Chapter 22

Arya

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I jackknifed in my bed, startled out of a sound sleep by a loud banging on my door. Heart pounding in my ears, I struggled to rouse out of the confusion that resulted from waking up mid-dream.

I looked at the red numbers on my digital clock, then wiped my hands down my face. Why the fuck was anyone bothering me before six o'clock on the first day back to school?

The rude fist hammered on my door again. Growling, I yanked off my covers and stomped to the door, ready to yell at whatever mer had come back from vacation with a scale up their ass.

When I threw open the door, Ashlyn was standing in the hallway, looking incredibly out of place and wearing an anxious expression.

"Ashlyn? What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised and confused to see my fire-haired phoenix friend in the mer hallway.

Only a few of the mer students had returned yesterday evening, but not one of them would have allowed an outsider into the dorms—especially not Ashlyn. "How did you get past the mermaids?"

"Everyone's too distracted right now to care. I slipped right in." Her voice was excitable, but I got the gist that it wasn't about something good.

"Distracted? Why, what's going on?" I yawned, then leaned forward into the hallway to try to catch a glimpse of whatever might have the mers preoccupied.

"There's been a vampire attack on a student!" Ashlyn burst in a hushed voice.

"What?!" I was suddenly very awake.

Ashlyn came into the room and closed the door. "Some students found her mangled body on the secret platform. She was almost completely drained of blood, and she just barely made it past the security door. It's amazing that she didn't lead the vamps right to us!"

"Omigod," I gasped.

Memories of the night I found Mom's body on the kitchen floor flashed in my mind in bright technicolor, the pain of it suddenly just as fresh as when it actually happened.

"Who was it? The girl who got attacked?"

Ashlyn's lips twisted in a grim frown. "I don't know how you're going to feel about this…but it was Letti."

My heart plummeted to the bottom of my stomach with a deep thud . Ashlyn was right. I didn't know how I felt about the news, either. As much hostility as there was between the two of us, I would never wish ill on her—okay, that wasn't exactly true, but I would never wish a vampire attack on anyone. And after the way Letti's confession had sort of humanized her during our last tutoring lesson, I felt a little sorry for her.

But it wasn't just that. The news of her attack was frightening on several levels.

What if someone else had been coming to the Dome at the exact same time? What if Kendall had gotten attacked? Or Ashlyn or Tobias?

Or me.

We looked very similar. That could easily have been me. I couldn't even beat the low-level vampire simulation. I wouldn't stand a chance if I came up against a real-life vampire. Especially if someone as skilled in mer abilities as Letti couldn't.

"Is she okay?" I asked, instantly feeling stupid when the words left my mouth. "I mean, is she…?"

"Still the reigning wicked sea witch?" Ashlyn asked in a hushed but guiltless voice.

" Ash ," I scolded quietly. I didn't feel comfortable talking that way about someone who had gone through such a terrible ordeal, no matter how vile she was.

"Yeah, she's still holding on," she answered with a nod. "They rushed her to Ms. Heather's office this morning."

I opened my mouth to insist in outrage that Letti needed a hospital, but then closed it when I remembered how Ms. Heather had healed Tobias after his session in the Simulation Room a few days ago. Harpies were far more powerful healers than any human doctor or nurse.

"I don't understand," I said as I sat on the edge of my bed, Ashlyn following my lead. "Why are vampires so dead set on wiping out mermaids? First, my mom, now Letti. Who's next?"

"Vampires are dead set on wiping out all shifters," she said. "They want us all eliminated so they can take over the humans with no opposition."

"Maybe, but they seem especially interested in getting mers out of the way," I mused. "How many attacks have you heard of lately on any other type of shifter?"

Ashlyn shrugged. "I guess you have a point there." She dangled her feet off the bed as she thought for a moment. "Maybe vampires hate the elitist mer attitude as much as the rest of us?"

I gave her a sidelong frown. "That might make sense for Letti, but my mom was as far from elitist as a mermaid could be."

Her face saddened, and she looked down at her lap. We sat in the room for a silent moment, the thoughts in my head louder than the stage of a rock concert.

"I want to go see Letti," I decided finally.

"What? Why on earth would you want to do that?" Ashlyn asked.

"Well, for one, I need to make sure she's going to be okay. I wouldn't say she's my favorite mermaid in the world, but we have sort of…bonded since she's been tutoring me. And two, maybe she can give me some clue as to why the vamps attacked her. If there's any connection that could explain why my mom was murdered… It's just too big of a coincidence."

