Page 51 of Stalked By Monsters
Silence settles over us as that thought sinks in. We have to find whatever entity is taking monsters from their realm—not only to find Damon but to stop a potential invasion, one which we’ve never seen the likes of.
“I’m going to take a look off campus,” Landon says, pushing back from his chair and standing. I hop off my seat on the desk and move to gather my things, feeling the sense of urgency that has just been hefted onto our shoulders.
We have to figure this out, because going to the council is not an option. They’re all the highest witches and warlocks of their covens, and getting them to admit anything is a problem is like pulling teeth, especially with Glenda. We can’t go to them unless we have some sort of solid proof, other than me going to the dream realm. Even though that book said it was possible with a connection on each side, that would mean I’d have to admit I’m mated to two monsters which would just put their lives at risk.
“I can go to the local hunter detachment and look there,” Landon continues, gathering his briefcase from the side of his desk and stuffing his notebook in there. “They have far better resources than we have here, and there’s less of a chance of being caught. I usually go for research so it’s not out of the ordinary for me to be there.”
I grab my bag as Harper and Denver do the same.
“We’ll speak during practice tomorrow,” Landon says over his shoulder as he reaches for the doorknob.
He freezes, his fingertips just barely gripping it when a sharp rap sounds on the solid wood. Ice floods my veins at the sudden knock and we all glance around at each other as though one of us has the answer to who’s on the other side. I take a step back, Denver and Harper doing the same as Landon slowly opens the door.
Headmistress Graves stands on the other side, her knuckles poised to knock again. Her grey hair is in her same coiled curls atop her head, with a deep scowl on her face that quickly disappears when she sees us.
“This is just perfect,” she exclaims, sweeping past Landon and forcing him to open the door all the way for her. She strides past us, her shoulder narrowly missing mine and she spins, forcing us to all turn to face her. “I wanted to speak to Professor Pierce and now I get the treat of seeing Aria too, a few days before our first study session.”
I fight to keep the scowl from my face and give her a polite smile which I’m sure doesn’t meet my eyes.
“Always great to see you, Headmistress,” I mutter, uncaring that my tone doesn’t match the sentiment.
“Always such a delight.” Her fake cheerful tone grates on my patience, and I clench my hand at my sides to relieve some of my annoyance.
“Now on to business,” she declares, clapping as though she has to get our attention. “I need to know which students you had down by the lake yesterday.”
My heart drops into my stomach at her mention of the lake and I work to keep the panic from my expression as my blood drains from my face.
“Why do you need to know who was at the lake?” Landon asks, his brows creasing together in confusion. I let a shaky breath escape slowly from my lips, grateful he isn’t showing any sign of the anxious energy I know is rushing through me right now.
“I’d rather not reveal that information in front of students that might not need to know,” she says incredulously, her feigned cheerful tone now disappearing. “I won’t ask again.”
Landon frowns at her insistence and refuses to meet my gaze. I take a deep breath and step forward, drawing her attention to me.
“I was down by the lake yesterday,” I answer coolly, crossing my arms over my chest and cock a challenging brow at her. “What do you need to know?”
“Perfect,” Headmistress Graves exclaims, her eyes glinting with malice before she turns to Denver and Harper. “You two can go.”
She dismisses them with the flip of her wrist as though they are barely worth a second of her time.
“I don’t think so,” Harper says with a snort of derision. “I’m Aria’s third, so she’ll just tell me anyway.”
Graves lifts a brow, her face scrunching in a mix of anger and disbelief. “As I’ve already informed Aria, she is not Coven Leader yet. At that time, I’ll be more than happy to obey her rules, but here, in this academy, I make the rules.”
“Well then, I guess I should stay.” Denver shrugs and walks back to his desk to casually lean against it. “I was at the lake yesterday too. We are partners after all.”
I school my face in a passive look of boredom, not wanting Graves to sense my annoyance. I specifically said that I was there and left him out of it. We still don’t know what the headmistress is going to use this information for.
“It’s fine, Harper,” I say before she can argue again. “I’ll catch up with you at dinner.”
“Fine.” Harper gives me a pointed look before she stomps off into the hallway. Yup, my best friend is not happy, and I’m really not looking forward to explaining what’s been going on with Denver.
Landon closes the door behind her cautiously as we all turn to the headmistress. She crosses her arms over her chest and cuts a glare towards Denver. Belatedly, I realize she hadn’t actually agreed to Denver staying but now with the door closed it seems like she’s lost her time to argue it further.
“Did either of you notice anything out of the ordinary?” Graves asks with a note of severity in her tone that wasn’t there before.
“What do you mean?” I ask, a crease forming between my brows as I look back at her. I block off the panic spiking and will my heart to slow its frantic pace. “It was our first time out there, but nothing looked out of the ordinary as far as I could tell.”
I push down the urge to fist that ostentatious robe of hers and demand to know what they found. Yeah, that would definitely scream guilty.