Twenty-Eight

Once we all quiet down, Wren explains. "One night when Quigg and I were hanging out, he told me that O'Connor keeps a locked cabinet under his desk that contains decades' worth of information about Magni Viri. Occult books, records and paperwork, the bylaws, everything. It's all there. Everything he doesn't want the students to get their hands on. If we had that information, I bet we'd actually have some power."

"So you want to steal that stuff?" Azar asks skeptically.

"Well, if we can see it, maybe there's something in there that will help us. Maybe there's a way to protect Tara from Isabella. To protect all of us."

Everyone is quiet a long moment, thinking. "How do we get into O'Connor's office?" Penny asks.

"Maybe Mr. Hanks can get us the key," Neil says.

I shake my head. "I don't want to risk getting him in trouble. Not when he's done so much for me already. Besides, even if we get into the office, we'll still have to unlock the cabinet."

Azar closes her eyes and groans like she's about to say something she knows she'll regret. "I'm an expert lock picker."

"What?" everyone yells at the same time. Neil laughs with obvious delight.

"I used to practice lock picking as a... hobby," Azar says. "And, fine, I was a horrible bratty little snoop when I was a kid and liked to break into my siblings' rooms to read their diaries and shit like that. I'm not proud of it."

"You're kidding," I say.

Azar's stony face says she's not. "I can do it. But the question is, is this really what we want to do? If O'Connor finds out, he'll rain down fire on our heads."

I remember what he was like after I dug up Isabella, how angry and vengeful. He really would end my academic career without a drop of remorse. Everyone else's too.

"Let's just you and me do it," I say to Azar. "He's already against me. If we get caught, the rest of them can say they don't know anything about it. And you can say I made you do it. I'll take the blame. What do I have to lose?"

"That would mean you have to go back to campus," Penny says. "Where Isabella is. Are you willing to do that?"

I take a deep breath. I feel braver now, surrounded by my friends, knowing they've got my back. Knowing I'm not alone. I don't want to leave Corbin and give them up. I want to stay with them. I want four years with them. And while I know college isn't the only path, it's the path I want, the path I chose. I want my life back.

"I can do it," I say. "I will do it."

To my surprise, Azar grins. "Let's do it then."

Neil snorts. "I know you two want to feel all heroic right now, but you're going to need a lookout. So I'm coming too."

"Me too," Wren says. "You'll need two of us for that."

I smile. "All right. But Jordan and Penny, you guys stay out of it, okay?"

"Deal," Jordan says. "We'll just be lying to everyone about where the rest of you are."

"Why?" I ask. "Why would anyone care?"

"Because you're going to do it tonight, aren't you?" he asks. "It's Sunday. You'll all be missing the cemetery party."

I say goodbye to Mr. Hanks and Marla while the others wait outside. I grip my backpack straps, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach. "Thank you both for everything," I say. "For opening your home to me and—"

"Don't mention it, sweetheart," Marla says, giving me a big hug. "You're welcome here any time. Come right back if you need to." She kisses my cheek and bustles off to the kitchen with a sniffle.

Mr. Hanks rubs the side of his face. "Tara, are you sure about this? About going back—to her?"

"No," I admit. "But you told me before you gotta fight for your life, right?"

He gives a short, sharp laugh. "I did. But that was before I knew the whole of it. I'm worried for you."

"I'm worried for me too."

"But you're right, you can't let her win. Not if there's any way to stop it. You deserve to live your life. If anyone can do it, I believe you can."

"You might have too much faith in me."

"Never," he says. "But you'll come back, won't you? If you need to? You can consider this your second home now." He lifts his chin, and something in his eyes tells me he knows what my family situation is like. That he's offering me a better one.

"I will," I promise. "And even if I don't need to, I'll still come back to see you and Marla."

"Good girl," he says with a small smile and a nod.

I step forward and hug him tight. I'm so, so glad that I have a place to escape to if our plan fails. I only hope I don't need it.

I open the front door and hurry down the front steps, my jaw clenched tight. "Let's go," I say to the others, tossing my bag into the trunk. I slide into the front seat and start the engine.

Part of me wants to stay here and be at peace. But I know I'd only be hiding, and that wouldn't make me happy. So as we drive away from Mr. Hanks's house on the ridge, I force myself not to look back. I have a life to fight for in Denfeld Hall.

We drive back in the dark—me, Azar, Neil, and Wren in my car. Jordan and Penny left in Neil's SUV hours ago. They're going to tell anyone who asks that the rest of us broke down in my shitty car on the way back from seeing a movie in a nearby town.

It's about 9:00 when we make it to campus and park the car. We sit in the washed-out light of the parking lot for a moment, listening to the engine cool down.

"Are we really going to do this?" Wren asks, disbelief in their voice.

"Yes," Azar says tightly from beside me. "Yes, I believe we are." She digs in her bag for a while before producing a slender leather pouch. When she opens it, metal lock picks gleam in the low light.

"Wow," I breathe. "Oh wow." My heart rate accelerates.

Neil leans forward from the backseat. "Oh, come on, Tara, we've already dug up a grave together, and that's a felony. We're practically partners in crime at this point."

