Chapter 2

2

VIOLET

Dorian is threatening to blood magic me away from the academy, and alone, if I don't leave with him today. If my father attempts to forcibly remove me from Thornwood, I will fight him in order to stay. And if I'm able to resist his abilities, Dorian would reveal an edge of weakness not only to me, but to anybody who's aware that his daughter equals him in power.

I made a deal with my parents this morning: as soon as I'm sure Holly isn't in the vicinity of the academy or town, I will leave for Scotland. In my mind, that won't be necessary because I'll find Holly in this area soon.

And I will. There're many, many people on my suspect list who live in town and inside the academy, and until I've investigated them all, I'm remaining here.

The guys confirm that Mrs. Lorcan still hasn't announced Holly's disappearance. As Holly disappeared less than twenty-four hours ago, the headmistress refuses to even contact Holly's parents until she's a hundred percent sure that Holly isn't 'out having fun somewhere.' Yes, my roommate enjoys all manner of fun, but she isn't one for unbridled hedonism that would prevent her returning to campus in a timely manner. Somebody took Holly.

Took her . Acid fills my mouth every time an image of somebody hurting Holly flashes across my mind. Did the abductor use mind magic or assault her? Did Holly know the person and leave willingly?

Grayson almost said the words I can't bear to think—Holly might be dead with a Blackwood rune carved into her chest to match past victims.

When I stepped outside of my room to speak to my parents and Mrs. Lorcan earlier, Marci accosted me halfway across campus demanding to know where Holly is. The witch isn't stupid. She knows the five of us were due to visit Scotland, and now Holly isn't here, and we haven't gone.

Marci left me with a dark look and the comment, "Holly would have to be seriously ill or injured to not contact me. I'm going to Mrs. Lorcan and reporting this." Her point couldn't be any clearer—Marci believes I've hurt Holly. She won't be the only one; rumors will stoke the fire created by accusations against me in the past, and the flames will spread rapidly.

Holly hasn't posted anything on social media for almost twenty-four hours, an eon for her. Thus, Rowan finding his way into Holly's accounts will significantly help on a number of levels.

"Holly's laptop," I say curtly, then stride over to pick the small, silver item from Holly's desk. "Open it and look at her social communications."

Rowan takes hold. "Right. I can try."

"Try?" I pull a face. "Rowan, you never tr y. You always do ."

"I'm not a professional hacker. I'd need to guess the password."

"Failure is not an option."

With a huff, Rowan rests the laptop on my desk and opens the lid, then sits in my chair. He repeatedly types into a password box, hitting the keys harder with each failed attempt. "I don't know Holly well enough to guess her password."

"Don't laptop passwords have a clue set by the user in case they forget?" asks Leif.

"Yeah. Holly's says: ‘hot pursuit.'" Rowan shakes his head. "Any idea?"

I snort. "Good grief. Yes."

Rowan looks at me expectantly as Grayson wanders around Holly's area of the room, inspecting items on her bed. Leif warily watches him, as if one of her pigs might come to life and attack against the privacy invasion.

"What is Chase's full name?" I ask.

"Chase Haven," Rowan replies. "Why? Do you want me to look into his family some more?"

"You haven't already?" My mouth parts. "Why not?"

"I have! Just not the whole bloody family tree," he retorts.

Leif clears his throat and arches his brows at our descent into bickering.

"Try Chase's name. As the password," I continue. "That's what the clue means."

Grayson splutters a laugh from across the room. He's holding a plush pig, and the toy wearing a rainbow jacket looks strange in his slender hands. "'Hot pursuit'. Nice one, Holly."

"Doesn't work," mutters Rowan.

"But it has to," I say. "Try variations."

Sensing Rowan's increased frustration, I step away from him. We're both primed to argue, and I'm struggling to hold my temper as it is. "What are you doing, Grayson?"

"We should check if Holly hid anything magical again." He shakes the pig. "Like inside these."

"Check every, single one of her porcine collection?" He nods. "Including all her figurines?"

"And her closet." He fights a smile. "Together?"

"Holly removed the runes and magical items we discovered that day and explained they were Marci's idea because the witch was suspicious of me. I haven't sensed any magic around the room." Hmm. " Although I did once consider that her love, and overzealous use, of strong perfumes could be an attempt to interfere with my senses."

"Still, we should check out the closet again." Grayson's eyes continue to glint at the memory of our failed romantic moment amongst Holly's clothes hangers.

"Perhaps Leif could help me? Confined spaces give you panic attacks, Grayson," I say curtly.

"You're claustrophobic?" asks Leif.

Grayson chuckles and turns away to examine Holly's shelves for any unusual items. Granted, she possesses a lot of odd items, one of which Grayson picks up. "How the hell do you make a pig figurine from shells ? And why would someone?"

"A mystery of the human condition," I reply.

