LITMIR.BIZ

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said softly.

      Resolve built steel around my spine as I continued to hold Abbot’s stare.

      “What’s going on?” Zayne came down the steps, three at a time. Drops of water clung to his wet hair and patches of his black shirt stuck to his body. Fresh from the shower, his winter-mint scent filled the air. His gaze was trained on us and then moved to the windows. His brows rose. “Father?”

      Abbot held my gaze a moment longer and then straightened, addressing his son. “The windows magically exploded, according to Layla.”

      “I didn’t do it,” I said, resisting the urge to stomp my feet and end up with glass as shoes. “The windows did explode. I don’t know how it happened, but it wasn’t me.”

      “If she says she didn’t do it, she didn’t.” It was that simple to Zayne. He believed what I said, and for the love of all things holy in the world, he was my hero in that moment. His gaze flickered to the floor. “Jesus, be careful. You don’t have shoes on.”

      I started to smile or launch myself at him, but Abbot moved. He stalked past us. “Go to your room, Layla.” Glass crunched under his boots. When I didn’t move, he stopped and his angry glare pierced straight through me. “Now.”

      “I didn’t do anything!” I exclaimed. “Why do I have to go—”

      “Now!” he shouted, and I jumped again.

      Zayne caught my arm, keeping me from stepping on glass. He shot his father a look.

      Abbot turned to the Wardens. They started toward him, but he stopped them. “Just Geoff. The rest of you are excused.”

      Geoff exchanged looks with the others, but followed Abbot into the library. The door slammed shut behind them, and my shenanigans sensor went off. I looked at Nicolai and Dez. “I didn’t do it,” I said yet again.

      Both of them looked away, and the unease inside of me spread like wildfire as Nicolai left the atrium.

      Dez sighed. “I’ll find Morris and get him to help me with this mess. And the windows.” Then he was gone, too, leaving me alone with Zayne.

      “He’s in a bad mood,” Zayne reasoned quietly as he helped me navigate the path of destruction. “He has been ever since Ro—the demons showed up last night.”

      Maybe that was why he was acting as if he’d sat on a nail, but it was more than that. At the bottom of the stairs, I spoke. “He was in the library with the other Wardens. I overheard him saying something.”

      Zayne was staring at the floor. “Are you sure you didn’t get cut with all this glass?”

      “No. Pay attention to me,” I said, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked at me, brows raised. “He was telling the other Wardens to keep an eye on me.”

      “Okay,” he said slowly.

      “Okay? Hello. He told them to watch me.”

      Zayne took my hand, leading me up the stairs. “With...well, you-know-who being back, of course he’s going to want to make sure you’re safe.”

      That hadn’t even crossed my mind. “It wasn’t like that, Zayne. He said something else, but it was too low for me to hear. And then he was talking about something being what he suspected.”

      “What?”

      “I don’t know.” Frustrated, I pulled my hand free. “I couldn’t hear all of it and then the stupid windows blew up.” I glanced down the stairs. Glass shone like rain on the floor. “I really didn’t do it.”

      “I believe you.”

      My gaze found his. “And I don’t trust your father.”

      “Layla,” he sighed, stepping back. “There’re obvious issues between you two, and I totally get it. He’s kept a lot of stuff from you.”

      “No shit,” I muttered.

      He shifted his weight. “But if he’s asking any of the guys to watch over you, it’s because he’s worried about you.”

      “And because he doesn’t trust me.”

      “That, too,” he admitted. “Hey, you have to understand that. You—”

      “Lied. I know. But he’s told more lies.”

      Zayne stared at me as if he was about to explain how two wrongs don’t make a right, but then he sighed again. “Come on. I snagged some fried chicken from dinner. It’s cold, just the way you like it.”

      “I’m supposed to go to my room,” I said peevishly.

      He rolled his eyes and then made a grab for me. I jumped back, and he grinned impishly. “Walk or I’m carrying you.”

      “Geez, you’re getting bossy as you get older.”

      Zayne winked. “You haven’t seen anything yet. I’m giving you two seconds.”

      “Two seconds? What happened to the standard— Hey!” I squealed as he grabbed for me again. “All right. I’ll walk.”

      His grin spread. “Knew you’d see it my way.”

      I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed, but I did follow him down the hall to his bedroom. My stomach rumbled at the thought of cold fried chicken, but my mind was still in the atrium downstairs, and for some reason, I thought of the vial of the milky-white substance.

      I wanted to know what it was.

      * * *

      Parasitic butterflies had formed a prickly nest in my stomach and were currently trying to eat their way out. I’d never been more nervous about school in my life.

      “You sure you’re feeling better?” Stacey asked as she paced back and forth while I dragged my textbooks out of my locker. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”

      “Yeah, I feel great.” I forced a smile that probably came off creepy as I slung my bag over my shoulder. There was barely any pain from where the Warden had sliced me, which reminded me that, as of this morning, Tomas was still missing.

      Bambi stretched around my stomach.

      Bad snake.

      “So are you excited?” Stacey asked, looping her arm through mine.

      My throat felt as if I’d swallowed a hairball. “Excited about what?”

      “About Roth,” she said in a high-pitched squeal that made my ears ache. “About him being back.”

      The deadly butterflies started chomping away. Between the prospect of returning to school and what had happened the past two nights, I’d barely gotten a wink of sleep. I’d secretly hoped Zayne would skip demon duties and stay with me, but he hadn’t and it would’ve been überwrong to ask.

      “And please don’t get mad at me, because I don’t really know what went down between you two, but he looked hella hot yesterday.”

      My heart spasmed. Great. I guess hoping for him to get a mad case of facial herpes was asking for too much. “Not that excited,” I said finally.

      She was quiet as we made our way down the hall. The oddness of not seeing shimmery souls trailing after students distracted me from my impending face-off with Roth.

      “Do you want me to take out a hit on him?” she asked finally. “I don’t know people, but I bet Sam would be able to find us hit men on the internet.”

      I laughed loudly. “He probably would, but no. That’s okay.”

      “Well, if you change your mind...” She slipped around me, opening the door to bio. I already knew, even before I walked in, that he wasn’t in the room yet. “Sisters before the misters and all that jazz.”

      Smiling in spite of my nerves,

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