King of Cups (Stormcloud Academy 2)

“So tenacious. You come by it naturally,” she sighed, then let go of him. “I changed my name when I returned to this academy. I am here under the authority of the old King of Crowns. But I’ve held my tongue for too long.”

She took a couple of minutes to collect her thoughts.

“You see,” she continued, “I was central to the dissolution of the last generation of Kings. Except for the information in the letter I just gave you, Theo, all the secrets of Stormcloud Academy reside solely in my mind. I’ve committed the long-buried scandals to memory. They can stay there no longer. So where shall I begin?”

“Gail’s father,” Theo demanded, “and his sworn statement with Rafael Scamarcio.”

“Why there?” she asked with trepidation.

“We know that’s important,” he said, “and we partly know what happened.”

“Very well. Then . . . I think you should open that envelope now.”

I held my breath. My eyes drifted down to Amelia’s hands, which were quivering. It struck me that, of all three of us, Amelia was perhaps the least prepared to deal with the truth about Theo. But in a second, the truth would be out.

Theo pressed a finger under the seal. It started to tear. Then Amelia spoke again.

“Theo, before you—”

Her voice cut out.

I blinked.

Something was in my eyes suddenly. Like dust on a windy day or smoke from a raging fire.

I touched my face. It was wet.

“Jesus Christ!”

That was Theo. Something had shocked him.

The window just behind Amelia had a hole in it. A spiderweb of cracks extended out from the hole.

She was gone. It had happened so fast that I couldn’t quite register what was going on. Amelia’s body was crumpled on the floor. And the table and Theo and myself . . . we were covered in her blood.

A bullet. A sniper’s bullet.

Oh, fuck. It was happening again. Everyone who tried to help me died. No matter how close I got to the truth, it would elude me. This was impossible.

Suddenly, I heard a shrill, high-pitched screech, like a siren or a carrion bird. It took me a second to realize I was the one screaming.

Theo tried to console me, but it was too late. My legs were carrying me out of the room.

CHAPTER 25

BIBA

I woke to knocking, insistent and loud, like a SWAT team ready to bust down the door.

I wasn’t naked this time. Not like last year, when Buffy had awoken me to tell me Gail was dead. I was in a man’s t-shirt this time, balled in a fetal position on a bed with a strong man’s arm wrapped tightly around me in a spoon.

My memory was mud, a morass I couldn’t seem to trudge through. Something awful had happened to Theo and Amelia and me. It was like my mind was blocking the memory in the haze of my waking—an act of charity to spare me the dread of remembering too quickly.

Then it came back.

The sniper’s bullet. Time stopping. The blood, her blood, all over me.

I had fled to the hall. A few scantily-clad students were chatting and snogging in the hallway. They hadn’t immediately understood what was happening. It was a Halloween party, after all, and I was covered in blood. They’d figured it was a costume.