King of Cups (Stormcloud Academy 2)

“You’re not listening—”

“No, you’re not.”

“Look at this!”

I slapped five stapled pages down on a decrepit, stained oak table between us and handed her my flashlight.

She looked at me, then the paper, then me again.

“What is this?”

I was coming out of my skin at that point, but I held it together.

“This is a sworn statement given by a student called Scamarcio regarding the disappearance of someone with the initials E.V. It’s dated March 10, 1985. As best I can tell, this is the only copy here, and it’s redacted to hell. I only know any of the players because they are mentioned in Gail’s father’s student record.”

“I’m very confused.”

“Listen, this is big. This Scamarcio guy testified that some students at Stormcloud were involved in E.V.’s disappearance. Gail’s father was a co-signer on this statement, as was someone else. From what I can tell, this paper was the culmination of a big investigation, and at the end of it, a lot of kids got expelled. Again, their names are blacked out, so I don’t know exactly, but. . . .”

The longer I talked, the antsier Biba grew. Her eyes darted back down the stairs.

“Are you even listening?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” she replied, “but we need to go.”

“Don’t you care how close I got to solving the crime?”

“I didn’t ask you to solve anything. In fact, I asked you to stop trying to solve shit!”

“Do you even care that this paper, right here, might be the answer to why Gail and her parents were killed?”

“Killed by who? A bunch of blacked-out names?”

She sounded frantic, hysterical. I’d gotten us closer than we’d ever been to solving things, and she was panicking that some Stormcloud administrator would reprimand us. I needed to make her understand, so I stormed around the table and took hold of her by the arms. She tried to shrug me off, but I refused to let go. She was going to listen if I had to shake the reality into her.

“Those blacked-out names murdered her and tried to murder you and me!”

“Let me go!”

“I will not. This is too fucking important. Why won’t you lift a finger to help me? Are you so determined to protect Zephyr and the Kings that you don’t care about Gail—?”

I felt a sharp sting as Biba’s palm collided with my face. I released her. The rage disappeared from my brain, but even in the half-light, I could see she was livid.

“Get out,” she snapped.

“Biba, I—”

“I don’t want to be in a room with you again, Theo. Not ever. Now go.”

I had no response. I’d stepped over a line and couldn’t step back. All I could do was walk away down the stairs, leaving her alone in the darkness.

CHAPTER 15

BIBA

Zephyr had only been gone about two weeks, and I’d just started to grow accustomed to solitude. This was, after all, an isolation of my own invention. There were plenty of people at Stormcloud that would love to be connected with Zephyr’s girl, but I didn’t need hangers-on.

Not like Arvo. He was reveling in his role as the interim ruler of the school. Zephyr had placed him in charge, and he’d consolidated all control immediately. Sol was nowhere to be seen. Most days, Arvo strolled the halls with an entourage of freshmen trailing behind him. He was insufferably imperious, but his tyranny was pretty much harmless. Mostly, he just seemed to be nosing around everyone’s business. Who was sleeping together? Who’d broken up? Who was up, and who was down?