Chapter Eighteen
Jillian hears us out, but sounds a little skeptic. It isn’t until we point out that Tara’s gift is mind reading and how useful it can be that she starts to believe us. After she’s convinced, she helps us convince the other mentors. Some are more believing than others. Carlos especially sides with us, as does Tara’s mentor Jade.
“Tricia’s funeral service is going to start in a few minutes, and I think the two of you should go,” Jillian says, ignoring my open-mouthed stare. “Kylie, I think it’s important for everyone to see that you feel sorry for her. If you hide up in your room, I think it will just cause people to talk. And Tara, it’ll give you a good opportunity to scan the minds of everyone there. Find someone who feels unnecessarily guilty and then dig deeper.”
I don’t want to go, but she has a point. Tara needs to be able to search for the killer, and the funeral is the best place to do that. Before we go though, I have a question.
“Can people feel when Tara’s poking around? The killer’s not gonna know that she’s onto them, right? I don’t want Tara to become a target because she’s the only one that can find this person.”
“No, they shouldn’t feel her digging around,” Jillian says, ushering us to the door. “Tara should be safe, but if she’s not, she has you to protect her, right?”
“Of course. But what if the killer is one of the Protectors? I might not be able to help her. She could get seriously hurt.”
“Don’t worry, Kylie,” Carlos says, following us out the door. “I will be stationed near the entrance to the chapel, and I will be keeping watch during the entire service.”
“What about after,” Tara asks nervously. “You can’t be on the lookout all the time. You can’t be in my room when I sleep at night, and you can’t follow me around Daray because you have lessons to teach.”
“I trust Kylie to take care of you during the day. She’s very skilled at what she does. You’re in good hands.”
Tara nods, and looks at me. She trusts me to keep her safe, and I just hope I don’t disappoint her. It’s a little weird, getting the first real taste of being a person’s Protector, but I think I’m up to the challenge. My body feels apprehensive, and I wonder if this is what all Protectors feel all the time. If so, it’s amazing they get any sleep.
Knowing that I’m the only thing really standing between a murderer and Tara makes me a little nervous and, as we walk out to the chapel, I find myself giving everyone a once-over to make sure they’re not a threat. I appraise them all and my entire body tenses whenever someone walks too close to Tara for comfort.
When we take our seats in the chapel, Tara is beside me, and Morgan is on her other side. Chloe is next to me, and Austin and Andrea are next to her. Tara reaches over and takes my hand, squeezing it tightly, before setting to work. I can practically feel the concentration rolling off of her in waves. Her shoulders are squared, and her eyes are facing straight ahead, but I know she’s searching for stray thoughts about Tricia.
Ten minutes through the funeral service, Tara’s shoulders slump in defeat, and I know she hasn’t found anything. She’s probably scanned every mind in the chapel, and she’s come up empty-handed. I can tell by the set of her jaw and by how tightly she has her hands clenched that she’s not happy by what she’s found, or hasn’t found.
“Now, my fledglings, let us bow our heads and pray for our dearly departed sister and hope that she finds peace in the arms of our Goddess. Have faith that she will be reborn into this world and will once again find those she has left behind.”
We all bow our heads and silently pray to Selene. Before tonight I might have thought she didn’t hear our prayers, but after hearing her voice earlier, I’m sure she is. She’s not only listening, but she’s loving each and every one of us, even if we don’t know it.
Jillian lights a large, thick, blue candle, and stares up through the skylight at the moon, which is almost full. “Goddess, hear our prayers, and comfort your loving daughter that has rejoined you too soon. Make her feel as at home in your Eternal Gardens as she did here.”
We all say our thanks, and Jillian blows out the candle, signaling the end of Tricia’s life. By now, some of the other fledglings are starting to look very uncomfortable, and I think I know why.
They’re not going to miss her, and they feel bad about that. It feels wrong to pray for someone you didn’t like or care about. It feels like lying.
Tara taps my hand, and I immediately get up and follow her out of the chapel. We beat most of the other residents out, and we’re not caught up in the mass of teenagers. I lower my head, and she whispers, “Nothing. I didn’t get a damn thing from anyone. If Tricia’s killer was in there, they’re really good at keeping their mind clear.”
“Alright, we’ll have to tell Jillian that we don’t have any new information for her. She’ll be so disappointed.”
“I’m sorry!” Tara snaps. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do it, Kylie, but I tried my best dammit!”
I grab her arm and stop her, and she looks up at me with tear-filled eyes. “I wasn’t insinuating that you failed because you’re incompetent. Selene said that she couldn’t find this person. If it was going to be easy for us to do, she could have just done it herself and saved us some time. It’s going to take a while. Chill.”