I laugh, though it sounds more like a sob.

"No time like the present, I guess," Wren says, pushing open their door.

Wren and Neil climb out, leaving Azar and me in the car. They're going to scope out the building and make sure we can get in without being seen.

Azar and I sit in silence until the others disappear into the darkness. "I can't believe you're helping me," I finally say. "This is the last thing in the world I expected."

"I'm helping myself too," Azar says. "I'm helping all of us. Stop being so self-centered." But there's a smile playing around her lips.

I laugh. "All right."

Her face turns serious. "I'm doing it for Meredith too. She was our friend, and O'Connor let Isabella kill her and toss her out like a jacket that didn't fit anymore. There should be consequences. Even in a fucked up situation like this, there are supposed to be rules, ethics, lines that don't get crossed. But O'Connor isn't honoring that."

She shakes her head. "All this time, I thought—or maybe I wanted to think—that he picked all of us because we were so smart and so deserving, because he believed in us. I thought I finally had something to make my parents truly proud. But that's not even why I got picked." She sighs. "All of us are disposable in his eyes. It's only the ghosts he cares about."

"Maybe at some point you just have to be proud of yourself and let that be enough," I say.

Azar lets her head fall back against the seat. "Yeah, maybe so. But it's not just about competing with my siblings or pleasing my parents. I really wanted this. I would never have signed on otherwise. I mean, my family isn't really religious, but I still knew better than to fuck around with ghosts. You hear enough stories about jinn..." She rubs her eyes. "Anyway, that's why I tried so hard to keep believing in Magni Viri. The work I'm doing—it matters. It could change the world. But I wanted to change the world as myself, not as a vessel for someone else."

"I know exactly what—" I start to say, but then my phone dings. I read the text. "Wren says the building is deserted. No one seems to be around. But the outside doors are locked."

Azar shrugs. "One more door won't kill me."

We walk silently through campus to the social sciences building, which thankfully isn't near any popular hangouts. No one is around, except for Wren, who lounges on the steps looking at their phone. We go around the building to the back, which is half-hidden in the gloom of tall trees. Neil's nowhere to be seen, so he must be lurking in the shadows.

Azar gets us inside in under a minute. I shiver in the unheated air of the building as we walk up the stairs and then down the dark hallway. There's not a sound in the building except for a low electrical humming.

Azar stops outside O'Connor's office and puts her ear to the door for a few moments before she gets to work with her lock picks. This time I get to watch her do it, and it's basically the coolest thing I've ever seen. The lock clicks and Azar pushes the door open, revealing a dimly lit office, curtains wide open. "Child's play," she whispers. "Two down, one to go."

"Good luck. Make sure to stay low; someone could probably see inside the window from outside," I whisper back, then turn to keep an eye on the hallways around us.

Azar drops to her knees and crawls inside. I can see through the crack that the room is partly illuminated by a lamppost from outside. Azar ought to be able to make her way without too much trouble. I check my phone to make sure Wren or Neil hasn't texted.

"Found it," Azar calls from inside. Quiet metallic sounds follow. After a few moments, she grunts. "This one's tricky. Really well made."

"Can you get it?" I whisper.

"Oh, I'll get it all right."

I alternate between watching the dim hallways and my blank phone. My pulse ratchets up as the minutes tick by.

"Got it!" Azar says, a little too loudly. I hear her fumbling around. "There's a lot of stuff in here, Tara. What should we take?"

"Let's take everything we can carry," I whisper back.

"Okay, but you're gonna have to help."

I glance at my silent phone once more before shoving it into my back pocket. Then I crawl into O'Connor's office, pulling the door closed behind me. I scurry under the desk where Azar sits, shining a tiny keychain flashlight into the small cabinet there.

"Whoa," I say. My fingertips tingle. There are about twenty leather-bound, crumbling books as well as a smaller volume that turns out to be a journal. "We won't be able to carry out all of this. Unless Wren or Neil comes inside to help."

"I know, I didn't think there'd be so much," Azar breathes. "Plus, whatever we take out, we're gonna have to sneak back in."

"Okay, let's look through everything and only take the stuff that seems most promising," I whisper. Azar nods and pulls out a book. I pull out one too. The spine cracks when I open it, releasing a whiff of incense and blown out candles. It's a heady scent, and despite the precariousness of the situation, I can't help but take a moment to breathe it in. I run my fingers lovingly across the faded pages.

"Stop lusting after the books and get busy," Azar hisses.

I pull out my phone so I can shine a light on the pages. That's when I see Neil's text—from a minute ago.

"Shit!" I whisper. "Quigg's coming. We've got to—"

The stairway door slams. Uneven footsteps come down the hall.

Azar's eyes widen. We start shoving books back into the cabinet. Quigg is singing tipsily to himself, so we know when he reaches the door. He rattles his key in the lock, apparently not realizing it's already open.

We push ourselves deep beneath the desk and hold our breath. I want to believe that Quigg wouldn't rat us out, but he's O'Connor's right-hand man. He has his own skin to save.

