Love lines (32 page)

I didn’t see her face, but could imagine it pretty well
from the sound of malice in her voice.

“Can I go to my room and change  into clean clothes?”
asked her Christian. “Because I look like a left alone circus clown.”

Despite the fact that yesterday his outfit looked great
today his trousers and shirt’s left much to be desired.

“Your room has been free a long ago,” Amanda said. “If
you haven’t noticed, it’s almost noon, and most students are at their studies.
Only the two of you are still lying around in bed.”

“Noon?!” I asked in surprise. “Jeez! Evan’s gonna kill
me!” I muttered, jumping up from my bed, almost pushing Christian down to the
floor.

“Relax! Evan wasn’t planning to have classes today.
After what happened yesterday, he decided to give you a day off,” Amanda said.
“Besides, as far as I know, he decided to take a day off too. Yesterday, he
looked pretty bad,” she admitted.

“Speaking about bad things, will someone tell me how
everything was in Norfield?” I asked, looking at Christian and Amanda.

“I'll tell you everything at breakfast, or rather - at
lunch,” he replied. “So get dressed and meet me in the cafeteria. And I am
going to my room to change,” he added, leaving one more soft kiss on my lips.

“Looks to me like the sun is shining once again in
heaven,” said Amanda grinning, once her brother closed the door behind him.

“You are absolutely right,” I nodded. “I couldn’t leave
our relationship messed up. There are a lot of bigger problems to deal with. So
I decided to let things happen as they may.”

“That’s my girl!” Amanda smiled happily. “And I’ve been
telling you for a long time that it's the right time for both of you to come to
an understanding.”

“So how was yesterday's date?” I wondered trying to read
my friend’s face.

She hesitated a moment and then said:

“If I say that I can’t describe in words how wonderful
Lucas is, will it be enough?”

“More than enough, actually,” I replied grinning. “Is he
even better than Evan?”

Amanda didn’t answer immediately.

“You know, Evan and I are too much alike,” she said
thoughtfully. “We have so much in common that sometimes it’s just impossible
look at your own reflection so often. We are both hot-tempered, both impatient.
I didn’t realize that until I met Lucas. He’s different. I have fun with him,
and we are always on the same wave. You know what that means, don’t you? I’m
not afraid to act silly with him. Even more, he doesn’t put me in awkward
situations. But with Evan you never know what to expect from one second to the
next. And he has never taken me seriously. We were just flirting.”

“Are you sure Evan feels the same way?”

“Yes. I saw him yesterday, watching me and Lucas
closely. He understands everything perfectly well. I'm not one who has enough
patience to stand him,” said laughing Amanda. “He’s, of course, a wonderful
man, but he’s good for someone like you, for example. We are no longer an
option, but I still sincerely wish him happiness. So that is that. And now I
need to go back to the arena, Lucas and I are helping to take down that
wonderful creation. So much work to do in just one day! It's a pity, isn’t it?
Although next year, there will be something new and interesting to see too. Are
you just going to sit here gabbing like this forever? Christian’s probably
already waiting for you!”

“Of course, he is!” I realized,
jumping from my bed.

I was thinking about Amanda’s words concerning Evan.
Once he couldn’t find his happiness with Tara, but sure he felt some very
strong feelings towards her, and now again he failed. But I, like Amanda,
believed that his true love he hadn’t yet met.

Taking a shower and drying my hair in a hurry, I went to
the dining room.

As Amanda predicted, Christian was already there. Seeing
me, he waved his hand from the table, where there sitting with him were Darcy
and Evan.

“Good morning! How do you feel today?” asked Darcy.

“Morning, I feel so much better, thanks,” I replied.
“How about you, guys?”

“I slept like a baby, so now I’m okay,” said Evan
sinking his teeth in a chocolate doughnut.

“Well, I don’t really feel good,” frowning said Darcy.
“After yesterday's speech, Alexis dragged all the remaining students to the
ball. I had to stay there for a few hours until all the important guests left.
So yesterday's music is still booming in my ears and I have a splitting
headache. I wish Anna was here!”

“By the way, has anyone seen her today?” asked
Christian.

Everyone shook their head no.

“That’s weird. Usually she’s the first to come for
lunch,” said Darcy. “I'll go look for her.”

As soon as she left, I turned to Christian and Evan.

“Okay, now tell me everything.”

“You still don’t know anything?!” Evan asked in surprise.

“Uh... I didn’t have time to tell her,” hesitating said
Christian.

“Wait, it just me or have I really missed something?”

Judging by the concentrated Evan’s gaze, he was checking
mine and Christian’s auras.

“A lot of red here, hah? What could it mean?” he
wondered, grinning.

“Do you really need an answer?” I asked blushing under
his scrutinizing gaze. “Maybe it's better to move on to more important issues?”
I suggested nervously. 

“As you wish,” Evan smiled. Then he filled me in on what
happened in Norfield but, judging by the reaction of Christian, he had already
told him everything yesterday.

“Does anyone know if Alexis is still here?” I asked.

“No. She has already been taken away. Once she is
sentenced, the elections of a new head of Dever will start. Until then, these
responsibilities will be fulfilled by Patrick.”

“My father?” asked Christian in surprise.

It looked like this news Evan hadn’t had time to share.

“Yeah. I had forgotten to tell you. He’s going to try
his luck once again.”

“He didn’t say anything to me about it,” pointed
Christian.

“He, probably, just didn’t have time,” Evan shrugged.
“Look, Darcy, is worried about something,” he added, pointing toward the gloomy
Darcy on her way to our table. “What's wrong?” he asked, when she sat down.