She wipes her eyes, and sighs. “I know, but Tricia is already dead, and if we don’t find this guy, two more people are going to die by the next full moon. That’s two days from now, Kylie. I don’t want their blood on my hands,” she whispers, sniffling.
“Come on, let’s head back to your room and see if we can’t do a little brainstorming. It’ll come to us eventually; it’s just gonna take some time.”
“You’re right. Maybe Austin and the others can give us some helpful advice. You said Chloe was a closet nerd, right? That makes her smart. Maybe she could–”
“We can’t tell the others, Tara. I know you trust them, but you’ve only known them for about six weeks, and I’ve know them even less. We can’t just go around trusting everyone, or we’re gonna end up regretting it.”
“They’re our friends.”
“I know that, but better safe than sorry, right? Look, I’m not saying that Austin or the others had anything to do with it, but until we can rule them out with one hundred percent certainty, we can’t chance it. I’m sorry, Tara.”
She doesn’t say anything for a minute, and I don’t rush her. Finally, she nods. “You’re right; we can’t take any chances with this. I trust them, but we have to be sure. If we confide in the wrong person, we could be in real trouble.”
We walk up to the third floor of Daray, and a lot of the girls around us are quiet, subdued, and are getting ready for bed. I ignore some of the fearful looks, and keep my eyes trained on body language, not the faces. Every time someone bumps Tara, I resist the urge to shove them away and check them for concealed weapons.
Whoever killed Tricia has to know that Tara can read minds. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything. Someone could be targeting her right now, and I might not even know it. How can I protect her if I don’t know who I’m supposed to be protecting her from?
I tell Tara to lock her bedroom door, but I don’t feel good about leaving her. She has Andrea to help her if anything goes wrong, but I feel like it should be me there to keep her safe tonight, not her. Before she closes her door, I catch the look on her face.
She doesn’t want me to leave anymore than I want to go. Each step away from the door to Tara’s room feels more and more wrong. I can’t deny that something is pulling me back to her room, and it sucks that I can’t stay with her. I’ll just have to trust that she’ll be safe.
I’m right down the hall if she needs me. But she might not be able to make it that far if someone kicks in her door.
I groan in frustration, earning some confused glances from other girls in the hall. But I ignore them, and close my door behind me. Chloe’s already asleep in her bed, and I dress quietly in t
he dark to keep from waking her. I don’t expect to get any sleep tonight, and I’m right. Midnight comes and goes, as does two o’clock, and still my eyes refuse to stay shut for longer than a minute.
Shortly after that, my door slowly opens, and Tara sticks her head in. She’s wearing her hello kitty nightgown that’s almost ankle-length, and she looks so ridiculous that I have to smile. She grins back when she sees me awake, “I couldn’t sleep,” she whispers. “I don’t think Jillian would mind if I slept in here, do you?”
I shake my head and slide off the bed. “You can take the bed; I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Kylie, I can’t–”
A pillow hits me in the face, and Chloe groans. “I don’t care what you two do, but please just shut up and close the door. You’re letting the obnoxious in.”
Tara giggles and closes the door behind her. She climbs into bed and looks down at me. “I’m sorry for stealing your bed. I doubt you’ll get much sleep on that hard floor.”
She’s wrong. By the time she’s settled in, my eyes are already closed and I can feel myself drifting off. Knowing that Tara’s safe in my room with me makes it a lot easier to relax, and I actually manage to fall asleep.
In the morning when I wake up, the shower is just turning off, and I notice Chloe is already out of bed. Tara’s still curled up like a little mouse on my bed, and she looks so at peace that I can’t wake her. When Chloe exits the bathroom, she sees me watching Tara and shakes her head.
“You take that Protector stuff too seriously. It’s not like she needs protecting yet.”
I want to tell her about Selene’s visit, but I made Tara promise not to involve Austin, Andrea, and Morgan, so the same rules apply to me. I keep my mouth shut, and start to dig through my dresser for clothes to wear. I try to be as quiet as possible, but Chloe doesn’t seem to care about that.
She plops down on her bed and looks at me. “You know, I’m surprised you two didn’t just share the bed. It’s not exactly a twin, you know? It could fit two people.”
I make a face at her and sit back down on my makeshift bed. My clothes are bunched up beside me, and I wait for the water in the shower to warm back up. That and I don’t want to leave Tara alone with Chloe first thing in the morning. They’ve been polite to one another, but it hasn’t gotten any better than that yet.
“I was just fine on the floor. And sharing a bed would have been really uncomfortable for both of us. We’re friends, not sisters.”
Chloe waggles her eyebrows at me. “I bet you wouldn’t have minded sleeping with her.”
