"If you believe that, then why are you going to meet him?" she asked me. "What are you hoping to accomplish?"

"I... I just want to clear the air," I told her. "I want to be--"

I stopped myself. Noelle's full lips twisted into a smirk. "You want to be sure. Which means that you're not. You're not sure that this guy isn't a cold-blooded killer and yet you're going out, at night, to meet with him. Alone."

I could feel my heart pounding in every vein. I wanted to rip that smirk right off her face. She was messing with my mind again, her favorite pastime. I had no idea why she wanted me to believe

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that Josh was a dangerous psychotic, but she did. But this time I wasn't going to fall for it.

"I am sure," I told her.

"I don't appreciate this, Reed," she said. "I go through all that trouble to get you evidence, to prove to you that I would never lie to you--which, by the way, I should never have had to do--and this is how you repay me?" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared me down. 'You're not going to go."

I pulled my hat down over my head, covering the tips of my ears. "Watch me."

Then I turned around and shoved the door open, blasting my way into the cold.

220

THE QUESTION

I stepped into the silence of Mitchell Hall and paused. The only light came from the tiny spotlights set into the ceiling, illuminating each of the ghostly headmasters. The place might as well have been a mausoleum, and for the first time since I'd walked righteously out of Billings, I considered turning back.

"Reed."

His voice echoed down the hall. He was nowhere and everywhere.

"Josh?"

My heart beat in my throat. Why was he hiding? There was nothing but the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. How could I have come here without telling a soul where I was going? What was I thinking?

Answer: I hadn't been thinking. I had been working on pure emotion, adrenaline, defiance. And now here I was. Alone.

"Josh, where are you?" I hated the fear in my voice, but it worked on Josh. He stepped into the hall at the far end, from the doorway to the art cemetery.

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"Hi," I said.

Josh didn't smile.

Go home now. Get out of here.

"What are we doing here, Reed?" he asked.

I have no idea.

"I... I needed to talk to you."

"Then come over here and talk to me," he said.

I hesitated. There were a good twenty yards separating us. His face was half in shadow.

"Why don't you want to come over here?"

Okay. Clearly this was a mistake.

Tags: Kate Brian Private
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