Page 87 of Made in Malice
“What’s going on?” I ask the first person I get close to once I’m out of the car with Nox right beside me.
“Someone got hurt,” the guy says lamely.
“I get that, you fucking idiot. Who got hurt? What happened?”
“A girl. Someone found her in the bathroom.” He backs away a few steps, and my gut drops again.
Nox shoves some people to the side as we hustle toward the school. The Union is pretty much empty except for some staff, but I spot Rory near the bathroom door with his hand in his hair.
“What’s going on?” I demand the moment I’m within shouting distance.
He turns his head, and his eyes go from worried to icy hard. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“I just fucking got here.”
“Stand back, stand back.” An EMT pushes the door open, and I see a stretcher getting pulled from the room, but my eyes are drawn to the blood on the floor, and I can’t seem to look away until Nox curses.
“Jesus, what the fuck happened? Nova? Nova!” He calls her name, but the person on the bed doesn’t move as she’s rushed toward the exit.
“Is she alive?” I croak out.
“Unresponsive. I knew I shouldn’t have let her come here.” Rory hangs his head in defeat.
My feet feel rooted to the ground, but everything inside me is swirling with rage. I just touched her last night and felt her warm lips and eager breaths. How could this happen? I glance around, and the buzzing in my head amplifies to a deafening level.
“Who did it?”
I don’t hear an answer, but there’s something shoving me forward. I look over my shoulder and see Nox, red-faced and pissed, ramming me to get me moving. “Lucian, get your ass going,” he yells, and I skid forward.
“This is your fault.” Rory’s words ring clearly in my head. “I let her come, but you put the nail in her coffin.”
“Fuck you!” I scream, ready to rip his goddamned head off, but Nox wraps his arms around me and keeps shoving me back.
“We’re going to the hospital.” He keeps saying it over and over, but the words don’t mean anything. “She needs us.” That redirects every nerve in my body, and I stop fighting, stop thinking about revenge, and hope for something else.
There will be time to burn this place down when I know she’s okay.