The door bangs open, and the light flips on, flooding the room with artificial light. Quigg keeps singing to himself, some showtune I don't quite recognize. He pushes stuff around on the desk for a while before sighing. With a muttered curse, he drops his phone onto the carpet next to his feet. The screen has O'Connor's number pulled up.

"Ughhhh," Quigg says, lurching forward to pick it up. He grabs it and dials O'Connor. "I can't find it," he says into the phone.

I can hear O'Connor's annoyed voice clear as day. "What do you mean you can't find it? It's right on my desk. Quigg, are you drunk?"

"Of course I'm drunk," Quigg says with a dark laugh. "It's Sunday night and I'm slowly losing my bodily autonomy to a fossil from the 1950s, who is frankly much less talented than I am."

O'Connor huffs loudly. "Look on the left hand side of the desk. There's a manila folder. The one on top. You see it?"

Quigg shuffles over, and Azar and I have to pull ourselves in even tighter. "Yes," Quigg says.

"Open it, take a picture of the document on top, and email it to me."

"I see it. The donation summary? Can I text it?" Quigg asks.

"No, email it," O'Connor says curtly. He hangs up.

"Well, fuck you very much," Quigg says to the silent phone.

He stomps out of the office, flicking the light off as he goes. He locks the door and we hear him go off down the hallway, singing.

Azar and I let out a collective breath. "Jesus, that was close," I say. "Think he would have turned us in?"

"I don't know," Azar says. "Quigg's hard to read. He plays the party animal angle pretty hard, but he has a lot riding on Magni Viri. Corbin's the only school that would take him because he has a juvenile record. And some people think he's basically O'Connor's mole, carrying everything he learns back to this office. I mean, O'Connor knows way more than he should about what goes on in Denfeld, and it's sure not Laini telling him. She hardly ever even comes out of her study."

"Unless it's the ghosts who tell him," I say. "Is that possible?"

Azar shrugs. "I hadn't really thought about it before, but yeah... absolutely. If they're in control, I mean. They could call him or go to his office."

"So that's how O'Connor knew I dug up Isabella's body," I say, finally putting all the pieces together.

Azar pauses, and when she speaks again, her tone shifts, turns worried. "I feel like Edgar—that's my ghost—I feel like he's getting more and more obsessive, you know? Like, he won't leave the robotics lab. He made me miss a date with Zoe. He's a resentful little shit too."

"So is Isabella," I say, thinking of how she dressed me up and cut my hair after my grave robber stunt. I wonder if the others' ghosts have done things like that too to punish them. "I know she'd go straight to O'Connor if she could. So that means we can't fall asleep and give them control until we finish all of this. We can't risk it."

"It's gonna be a long night," Azar says with a sigh.

There's no sign of any bylaws or other modern documents, but there's plenty else that looks useful. We decide to take the journal and ten of the occult books. I'd rather call Wren in to help us so we could carry it all, but we've already had one near discovery tonight, so I don't want to get greedy.

I text Wren and Neil telling them we're coming out. Then we gather everything up and get out of the building as fast as we can. If we're lucky, we can put all this back before O'Connor even knows that it's gone.

We go out the back door, and Neil steps out of the shadows beneath a tree, startling me so badly I nearly drop my load of books.

"Did Quigg see you?" he demands.

"Obviously not, dumbass," Azar says. "Here, take some of these." She puts half her stack of books in Neil's arms.

"Thanks for the warning," I say. "I saw it just in time."

Neil nods.

Wren comes jogging around the side of the building. "Good work, you two!" they say, grinning. They pull the top few books off my stack. "Wow, these feel ancient."

"Any word from Penny and Jordan?" I ask.

Wren grimaces. "Yeah, Penny texted and said Quigg asked where we were, so our absence was definitely noted."

"Well, what if we go now?" I ask. "Say a kind stranger stopped and fixed the car?" It's the last thing I want to do. I don't want to be anywhere near that graveyard.

"No, let's not waste time," Azar says. "We need to get through these as quickly as we can, right?"

Everyone agrees, so we head to Denfeld. We keep to the shadows as we near the house, not wanting to be spotted by any of the revelers. It's cold enough to make me shiver even though we're walking fast, so the rest of Magni Viri must be miserable down there. It doesn't sound like anyone is having a particularly good time at the party tonight. I can hear low-key indie music and occasional laughter, but it's nothing like the first few raucous Sunday night parties I attended.

We make it up the stairs without being spotted and ensconce ourselves in my and Wren's room. Jordan and Penny promise to join us and bring coffee as soon as the party starts winding down.

We lay the books out in two rows, and as scary and stressful as all of this is, there's a little fizzle in my stomach at the thought of handling arcane research materials like these. The books are weathered and well-used and have mysterious titles like Binding the Spirits and Beyond the Veil. Their copyright dates are all mid-to-late-1800s.

"Well, here we go," I say, choosing a book at random. "Let's hope we find something before Isabella throws me off a cliff."

"Huzzah!" Azar says. "To Tara not getting thrown off a cliff!" She holds out a book and I gently tap it with mine as if they were wine glasses. Neil mutters something under his breath.

"This is the weirdest study group I've ever been to," Wren says, stretching out on their bed with a particularly fragile-looking book.

After that, the only sounds in the room are pages turning.