“Anna hasn’t been seen since yesterday’s evening. Her
roommate said that she didn’t return to her room last night.”

“Perhaps, she was at the ball late?” I assumed.

“The fact is that she wasn’t. I just met Amanda and she
said that Anna wasn’t there, since they tried to find her themselves.”

Christian and I looked at each other, both sensing that
something was wrong.

“The last time I saw her was before I went to Eileen's
room,” he recalled. “Then she was at the entrance to the arena. Has anyone
checked if she is helping to take it down?”

“I asked Amanda about that also. But no, Anna wasn’t
there.”

“I don’t like it,” Evan frowned. “Maybe she left with
one of the guests?”

“You can ask the guards at the eastern gate. It’s the
only one that was open last night,” said Darcy.

“Okay. So let’s go check with them,” Evan nodded, eating
his second doughnut on the run.

To our surprise, there was only one person guarding the
gate.

“Hi, Lewis!” Evan shook hands with the blond guy, about
his same age. “Were you on duty tonight?”

“No. I’ve just come on recently. It was Brandon here
tonight.”

“Scott?” Evan clarified.

“Yeah. The very same one,” the guy confirmed.

“Why is there only a couple people guarding the gate?”
asked Christian wondering.

“My partner is gone for a moment, but even last night
Alexis ordered that we reduce the number of guardians. Poor Scott, said that he
barely managed to write down the names of the people who were coming and
going,” Lewis chuckled.

That news alarmed us all.

“Thanks, man,” Evan said. “Come on, I know which room
Scott lives in,” he turned to us.

“How do you know all the guardians?” I asked, following
him to the dormitory.

“Almost all of them were studying together with me,
before I joined the faculty of Wizardy. Security, among other positions, is
filled by the best students. And especially those, who possess the power of
earth. You know, sometimes the gate could accidentally disappear in a pile of
sand or something. Since the four gates are the only entrances and exits to the
campus, they are carefully guarded,” Evan explained.

“Apparently not so carefully,” said Darcy thoughtfully,
hearing our conversation.

We were back to the dormitory, and went to the second
floor. Bedroom № 202. Evan knocked. Silence. He knocked again, and again
there was silence.

“Maybe he is asleep after the night shift?” I asked.

“Let’s check it out.”

“Evan, for goodness’s sake, what are you doing?” asked
Darcy troubled, looking around and checking out, if anyone saw how easily Evan
opened the door lock.

“Just looking for the proof of my suspicions,” he
replied showing us the empty bed of Brendon’s. “Apparently, our friend is not
tired after a long night shift.”

“What do you mean?” asked Christian.

“That Scott is somehow involved in what is going on,”
Evan replied, closing the door of his room and quickly heading for the exit.

“I think we should follow him,” said Christian.

While we were barely out of the dormitory, Evan was
already half way to the administration building.

“Where is he going?” I asked running after him.

“I have no idea,” shook his head Christian.

It turned out that Evan was going to see Beatrice. She,
despite the confusion in the community leadership, was still at her place.

“Hello, Beatrice,” greeted Evan. “Do you know what time
yesterday the guests began to leave?”

“Somewhere around two o'clock in the morning. Why?”

“We're just trying to find someone, and wanted to know
if maybe she left with a guest.”

“Our students are not allowed to leave the campus
without an escort. And as far as I know, everyone was warned about not leaving
the grounds,” she said puzzled.

“Do you have the guest list, maybe?”

“Of course. Here you go. The list was prepared so that
the invitees could easily access the territory of Dever, otherwise they simply
were not allowed here.”

“I see,” Evan muttered, reading the list. “Eric Lanster?
Do you know him?” he pointed to one of the names.

“No, I’ve never heard that name before. But there are a
lot of new names in the list. Teachers and students have the right to invite
anyone in advance by notifying us. Beside each guest’s name is the name of the
person who had invited them.”

“Alexis Wilde…” read Evan aloud. “Thank you Beatrice,”
he said and the four of us went out into the street.

“Do you think this is the same Eric?” asked Christian
suspiciously.

“We still don’t know who he is, but I don’t doubt that
this Eric was invited for a reason,” Evan said.

“So where are we going now?” asked Darcy.

“To the gates. Lewis said that the guardians keep a
record of everyone who comes in or goes out. And we need to know what time that
Lanster left Dever.”

Fortunately, this information wasn’t confidential, so
Lewis didn’t even bother to ask why we were interested in a list.

“That’s weird,” he said looking through his records. “I
have no information that this man even left Dever.”

“So?”

“It means that he can still be on campus.”

“But you have a record that he is here, right?” Evan
asked.

“Yes, but it’s strange too. It is written that he
arrived almost towards the end of the Festival, at about ten o’clock in the
evening. He arrived with Ms. Wilde.”

“How is that possible? She's always been on the scene,”
I said.

“Not all the time, she only came out to announce the
performances,” Darcy admitted.

We left the guard post and then went to our dormitory.

“So, Alexis herself escorted her guest, but why? Maybe
he doesn’t drive a car?” Darcy suggested.

“Or he couldn’t do it at that time,” to everyone's
surprise, concluded Evan.

“You don’t think that...”

“That's exactly what I think, Christian. Alexis waited
until the final show started, in order to gain more time. She had, at least,
forty minutes. During this time she managed to bring Eric and leave him
somewhere. Around this time was the last time that Christian saw Anna at the
entrance to the arena. So, Alexis managed to take her away before going to
close the festival.”

We all were listening attentively to Evan, trying to
understand his reasoning, which wasn’t easy.