Chapter 18

18

VIOLET

The clouds we stood beneath when speaking to Marci burst, so the guys are even less enthusiastic to join my trip to the crime scene. The light rain threatens to become a downpour; if we don't check where the wolf attacked Holly soon, evidence may get washed away. There may be footprints to follow, which could disappear into a muddy puddle.

Rowan and Leif covered themselves in hooded jackets; Grayson wears his hoodless leather jacket as usual, and I'm perfectly happy for my dress and cardigan to get wet.

We walk the trodden pathway from the academy fence and into the woods in the opposite direction to the stones where we met Marci, following multiple tire tracks from the ambulance and police cars. They end at the closest point they could reach between the pathway and the clearing, several minutes' walk away from the scene—precious time in their quest to aid Holly.

The guys relax—slightly—when nobody else is exploring the police-taped area for clues, and I blithely inform them that the rain helps because humans dislike getting wet. Someone raked muddying dirt to cover the blood, and the large stone I saw besides the dead shifter is no longer around. The drizzling rain grows harder, which could cause the predicted issues.

I stand in the exact location as the moment I first discovered Holly, cross my arms, and survey the scene. The place looks different in the cloudy daylight, aiding me in disengaging from the horrors I saw last night.

Be the Violet that Holly needs. Find answers .

"The police would've taken any items, Violet," says Rowan, yet again. "They would've come here at daybreak and combed the place."

"Yes. And if we find nothing, we visit the police station and locate the items discovered and taken by authorities," I say, and Rowan sucks in a breath. "Is that a problem? I've promised not to visit the morgue again, haven't I?"

"A morgue visit would be pointless anyway. The elders will take the body as soon as they're told about him," says Leif. He zips his army-green jacket tighter, and pulls the hood down to obscure his face, hiding from more than the rain.

"I'd like to search for any residual magic in the vicinity." I march to the nearest trunk and touch the rough bark. "Not only runes, but discarded spell items. Lingering energy. Rowan, please check the trunks."

"Why? Can Rowan talk to trees?" asks Grayson and snickers.

Rowan shoves him. "At least I'm useful."

"I have sharper senses," he retorts. "I'm more likely to spot anything on the ground than you."

"Which direction did the other shifter run in?" interrupts Leif. I point. "Okay. So, towards town, but at shifter speed they'd be long gone before authorities arrived."

"Precisely, or the second shifter would be in custody," I say, wiping rain from a cheek.

"Shifters aren't supposed to visit town currently," says Rowan. "That means someone may've noticed one hanging around the place. He or she wouldn't stay in wolf form the whole time."

"Thus, we visit the establishments that teens frequent in the evenings, and question those who were in town yesterday." I crouch to examine the base of the tree, pushing into the small bush, but find nothing but thorns.

"Interesting alibi you gave, Rowan," comments Grayson. "Is that true?"

Rowan balks. "Seriously? No. Violet and I both met Marci in the woods; you know that."

"And Marci will back you up?" Grayson frowns. "Why? She doesn't like you, Violet."

"The brooches," I say. "And I believe Marci isn't involved in any nefarious plots at the academy."

Grayson wanders to a fallen log and sits. "That's a sudden conclusion."

"Not really. If Marci were part of a plan to eradicate humans from the student body, she would not sell items to ‘protect' them. Rather, Marci would do the opposite and scare the humans," I say. "She dislikes them."

"Then why aren't other witches targeting students?" asks Leif.

"They could be, but not doing anything obvious," I reply.

"Apart from killing, kidnapping, and attacking?" Grayson snorts.

"Not every event centers around the academy," I inform him. "The issue with the Sawyers, for instance. Wesley's death may be unconnected—don't forget the theory that Rory mistook Wesley for Kai on the night he killed him."

"Mmm." Rowan places a palm on another trunk. "Until we speak to Holly and discover who took her, and to where, we can't draw conclusions."

"Clearly, whoever wishes to change the face of Thornwood Academy orchestrated for the hybrid to room with a human. Then, they took away my potion in the hope I'd attack." Leif gawks at me as I reach the edge of the clearing, kicking at tiny stones. "If I had, that would've been a double victory—the academy deemed unfit for humans to attend with supes, and Dorian's daughter illustrating why with murderous clarity. That would also lead to questions about Dorian's own... tendencies."

"But who? Mrs. Lorcan?" asks Grayson.

"She's likely connected. The woman controls every aspect of the academy." I peer along the route the wolf took when leaving the scene. "Leif. Grayson. Can you track the shifter's movements?"

Leif wrinkles his nose. "My senses aren't strong enough. I can only scent those nearby."

Grayson brushes rain from his face. "Yeah. I can if the shifter was bleeding. Was he bleeding?"

"His mouth was bloodied; I'm not sure about other injuries." I dismiss the image and the effect that sight had on me. Holly's blood? Or the other shifter's? "There could be a trail through these bushes? The ground isn't clear."

"The rain will make tracking tricky," admits Grayson.

Following a thorough search of the surroundings—which takes too long for the guys who're nervous in case the police return—we head out of the clearing and into the denser area the wolf shifter ran through.

Rowan swears as thorns prickle his legs through his jeans, and I slow to keep pace with him. "The second shifter deliberately led you to Holly," he says.

"I've reached that conclusion," I say. "But what about the other? Who killed them? Holly, through self-defense using the rock? Or the shifter who brought me to Holly?"

"Why would the missing shifter do either of those things?" asks Grayson.

"One of them may've been a construct, and one not."

"Or one worked for Viktor, and one didn't?" suggests Leif.

"If I were them, I wouldn't risk upsetting Viktor." Grayson springs over bushes, feet barely touching the rain-soaked ground.

"Unless taking Violet to Holly was the second shifter's task ?" suggests Rowan.

"Yet the questions remain: who killed the shifter and why was Holly left alive?" I say.