Blood Fever: The watchers (19 page)

“Our
maneuvers
, huh?” I caught his eye with a sparkle in mine. “That was far from onerous. As for dangerous…that remains to be seen.”

His laugh was genuine but low, and I realized I needed to lower my voice as well. The sky had faded from black to a deep gunmetal gray. We were cutting it close—we had only about an hour to get back before the campus began to rouse for the day.

“You still didn’t answer me,” I whispered, wanting to get every last bit out of our time together.

“About how vampires can see in daylight?”

“About how
you
can see in daylight. It seems like it’s harder for Alcántara than it is for you.”

“He’s older than I, for one. But I’ve spent much time outdoors. I’ve become acclimated, of necessity.”

“Outdoors. Are you from here?”

“Near enough. I’ve been here for many years. But I was born on the Isle of Skye, long ago.”

I heard such sadness in his voice. How many generations of McClouds had lived and died while he still walked. I asked quietly, “Is Skye a lot like this?”

“Greener. It’s spectacular. It’s rocky and cold and beautiful.”

I reached out and slipped my hand in his, needing to touch him, to take away that melancholy. “Is that where you learned to climb?”

“Aye, I learned on the Black Cuillin, climbing cliffs when I was just a lad.”

We were cresting the top of the hillside, back to the point where the trail had dropped off so suddenly. He wrapped his hands about my waist, helping me up, making my ascent effortless.

His touch on my body made me breathless. I caught his gaze and held it, fantasizing that we weren’t returning to campus. That instead we were running away into the sunset. He could return home, and I would go with him.

His eyes narrowed on mine, focusing as though he’d guessed my thoughts. Carden leaned down to steal a breathtaking kiss, and when he pulled away, his voice was a raspy whisper. “Someday,
mo chridhe
.”

I
rolled over, blinking sleep from my eyes. Faraway shouts had woken me. I eased up onto an elbow, trying to get my bearings.

Mei was wide-awake and sitting cross-legged on her bed. She held a book in her hands, but had a distant look in her eyes, listening.

“What’s going on?” I mumbled, tuning in to the distant hubbub.

She put her book down. “Good morning, Acari Drew.”

“I told you to—” I began to insist she call me Drew, but seeing the humorous light in her eye, I grinned right back. “Okay, okay. Good morning to you, too, Acari Ho.”

I swung my legs out of bed. The floor was frigid, but I didn’t care. I didn’t even feel it. I was bulletproof again. I’d fed from Carden. I wasn’t thirsty or jittery or achy. I was just
happy
. “God, I slept great.”

And I was in a brilliant mood. Not only was I physically sated,
but I was nursing a big old crush. I smiled to myself as I dressed, thinking of Carden. Already I’d thought of more things I wanted to ask him. More I wanted to tell him.

He’d snuck me back in the dorm before dawn, where I’d grabbed what I estimated was a few solid hours of sleep. I’d woken up hungry, only this time it was for food, not blood. It felt fantastic.

I patted my belly, thinking of the omelet I’d have, and some warm, buttery toast to push it around. I’d maybe even add a glop of marmalade. I’d have a yogurt, too, with fruit if they had any, which they probably wouldn’t, but this morning I’d settle for the dried stuff, dates and tiny shriveled berries stirred in. “What time is it? I’m starved.”

“You slept through breakfast.”

“What?” I hunched, pouting. “Why’d you let me sleep?”

“Let you? I tried to wake you.” The shouting was getting closer. There were lots of voices now, calling out. Mei-Ling shoved aside her book and stood. “What do you think is happening?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll take it.” Something was definitely going on, and after days of lockdown, I welcomed the excitement. I finished pulling on my uniform as quickly as I could. Food would have to wait. “This is better than Christmas morning.”

It sounded like people were gathering in the common area, and Mei was halfway out the door when I told her, “Meet you there.”

By the time I ducked into the bathroom and jogged down the hall to join her, everyone had assembled.