I throw the pillow at her and she ducks, laughing. Our laughter wakes Tara, and she just looks between us with a confused look on her face. “You two really are friends, aren’t you?”
Chloe snorts. “What, you didn’t believe her? I know she’s almost impossible to like, but seriously, she’s not that bad.”
Tara smiles at my frown. “Oh, come on, Kylie. You’re not exactly the easiest person to like. You’re opinionated, passionate, and you’ve got a bit of a temper. Plus, you always have to do your best to prove people wrong about you. I love you, but a lot of people would find you hard to be friends with.”
I know she’s right, so I don’t argue. I do have a habit of pushing people away and making it hard to get close to. “That just means that the friends I do have are all awesome.”
Tara and Chloe talked for a little bit while I showered, but she was gone when I got out of the bathroom. Chloe told me she went back to her room to get dressed for the day, and that she’d meet me down at the dining hall. I get down there as fast as I can, and find Morgan sitting with Austin and Andrea. They all give me nods and smiles as I sit down, and Tara and Chloe join us a few minutes later.
Chloe sits beside me, which is probably the only place she feels comfortable, and we all start talking about the same thing as everyone else: Tricia’s death. It seems that many of the fledglings are still nervous, and I don’t blame them. A student is dead, and they don’t know for sure who did it. The killer could be one of their closest friends, and they’d never know it until it was too late.
Tara and I trade quick, discreet glances, but don’t say anything. I know she wants to include them in our search, but we still can’t afford to take any chances. This is too important to screw up; people’s lives depend on the two of us, and we can’t let them down.
I lean in close to her. “Maybe you should try scanning minds now, while everyone’s eating. We aren’t going to have many chances to get everyone together, and this is a good chunk of Daray Hall.”
She nods, and her eyes narrow a little bit in concentration. But other than that, she looks like she’s just focusing on her breakfast, or maybe thinking about a lesson she has later. While she’s doing her thing, I glance around at the others in the room, looking for any signs of unusual behavior, and come up empty-handed.
How were we supposed to find someone who’s guilty if they don’t actually look guilty? Tara’s gift could only do so much. She apparently can’t see anything they’re not already thinking. So she can’t dig around my head for thoughts I had a week ago, unless I’m thinking about them again right now. That definitely makes it harder. We’re probably going to have to narrow it down, and then try to get our suspect to think or talk about the murder.
Andrea taps on the table, taking me from my inner thoughts. Judging by the look on her face, she’s said my name more than once. “Did you hear me?”
“I’m sorry, I was thinking.”
“I said I’ll see you guys later. Austin and I have a run planned before our first lesson of the day.”
Tara nods absentmindedly and gets back to scanning the minds of the people in the dining hall. There aren’t many in here, and she can focus and get more from each person. If our killer is in the dining hall right now, Tara might be able to catch the odd thought or two and flush them out.
Andrea leaves, and I take a deep breath. I feel the need to work off some stress, and I can’t do that sitting here with Tara. I haven’t had a lesson in a few days, and it’s going to start showing. I’m going to be lazy, weak, and laughable when I finally get back to training, and I don’t want that.
The last thing the other Protectors in Training need is another reason to laugh at me.
Tara frowns, and her entire body relaxes. “Nothing?” I whisper, aware that Austin, Morgan, and Chloe are still nearby.
She shakes her head. “I swear none of these people have ever done anything wrong, let alone murder someone. I’m starting to think maybe it isn’t someone from Daray Hall, and we’re just barking up the wrong tree.”
“It has to be. Who else could have done it?” I ask, looking at the residents in the dining hall. “Nobody else would pray to a moon goddess. It has to be someone from here.”
She nods. “Right, I didn’t think about that. Have you heard anyone talking bad about Selene? Or maybe mentioning a different goddess?”
I snort. “Of course not. That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?”
She sighs. “I don’t think we’re gonna find them in time. We’ll most likely find them when they kill again, or when they complete the ritual.”
She’s right, but I don’t tell her that. She thinks this is a hopeless situation already, and I don’t want to discourage her further. If she can’t find this killer, nobody can, and she knows that. I put my hand on her shoulder and she squares them, getting ready to go another round with the residents’ minds.
After breakfast, Tara finally calls it quits, and accompanies me down to the gym for my first training lesson in days. I’m glad to see that Kaven isn’t the one waiting for me; instead it’s Carlos, and he gives me an almost imperceptible wink.
I glance at Tara and nod my head. She takes a seat against one of the walls, and she starts scanning the minds of the Protectors in the gym. I worry about not being close to her, but Carlos waves my concerns away.
“You and I are both here, Kylie. She will be safe so long as she is in
this gym, I promise.”