“We can’t leave him out. What if he’s still being attacked? Just tell her that we found Gabe here. We don’t know why or how, and the Patrol should be able to go through the stairway to find Van Hanlin.”
Alex glanced nervously at the twisting stairway. If Jonas had gotten to the meeting that way, the others probably had, too. Every inch of her being tingled in urgency, afraid a mob of young pledges were about to come spilling out after them.
“Are you hurt?” Chase asked Jonas, who limped under one of Gabe’s arms.
“I had to enter the ring because I hadn’t battled yet.” His response was directed more to Alex than Chase. He clutched his head with his free hand. “I didn’t know they’d already weakened the banshee until we reached the clearing. And then I saw it. And I saw Gabe at its feet, and Van Hanlin crumbled off to the side. I scooped up Gabe, and I just ran!”
“Wait, someone used my brother for bait?” Chase accentuated the word, my, staring hard at Jonas. “Who?”
“I don’t know.” Jonas wailed. “I couldn’t see any faces, and I was told not to try.”
It seemed like someone else was moving Alex’s lips for her when she uttered, “Will he wake up?”
No one answered.
“Go, Alex,” Chase ordered again. “Please.”
She nodded and took one last look at Gabe’s lifeless body before she projected herself down the staircase and ran as fast as her fear would carry her.
The night seemed never-ending. While Alex and Chase paced in the waiting room, Jonas became strangely calm and finally informed them of the details involving his recruitment process. He’d received a bid to join an alliance of spirits who would eventually leave Eidolon to move on to bigger and better opportunities together. Membership was exclusive and secret. He didn’t know the name of the group because he was still in the initiatory stage and not everyone would survive the process. He had found the invitation written in his law notebook one day, the words promising him a place amongst the elite if he was initiated. Even though he was not a multigenerational spirit, he hadn’t had to prove himself worthy because he was a sibling, a rarity in itself.
It seemed too good to be true. When the banshee mission was proposed, he grew slightly unnerved, but figured the tasks had to be challenging, right? Then, Alex was attacked. He hadn’t been following her that night in Moribund. He’d been stalking the banshee. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt, so when he found the backpack of bladderwort flowers, he took them so no one else could accomplish the task. Whoever was writing in their law notebooks would have to assign another mission. He thought wrong.
For the duration of the story, Chase slouched with his elbows on his legs, refusing to look at his brother.
The buzz had died with the night, and the morning only brought dread and uncertainty. About Gabe, about Van Hanlin, about Jonas. The blame for this would fall on someone, and there was only one newbury who had witnessed the crime, a newbury who was affiliated with an attack on a professor.
Alex feared Jonas’s punishment and wondered when the Patrol would come for him. She was surprised they hadn’t arrived already. Hopefully that meant they’d found Van Hanlin.
“I’m not going to wait around to find out,” Jonas informed her when Chase left for an update on Gabe. “I’ll run.”
“That will make you look guilty.”
“Aren’t I guilty? I was there.”
“You didn’t attack him.”
“I didn’t save him, either.”
Even though it was against the laws of this utterly strict afterlife, she couldn’t find a voice to discourage him from running. If they took Chase away just for leaving the city, what would they do to Jonas for leaving, returning with a near dead brother and without a missing teacher?
Jonas stared at Alex, his eyes refusing to allow too much emotion to escape. “Unless you want me to stay.”
“What?”
“If you tell me to stay, I will.”
“You’re putting this on me?”
He leaned on the railing of Gabe’s bed and repeated himself. “If you tell me to stay, I will.”
Her response took too long. Chase returned with a frown, no news, and an order for Alex to keep quiet about the ordeal.
Jonas agreed. “Just go about your normal day.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” she demanded. She felt Chase’s touch on the small of her back, and calmness flowed through her.
“They haven’t asked us anything yet, but I’m sure they’ll come soon. You shouldn’t be involved in this. You have enough attention already.”
“And don’t you dare tell Kaleb!” Jonas ordered.
“But—”
“Kaleb will know about him soon enough. Just give me a few hours.”
She felt helpless, but she did what they asked and headed back toward the campus. The moment she entered the vestibule, she collided with the very person she was trying most to avoid.
“Whoa! Where’s the fire?” Kaleb bellowed.
Alex did her best to appear composed. “It’s just, oh, never mind.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. Think of something to say. “What are you doing with all these books? You look like”—the name stuck to her throat in a thick wad—“Gabe.”
He jutted his chin at the stack of notebooks in his arms. “Finishing touches. My project for Paleo is due tomorrow. On the time period with the Anovark girl. Actually, I was looking for you.”
“Me?” she yelped. “Why?”
Kaleb quickly surveyed the nearly empty vestibule. “Let’s sit down for a second.”
Alex glanced hastily at the clock and then fleetingly at the exit.
“Believe me. You want to see this.”
He chose a secluded table in the far corner of the room, tucked under the first tier of balconies. He sat and began to scrutinize her face, so she threw out her arms in emphasis. “What?”
“Chill out.” Kaleb crinkled his nose. “I went back through my research one last time just to be sure I didn’t miss anything good. You know I like to put on a good performance.”
“Not you,” Alex murmured sarcastically.
“I found something. It was strange because I’d gone through the notes a million times, and I never thought to look for a picture. I mean, why would there be a picture of a ghost? But then I thought maybe I could show off and try to project something like the teachers do, and well, it just appeared last night.”
“What are you talking about?”
Kaleb was shuffling furiously through the files. “Where is it,” he grumbled to himself.
“What would you need me for?”
“Hold your horses.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I think I’ve discovered why the teachers look at you like you have five heads.”
“Because of my mother.”
Kaleb snickered. “No offense, Al. Yeah, you look like her, but she was here in town for maybe a decade, and her impact was about as resounding as a toothpick dropping to the floor.” Alex opened her mouth to argue but Kaleb held up his hand. “Before you make some argumentative Alex-y comment, think about it. Why would Ellington tell you to keep quiet about your family history? And when the banshee attacked, you said Westfall tried to block you from the Patrol, right? Have you thought about why?”
“Of course I’ve thought about it. I’m guessing it’s because of my mom.”
“You’ve been worried about the wrong person.”
He pulled a photo of a girl from an envelope. Alex immediately noticed the shape of the girl’s eyes. They were large and round with sadness weighing down the outer corners. With her delicate chin and porcelain doll features, she was Alex. The only difference was her stark white hair.
She flipped over the picture and felt her mouth fall open. Josephine “Sephi” Anovark 1849–1865–1901.