“Come on, girls,” Kenzie said sharply. “Let’s get this show on the road. I know a bunch of teachers anxious to kick all your butts back into gear, so I’ll make this quick. Lockdown’s over.”

Chatter exploded in the small space. “It’s over?”

“If you shut up, I’ll tell you.” Kenzie glared at us, her arms clasped at her chest—ever the charmer. But it shut us up all right. “Listen up, because this affects some of you personally.” Her eyes landed on me and flitted away again. “There was another murder. Tracer Judge is dead. They found the killer. Master McCloud has been taken into custody. He’ll be staked. I don’t know when.”

There was another burst of questions as she strode to the front of the room. “You know everything I do,” she shouted over the din. “Get to class. I’ll keep you posted. I’m sure they’ll want us at the staking.”

That was it. She left.

I reeled.

All eyes landed on me. I didn’t care, though. They could stare all they wanted. Screw them. Screw this island. I was over it. Done.

Judge was dead. Nice, decent, smart Judge. And now Carden was going to be right behind him, accused of crimes he didn’t commit. Carden, whose eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. Who called me ridiculous names. Who might have been an all-powerful vampire, but he talked to me, confided in me. Softened for
me
.

He’d be staked unless I did something about it.

Talk about a no-brainer—I
would
do something about it.

Carden hadn’t killed anybody, least of all Tracer Judge. How could he have? He’d been with
me
all night. Only there was no way to come forward as his alibi without outing our relationship.

That bastard Alcántara had something to do with it—I just knew he did. And now he wanted Carden dead.

Screw that. Screw the Directorate. Screw them.

Mei leaned over to whisper in my ear, “Are you okay?”

I startled and made myself nod. It was all I could manage at the moment. I turned and left, blind and deaf to her and everyone else.

Guilt swamped me. If it weren’t for me, Carden wouldn’t even be here now. It had to be up to me to fix it.

Someone was on a killing spree, and it wasn’t Carden.

I’d deal with this. I’d help him. I needed to think. First things first. I couldn’t call attention to myself. I needed to act normal. I’d go about my usual business and come up with a plan. What day was it? I’d go to class.

Wednesday. Combat Medicine day.

But Judge was the teacher and he was dead. Knowing the vamps, though, they’d have another teacher installed in there immediately, as though Judge had never existed.

Combat Medicine, then. I headed that way, knowing I’d need every ounce of discipline to sit in the classroom and act like I was paying attention as every girl stared at me. As Carden festered in a cell somewhere. As I pretended not to care.

Masha was leaning against the door to the sciences building as I entered. “Wonderful news,” she said, smiling brightly.

“
Fabulous
news,” I replied, grinning a little wildly. Was I having a psychotic break? I felt sort of giddy and unhinged. Kind of nuts. I’d worked myself into a lather as I’d walked across the quad. Whoever did this was going down.
I’d
take them down.

By the strange expression on Masha’s face, my manic reply had confused and freaked her out a little. Good. I’d take
her
down, too.

And the thing was, in my heart of hearts, this intense, self-effacing focus felt saner than I’d ever been.

Ronan was at the front of the class—of course. He was the
likeliest temporary replacement for Judge. Seeing him standing there, though, alone and holding himself so stiffly, I felt a pang.

“Sorry,” I whispered as I passed him on the way to my seat. And I was. Ronan and Judge had been close. He’d lost so many people—more than I had. I couldn’t fathom it. Couldn’t fathom why he stuck around. But like all of us, he had his reasons.

But then I messed up and heard myself add, “Carden didn’t do it.” It’d sounded more vehement than I’d intended.

Ronan only looked at me with flat, dead eyes.

I took my seat.

I couldn’t think about Ronan just then. I felt bad, but if I were to do any good, I needed to numb myself.

I needed a plan. Investigating Trinity’s death had been a dead end. All I’d discovered was that there were two men on the island, probably vampires, who may or may not have been German and who might or might not be involved. Their words ran in a loop in my head.
Is he in control? They grow reckless.

