the monster-fighting academy yet. I didn’t figure it was my secret to tell.

Mark didn’t seem to be embracing all the secret society nonsense, though.

“Did you tell her about kicking my ass this afternoon?”

Paris’ eyebrows nearly shot off her forehead. “You’re a part of the academy?”

“You didn’t tell her?” Mark seemed surprised.

“I didn’t feel it was my place,” I grumbled.

Mark’s enthusiasm couldn’t be dampened. He launched into a long – and extremely tedious – story about how Professor Worth had seen his work in the computer lab and recruited him.

“Didn’t you think it was weird?”

Mark shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought it sounded cool. Like a really awesome comic book or something.”

Men.

“Did Zoe tell you she’s the star of the class?” Mark asked innocently.

Paris slid a look my way. “No.”

“Well, she is. Everyone is in awe of her, even the people that have been part of the group for years. No one knows what to make of her, especially since Professor Blake is trying so hard to recruit her.”

“Why do you think they want Zoe so bad?”

Mark took a bite of the candy bar he had pulled from his pocket and chewed thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. She seems like a natural or something, I guess.”

God,
was I sick of hearing that.

“What types of things do they teach you?” Paris was curious. I didn’t blame her.

“Just about the history of stuff.
Like how vampires came to be.”

“How did they come to be?”

“Some guy thought he was a vampire so he drank so much blood he became one. He launched the race.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I argued.

“That’s what they say,” Mark shrugged.

“Do you believe that?”

“I don’t know. I just know that monsters are real – and they’re here – and we have to stop them.”

Paris and I exchanged dubious looks.

“What if they’re not all monsters?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Just because they’re werewolves and vampires, that doesn’t mean they’re all monsters.”

“What else could they be?”

“Maybe they’re just different kinds of people trying to survive?”

“Yeah, but they survive by killing people.”

“Not werewolves.”

Mark seemed to consider my statement for a second. Then he shrugged again.

“And if vampires were really killing people to survive, wouldn’t there be a lot more deaths?”

“That’s a good question,” Paris offered.

“I never really thought about it like that,” Mark admitted.

“No, I don’t think Blake wants you to,” I muttered.

“If you don’t like him, why are you joining the cause?”

“I’m not joining the cause. I’m trying to find out who killed Tara.”

“Are you quitting after that?”

“I don’t know.”

I turned back to the washing machine and transferred my wet clothes to the dryer. When I was done, I turned back to Paris and Mark. They had their heads bent together and were smiling at one another. I had a feeling Paris’ breakup with Mike would be happening sooner rather than later.

“So have Tara’s parents come by and picked up her stuff?” Mark asked.

I was surprised by the question. The more I thought about it, though, I had no idea why.

“No. That’s weird though, isn’t it?”

Paris seemed to mull the thought over, too. “You know, not only have we not heard anything from Tara’s parents but we haven’t heard anything from the cops either.”

“Has
Brittany
?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Even if they were too upset to come get her stuff, you’d think they’d send someone. Or have someone call us.”

“Do we even know that she has parents?”

“Everyone has parents,” Paris said.

“I mean, maybe they’re dead or something. Did she ever talk about her parents?”

Paris thought back for a second. “I don’t remember her mentioning them.”

“What about when she moved in?”

“She was already in the room when I got there.”

“Didn’t she have a boyfriend?”

“Yeah.
She mentioned having one that first night but she never really brought him up again.”

“Did you ever see her call him?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

After finishing our laundry, we all went up to the dorm room. I pulled out my
iPad
and sat down on the couch.

“What are you doing?”

“
Googling
Tara.”

Unfortunately, Tara Thompson wasn’t exactly a unique name. The search came back with thousands of results.

“We have to narrow this down. What did she say her hometown was?”

“
Zilwaukee
.”

“
Zilwaukee
?
That doesn’t make sense. That’s only a half an hour away. Why wouldn’t she save the money and commute?”

“Maybe she wanted to live in the dorms?”

“Maybe.”

I added
Zilwaukee
to the search parameters and came up with nothing. “Are we sure it was
Zilwaukee
?”

“Yeah, you made that joke about the
Zilwaulkee
bridge
.”

