tongue lashing. She leaned into the door and listened, but she
heard nothing on the other side. No voice calling to enter, no
footsteps coming to the door.
She’d sent Snake up to bed and had come here to discuss
what happened with Claire. Snake was sick. The kind of sick
that meant puking into the garbage can in the auditorium while
her already nonplussed music theory professor watched. He’d
shaken and shivered all the way home, pulling over twice to
puke again, and by the second time, Haley’d had enough.
The drive back to Claire’s house wasn’t a short one. Snake
had been willing to get in the passenger seat and let her take
over. He was probably going to be in no condition to take her
to class for the next two days.
Despite bracing for impact, Haley had to admit that no
matter what kind of storm she faced on the other side of the
door, she wanted to know more. There was something strange
and sad lurking in the older woman’s eyes when she’d sat on
her bed and chewed her out, and Haley couldn’t help herself.
She was drawn to Claire through some strange, magnetic force
that she couldn’t explain.
She knocked again, harder and louder, but still there was no
answer. She found herself trying the handle just because she
knew the office was supposed to be unlocked even if Claire
wasn’t there. And Claire wasn’t inside when Haley pushed the
door open. She didn’t even hesitate before she ended up in
Claire’s personal space, the door closed behind her.
Her heart pounded. The office felt bare without Claire in it,
even though it was filled with shelves of books, a fireplace
that looked functional, a big desk stacked with ledgers and
papers and files. There were cabinets in there that probably