I didn’t know what to do with that. As I sat, waiting for class to start, I made a mental list of what I did know.

1. Alcántara was behind Carden’s arrest, which meant he wanted Carden dead. That probably also meant the whole Directorate wanted Carden dead. But why?
   
2. Acari Kate had seen something on that cliff top the day she fell, and something about that whole episode nagged at me.
   
3. Carden was imprisoned somewhere. My guess was the castle on the hill. Which led me to…
   
4. The Trainees. They knew stuff we didn’t.
   

My eyes went to Josh, settling in the seat next to me.
He
knew stuff that I didn’t.

I watched him, waiting for him to look over. I didn’t feel like talking, though, and he must’ve sensed that. When he finally did look at me, instead of his usual
giddaying
, he simply said, “Judge.”

Judge had been a good guy. We’d miss him. We were scared, and something about teachers getting killed made things feel out of control, but we couldn’t safely say any of that. For a moment, though, our eyes stayed connected, and we shared all that.

I held his gaze for an extra, pregnant moment before agreeing, “Judge.”

“There are many ways to die,” Ronan said, calling the class to order.

“Oh great,” I muttered, sinking low in my seat. A lecture on death and the many possible flavors of my inevitable demise was just what I needed. Not.

First Amanda, now Judge. But there Ronan stood, essaying on blood loss. It was just like him to power through grief by slamming into it head-on. Discussing exsanguination. Pinching veins, compressing arteries. The jugular. The carotid.

I thought of Carden, and my fear for him was a physical pain. I grazed my fingertips over my neck, feeling for those veins, remembering how I’d longed for Carden to kiss me just there. To taste me.

How was he? How long could he last without feeding?

I shoved my fist against my mouth, keeping my emotions in check. Carden could’ve claimed me as an alibi. He couldn’t have killed Tracer Judge if he’d been kissing me in a cave at the time of the murder. But here I was, still skipping around, going about my business, which meant he didn’t tell. He was protecting me.

I’d protect him, too. I might’ve been reckless, but I wasn’t stupid—I knew I couldn’t do it alone.

But who could I trust? I considered the options.

1. Mei-Ling. She’d seemed eager enough to play Nancy Drew when we’d talked in our room. The girl had hidden depths—not to mention some not-so-hidden resentments at being kidnapped and forcibly brought here.
   
2. Emma. I trusted Emma with my life. But…
   
3. Yasuo? I trusted him, too. But lately there was something missing. I sensed he’d give his life to help Em, but friendship wasn’t sophomore geometry. There was no
   Yas trusts Emma, Emma trusts me, therefore I trust Yas
   . Trust wasn’t transitive.
   
4. Josh. Odd that he was in the running, because I sure hadn’t trusted him at first. I glanced over at him. He’d helped me before, sticking his neck out to save me from hazing. Might he help me again?
   

He felt me looking and caught my eye. And yet again, rather than shoot me one of his signature doofy boy nods, there was something somber and supportive waiting for me in his gaze.

Josh, then.

Making like I was taking notes, I scribbled on a page of my notebook, tore it out, and passed it to him.

His eyes practically bugged out of his head as he snatched it up before anyone could see. Not a lot of in-class notes were passed on the Isle of Night.

“What the fuck?”
he mouthed to me, then stole a quick look at the scrap.

I’d written: “We need to talk.”

He gave me an incredulous
duh
look and mouthed back, “Later.”

I tore another bit of paper, writing, “I want to know about the castle on the hill.”

He crammed it in his pocket. “Not now,” he mouthed impatiently.

I carefully ripped another tiny scrap, coughing to cover up the sound. Passing notes was a pretty stupid risk to take, but I was obsessed. And what was the worst that could happen—they’d lock me up with Carden? Though I knew instantly that wasn’t the worst punishment. Maybe, deep down, I felt okay taking the chance because it was Ronan up there at the front of the class—and wouldn’t he just blow a gasket to know I thought that way?