“What joke?”

“I don’t remember now.”

“It mustn’t have been very funny.

“It wasn’t.”

I bit my lip to keep from smiling. I didn’t think that it was appropriate to laugh when you were searching for information about your dead roommate.

“See if you can find any Thompsons in
Zilwaukee
,” Paris suggested. “It’s a small town. There can’t be that many.”

“There’s one.”

“Let’s call them.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed the number I found. The voice at the other end sounded old.
Very old.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” I started. “Um, well, here’s the thing, our roommate died the other day and she said she was from
Zilwaukee
and you’re the only Thompsons I could find in
Zilwaukee
.”

“I’m a little old to have a daughter in college, dear,” the old lady on the other end of the phone said. I didn’t doubt it.

“Maybe a granddaughter?
Her name was Tara.”

“I don’t know any Tara,” the woman answered.

“Are there any other Thompsons in
Zilwaukee
?”

“Not that I know of.”

I thanked the woman for her time and disconnected. “Why would Tara lie about where she lived?”

“Maybe she didn’t lie. Maybe she lived with her stepfather or something and her mom has a different last name or something.”

“That’s possible.”

Still, something about the situation bothered me. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Maybe they’re just unlisted?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe they only have a cell phone and that wouldn’t necessarily show up in public records. A lot of people are eliminating landlines.”

This was true. Still.

I blew out a breath. “Maybe she’s not from
Zilwaukee
?”

Paris bit her lip. “But why would she lie?”

Why indeed?

Thirty-T
hree

The next day I was still troubled by the fact that we could find no record of Tara in
Zilwaukee
. I thought about talking to Professor Blake about it – but the truth was, I didn’t trust him.  Instead, I decided to give
Aric
a call. Okay, maybe I didn’t fully trust him either. He was just so much better looking.

After
laying
out what we had found,
Aric
told me to wait at the dorms. I told him I would be waiting for him in the parking lot.

“I’ll pick you up at your room.”

“It’s not a big
deal,
I’ll just meet you downstairs.”

“I said that I will pick you up in your room.”

This went on for five minutes before I finally acquiesced. I didn’t know what his deal was – but I didn’t think fighting about where he would pick me up was the best use of our time.

While I was waiting in the living room, Paris eyed me questioningly and
Brittany
burrowed under a comforter and continued to fake freak out. I didn’t know whom she was trying to
impress  --
especially since the door to the hall was shut – but she was giving the performance of a lifetime.

“What are you all dressed up for?”

I looked down at my outfit confused. Lucky jeans – that admittedly hugged my butt in just the right way – a Star Wars shirt and my purple slip-on converse. Typical outfit – that I always made look good. Did that sound stuck up?

“The only reason to wear Lucky jeans is if you plan on unzipping them.”

This was true.

“And your Mark
Ecko
glittery Star Wars shirt?
You’re pulling out the big guns.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean your boobs look huge in that shirt.”

Ah, that’s what she means.

“I just happened to grab the first thing I saw,” I lied.

“I guess you just lucked out,” Paris was smirking at me as I checked out my reflection one more time in the full-length mirror.

Luckily for us the conversation couldn’t devolve any further.  There was a sharp rap on the door. I reached over and opened it.

For a second, it was like all the air was sucked out of the room.
Aric
stepped in with little ceremony – and yet I couldn’t help but hear the theme to ‘Star Wars’ suddenly play in my head. How he could make simple jeans, a tank top and a blue flannel look so appealing was beyond me.

Paris must have realized that I wasn’t speaking – mostly because I was so busy internally drooling – so she decided to fill the conversational gap. “You look nice,
Aric
.”

I noticed
Brittany
had perked up on the couch and was running her fingers through her snarled hair. She should have tried running some shampoo through it, too.

Aric
looked confused. “I always look like this.”

Paris smiled. “I bet you do.”

I grabbed
Aric’s
arm and pulled him out the door, tossing Paris a cursory wave behind my back as we went.

“Where are you going?”
Brittany
asked.

I paused and turned back.  “We’re going to
Zilwaukee
to see if we can find anyone that knew Tara
..”