"I got in!" Rowan's triumphant exclamation interrupts us, and he taps the laptop screen. "ChaseHavenxoxo"

"Ugh," I mutter. "Show me what you found."

"I haven't looked through anything on here yet," he says. "I'm picturing how pissed Holly would be if she knew I'd invaded her privacy."

"And saved her life?" I ask.

Rowan drops into silence. Yes, I deny this could be an outcome, and lashed out when Grayson almost suggested the possibility, but with no contact from either Holly or her abductor, the sickening possibility weighs me down.

I'm aware of statistics: after three days, only a low percentage of missing people are found. We've already lost almost one day, and those human statistics do not include any magical interference, which could create a shorter window of time.

I look over Rowan's shoulder at the screen he's opened. Instagram. Holly's profile picture is one taken at the Spring Ball, and I glance down the feed. Many, many pictures of her and Chase.

"There're no posts since the dance," he says. "Maybe take a look through Holly's messages?"

"For what?"

He shrugs. "In case there's something about Holly and her life that we don't know about."

I look at him sharply. "Dorian looked into her life and family. As did you."

"Yeah, he investigated their supe connections, but not so much human ones. Besides, Madison kept secrets from her friends. Plenty of people do."

Frowning, I take the laptop and click over to Holly's messages.

I'm immediately nauseated by her exchanges with Chase, but also pissed on Holly's behalf that he never inquired about her health after he passed me and Marci this morning.

A lot of messages involve banal chats between Holly and random human girls, arranging times to meet off campus or discussing academy gossip. There're a couple of group chats too—one for a History project, and another for the ill-fated spring ball committee.

"Did the committee girls exclude you from the group?" he asks.

"You know I resisted involvement as much as I could. Inserting myself in a chat would've been both pointless and led to the risk of Marci assigning me more banal organizational tasks. Besides, I do not possess this Instagram."

"No." He points. "Like, deliberately by creating a chat you can't see. Didn't you say the girls behaved like a coven?"

"Secretive and with a meeting place beneath Pendle House, yes, but Holly can't join a coven. Her human energy would weaken any magic performed in the vicinity." I read the most recent message exchange in the ‘Spring Ball Org' chat. Wait. "The last message between the dance committee members is dated four days ago. Why are they still discussing the dance now the fateful event has passed?"

Marci You didn't come to the meeting again.

Holly I'm not sure I want to do this anymore.

Marci Why? Violet won't know.

I straighten.

Holly I'm not worried about Violet finding out.

Marci Hol, don't back out now.

Nita We need your help.

Holly I can't. I don't agree with it.

Marci FFS Holly. You're part of this now. They trust you.

Holly I can't help anyway .

Nita Why?

Holly I'm going to Scotland with Violet for a few days.

Marci No you're not. I won't let you go anywhere until we're done.

"Look." I turn the laptop so Rowan and Leif can see the screen.

The messages from earlier in the same week vaguely reference times and a meeting place off campus abbreviated to SIW, not their meeting room in the Pendle cellars.

Rowan reads through the exchange, dragging his fingers through his hair as he does. "So, I am right. A coven. You now know about their secret meeting place, so they've found a new one."

"Or worse. That message could be interpreted as a threat to Holly. Did Marci stop Holly from leaving? Did Holly know something that Marci worried she might share with us?"

"Check out Holly and Marci's private chat," suggests Leif.

Rowan flicks across and I study the messages over his shoulder. "Hmm. If that theory is true, why would Marci send Holly repeated messages asking if she's okay?"

"Misdirection, in case someone enters Holly's account? Like we have?" I switch back to the committee chat. "I've never looked into the group of girls closely. I presumed Dorian's background checks were enough."

"Do you think Nita knows about Rory and the necromancy? They were uh… lovers before Viktor changed him." Leif rubs his nose. "Someone in the academy knows something."

"Like the person who broke into your room," adds Grayson. "The one who took your potion."

My stolen potion. The line once drawn from Rory's to Wes's name on my murder board. Both were acts by somebody who could gain entry to mine and Holly's room.

"Marci? If she took the potion, she must be working with a staff member, since the bottle found its way into the confiscated items room beneath the old library. The staff member will also know if the potion is missing from that room."

I can't process this. Did Holly let Marci into the room? Give her a key? Holly wouldn't do anything to threaten me or help others against my family. Would she?

"Maybe we should watch Marci, Nita, and Zoe more closely?" Leif suggests.

"Um. No. Maybe I should question them." I stand, and Rowan places a hand on my arm. "What?"

"Do you honestly believe the witches would admit anything to you?" he asks.

"If I threaten to hand them over to my father, the trio would be wise to tell me everything instead."

"No." He taps the laptop screen. "'Holly' can ask the girls more, and we might figure out exactly where the group meets. And we'd know whether the committee are involved with Holly's disappearance by how they react to the message."

