Adrenalin zinged through me and I tried not to react in any way.
“What? No.” Images of following Kellie, Justina, and Kaydan out into the night flashed through my mind. “We aren’t allowed out after lights out.”
He rubbed his chin and shifted so that he was sitting in a similar position to me. It was probably some kind of tactic to get me to talk or something.
He kept staring. “I’m aware of that rule. Are you sure you didn’t go out?”
“Yes. I was told that there is magic keeping us from leaving.”
Surely he would believe that.
“Those wards can be circumvented.”
I tried to show surprise on my face by thinking about when I found out that there was magic keeping us in at night and that the Rebels knew how to get around it.
I needed to calm my racing heart. “Like I said, I’m new to all of this and I wouldn’t have a clue how to circumvent magic wards. I didn’t know any of this existed a few weeks ago.”
He wasn’t going to let up on the staring. “I’m told you’re a fast learner.”
“Not really. I’m still doing the ball-of-light and the lighting-the-candle routine. I’m sure I should have moved on from that by now.”
And I was reminded of how long I was going to be staying at Waratah while I learnt all of the things I’d need to be able to go home.
Concentrate.
I needed to stay focused on what he was going to say next.
His eyes narrowed. “So here’s what I think could have happened. You and Laynee sneaked out late Wednesday night and Laynee disabled the wards. You went to Emily’s place and called her out of her house. Then you stunned her and took her away where you did something you knew you’d get into trouble for later, so you hid her body in the bush somewhere and headed home like nothing happened.”
My heart hammered in my chest. “No! We haven’t done anything wrong. I might have wanted to have a harmless fist fight with her in the heat of the moment, but I haven’t seen her and haven’t hurt her. I don’t know where she is or what happened to her.”
Shut up, Maddie.
He folded his arms, then put his hands on the desk. “Okay.”
I tried to turn my sigh of relief into a normal breath. I think I failed miserably.
He shifted in his seat. “I’m told you were the one who found Sophie Vella’s body.”
Talk about mental whiplash. “Yeah.”
I tried to slow down my breathing. I didn’t like where this was heading.
“So, the story you told Constable Parkinson. Is that the whole truth?”
“Yes, of course. That’s exactly how it happened.”
“So, you’re a Spirit Seer?”
I didn’t like the tone he used when he said Spirit Seer. Like it was something disgusting.
“Yes.”
Keep it short. Don’t try to explain. He’s trying to trip me up somehow.
He rubbed his chin again, but stayed silent. Waiting for him to talk was grating on my nerves.
He leaned back in his chair. “Okay. That’s enough questions for now.” He stood. “We will contact you if we need anything further.”
And with that, he walked out the door.
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Once we got back home again, all I wanted to do was go straight to my room and chill, but Jackson wanted to know what happened.
“Not now,” I mouthed to him as I walked toward the stairs.
He nodded and walked through the nearest wall.
As I made my way upstairs, I could hear Kellie’s voice. She sounded upset. I slowed down and walked quietly towards my door. They were in Justina’s room.
Kellie sounded like she was crying. “I confronted her about how much of a bitch she’s been lately. She just said that if I didn’t like it, there’s the door. She didn’t even care. It was like we’d never been friends or that she helped me learn magic when I first came here.”
“I’ve been telling you for ages that she’s bad news,” Justina said.
“I know. You were right. But now that she’s missing, I feel really guilty for saying those things to her. She’s a bitch, but that doesn’t mean I want anything bad to happen to her.”
“Don’t feel guilty. Her going missing has nothing to do with you dumping her ass. There’s nothing you could have done to stop it from happening.”
I slipped into my room and closed the door. I felt bad for eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help it. I also couldn’t help feeling relieved that Kellie had finally seen Emily’s true colours and called her out on it.
A light tapping sound had me turning to the sliding door and waving Jackson in. I slumped down on my bed and told him everything that had happened. When I was finished, he was shaking his head and I felt drained.
He looked up at me. “There’s something to these disappearances. There’s something the authorities aren’t seeing. I’m sure they’re all linked somehow.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just know there’s something in my lost memories about it all. Maybe I was trying to find someone that had gone missing. But every time I try to remember, I feel like there’s something in the back of my mind, just out of reach. Like when you walk into a room and can’t remember why you went in there. You know there was something you were going to do, but your mind isn’t giving you the answer. It’s so frustrating to have no memories of my life. Sometimes I get glimpses of stuff, but it’s not enough.”
I could understand that a bit more now that I knew that some of my memories were gone. Remembering me breaking my arm scared me. What else had I forgotten?
I was getting off-track. I needed to focus. “Maybe I could ask the Rebels more about what they know.”
He walked up to the glass and stared out at the view of the mountains. “The Rebels shouldn’t really be messing around with this. They should leave it to the police and the Guild.”
I fidgeted with the edge of my shirt. “But nothing is being done.”
“You don’t know that. I’m sure they’re not sitting around at the nearest donut shop while cases are going unsolved.”
I suppressed a laugh at the donut shop remark. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, but it’s too dangerous for them. They’re just kids. Look what happened to Kassie. Don’t look at me like that. You know that she would still be alive if they weren’t sitting around in the leaf litter spying on someone.”
I sighed. He was right. It was too dangerous. But if the authorities weren’t making any progress and Piper and Emily were still alive…
I took another deep breath and let it out slowly. I needed to calm down. The frustration was getting to me, and I didn’t know Piper and didn’t like Emily.
Jackson started pacing. “Is there anything you can remember from Wednesday night that might give us any clues as to what could have happened to Emily?”
I thought about it. “No. Not really. They all left as a group and me and Laynee went straight to the car park without looking back. Maybe Malcolm saw which way they went.”
I assumed she would have her own car — probably a Merc or a Beamer — because her parents were loaded, but didn’t know if she would have driven home alone. Probably. I didn’t see her as the sharing, caring type. I didn’t know where she lived, so I couldn’t even guess which roads she would have taken.
My brain hurt. This sleuthing thing was a lot harder than I thought. “It’s no use. I don’t have enough information to even come close to solving this.”
Jackson didn’t answer right away and when I looked up to see what he was doing, he was slumped over in the chair and I could actually see through him.
“Jackson! Are you okay? What’s going on?”
He groaned. “I don’t know. I feel weird and totally exhausted, like my energy is being drained away or something.”
“What is it? What’s causing it?”
“I don’t know, I…”
He faded away mid-sentence and I was left standing in the middle of my room wondering what the hell just happened.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxr64lvLzF
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Author's Note: Did you know that I have released some bonus scenes over on Ream? Some are for everyone, some are for my followers (following is FREE), and some are for the paid tiers. They are extra scenes from the Jadori Series that can be just an extra scene or a scene from another character’s point-of-view. Go ahead and read them. You know you want to. https://reamstories.com/page/lh4daspnyl/story/m4h3isbdkt/chapter/edbff706-c625-4630-a783-20e5ab12bddc20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JX9UHYNc7
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