With a sigh, I re-read Holly's personal chat thread with Marci from this morning.

Marci Holly? Let me know you're okay.

Marci Where are you?

Marci Violet didn't leave. I'm worried. Did you upset her, and she hurt you?

Marci Holly??

Marci I reported you missing to Mrs. Lorcan, but she's lying. Told me you were sick. If that's true, you'd still reply. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow, I'm going to the town police and making a report to them.

Ah. Marci did approach Mrs. Lorcan. The headmistress will need to announce something soon.

The one-sided messaging stops, and I re-read the next text three times, heart lodging in my throat.

Holly I'm okay I have mono sleeping lots will call soon.

"What is mono?" I ask.

"Glandular fever." I look at Leif blankly. "Virus that can make you really sick."

"Not me."

"No. I mean humans and witches."

"Holly didn't send this message!" I say. "Marci's threat prompted somebody else to reply." I check the time stamp. "Ten minutes ago!"

Rowan re-reads too, quietly. "Whoever sent the message knows the story that Holly's sick, but Mrs. Lorcan hasn't told all the students yet. There's an academy connection, Violet."

"But Holly isn't on campus. We've looked everywhere."

"Yeah, maybe someone at the academy told whoever actually has Holly what's happening here. Mrs. Lorcan?"

I thrust the laptop at Rowan and stand, head whirling as I walk to my investigative wall. No. This is Viktor. I know he did this.

"Marci sounded genuinely concerned in her messages," Rowan suggests.

"Perhaps, but there's something odd about their 'committee.'" I run my finger along the paper on the wall where I've listed the girls' names. "I'm not discounting Marci yet. Secret meetings. Nita possibly knowing about the necromancy situation. That would be a link to Viktor."

I turn when nobody replies, and they're wary. "Viktor may not be the one who took Holly, Violet," says Leif when they all look at him to be the brave volunteer.

"He's involved," I say through gritted teeth. "I'm going to ask the so-called dance committee about Viktor."

Rowan rises and moves over to take my hands. "Again, tread carefully. Don't stomp in, Violet style."

"But I have to do something!" I protest. "I should be out there looking for Holly."

"Tell Dorian what you've found but ask him not to tell Mrs. Lorcan."

Dorian. I swallow hard. My father hasn't bluntly refused to help Holly as he did when I asked for help to find Madison, but Dorian isn't as concerned as I believe he should be. Unless Holly's whereabouts could lead him to Viktor, the fact that Holly's my friend would mean nothing to him.

At least Dorian sees the other connection—Holly's relationship with me means that the blame for anything befalling her would land directly at my feet.

"Closet next," I say. "I looked under Holly's bed earlier and discovered nothing but empty wrappers and chip packets."

I enter Holly's clothing jungle again, this time kneeling and focusing on every inch of the wooden floorboards. None are loose, and the painted runes from the last time I investigated have been scrubbed away.

Leif assists me in checking through her plethora of organizational boxes that she evidently doesn't utilize. An inspection of the drawers reveals nothing but the same scarves and jewelry items as when I last searched.

Behind me, Grayson rummages through every pocket in her jackets and dresses. "Rowan!" he calls out. "Holly replaced her pink coat. Do you want to borrow the new one too? Violet told me how much you liked the cut and color."

"Oh, so hilarious, Gray," he calls back.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing suspicious. My teeth grind as I re-check boxes. Standing, I blow hair from my face and push past the guys to exit the stuffy closet.

"Found anything else, Rowan?" I ask. He shakes his head, but I didn't need to ask; his shoulders are slumped in defeat as he hunches over the laptop. "Fine. Time for lessons. Half an hour."

All three guys snap their attention to me. "What?" asks Rowan.

"If I am to watch Marci and her coven rather than interrogate them, I need to be in their vicinity," I explain. "Then, once I have evidence, I'll switch to the interrogation."

"Or discover where they meet?" suggests Leif. "Rather than cause a scene."

"How well do you know the woods?" I ask him. "Rowan? Are there any spots popular with witches?"

"Nobody visits the woods since fire night and the murders," says Leif. "I'm also not keen on walking into the area for reasons you understand."

"If we explore the woods, we go in the daytime," Grayson says cautiously. "But it's really not the best place for us to visit."

"In case there's another body on the ground that's designed to frame me?" I ask. "Unlikely. Viktor has something new to use against me now."

The three fall silent, unsurprisingly considering my behavior when they first entered the room. But there's something more. Discomfort in Leif as he mumbles and opens the door, and Grayson's sudden interest in his phone. Only Rowan looks at me, his energy now shifted from frustration to concern. Concern about what? Me , because Rowan's attempting a mental block.

Only when I'm showering does the reason for their odd response slam into me, and I freeze midway through washing my hair.

Holly's body might be the next one found in the woods.