Ashlyn nodded, her brows furrowing. "Okay, let's go to Ms. Heather's office."

It was surprising to see the common room so empty after hearing the other mer students trickle in throughout the day yesterday. No wonder Ashlyn had been able to enter without a problem.

When we got to Ms. Heather's office outside of the Avian wing, I saw why. Dozens of mer students were gathered outside the door. Some of them conversed in concerned whispers, and some of them openly wept. But, as so often happened when I entered a mer-populated area, all voices fell silent and all eyes narrowed on me.

I ignored them and tried to push my way to the door.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Cora's voice cut through the silence like a knife as she inserted herself between me and the office door.

Foolishly, I hadn't expected a confrontation here, now. "I—I just wanted to check on her."

"Why? So you could finish the job?" Cora shouted, her voice shrill with grief.

I frowned at her strange insinuation. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ashlyn stepped to my side, her hands balled into fists, but I put my hand out in front of her to prevent a brawl.

"I knew there was something suspicious about you the minute you got here," Cora seethed. It was only as Cora leaned closer that I could see the tears trailing between her waterproof-mascaraed lashes. "First, you take her boyfriend, then you snake your way into studying with her, then you try to kill her. Well, let me tell you, you may look like a downgraded version of her, but you will never replace her. You'll never be half the mermaid she is!"

Kendall exited the office just as Cora was finishing her little slur, and he pushed himself between us. "That's enough, Cora. Come on, Arya."

He gestured with a nod for me to follow him away from the office door.

"But I wanted to see Letti," I said.

Kendall wrapped his hand around my upper arm and tugged me through the glaring crowd. "Now isn't a good time."

"How can you still defend her when Letti is dying just behind that door?" Cora shrieked at the back of Kendall's head. He only walked more quickly, ushering me ahead of him.

"Wait, am I missing something?" Ashlyn asked as we were rushed down the stairs and out of view of the hateful eyes of the gathered mer students. "Why does Cora think Arya had anything to do with what happened to Letti? Doesn't she know her friend was attacked by a vampire , not a shifter?"

I watched Kendall's face as I waited for his response. His expression was stony, but his eyes were a storm of puzzlement and fear.

He knew something.

We walked out of the door of the Grand Hall and came out onto the sidewalk. The exterior walkways were a ghost town. We were completely alone.

"Kendall, what's going on?" I pressed when he didn't answer.

He pursed his lips before speaking, as if trying to find the best words. "Yes, Letti was definitely attacked by a vampire, there's no question of that. But…" He slowly lifted his gaze to meet mine. "She keeps saying your name."

My eyes widened, unsure how to process that. Now more than ever, I suspected that the vampire attack on my mother wasn't just about taking out random shifters. There was something bigger going on here, I just couldn't see it. Something that had me right in the middle.

"Did she say anything else?" I asked. "Did she say why they attacked her?"

He shook his head. "She's in a kind of coma. She hasn't said much of anything. Except your name, over and over."

All I could do was shake my head from side to side. Why would Letti do that? Unless maybe she was dreaming about our tutoring sessions. But that seemed like a stretch.

"So because of that, Cora thinks I was somehow involved? If it's clear that vampires got her, how could I be?"

Kendall averted his gaze. "There have been instances in the past when shifter individuals have allied themselves with vampires."

Ashlyn and I both stared at him in shock.

"So they think that Arya's a spy for the vampires?" Ashlyn folded her arms over her chest and jutted an outraged hip.

Again, I looked at Kendall's face for any signs of his opinion. Unfortunately, I only found questions there.

"Kendall, that's insane," I said, my voice rising in pitch. "You know what happened to my mom. You know I could never be in league with the people who killed her!"

His brows rose, and he instantly put his hands on my shoulders, though his touch did nothing to comfort me. "Arya, I don't believe what they're saying. I know it's not true or even possible. You're no traitor. I just can't figure out why Letti… It's just very confusing."

I nodded slowly, then took a deep breath. As if things at this school couldn't get any worse, now all the mer were convinced I had tried to kill Letti.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked, shoving my indignation aside.

"She lost a ton of blood," he replied, rubbing his chin. "Her broken bones were easy for the harpies to heal, but replacing her blood will take time. And she got a pretty hard hit to the head. Even once her body is healed, her head may not be. Mending the mind isn't so easy for harpies to do."

I let out a heavy breath, somehow feeling even more weighted down. I needed Letti to wake up, and soon. Not only to help me solve the mystery of my mom's death but also to stop these horrible rumors before they spread out of control.

If Cora and Adina had been avid to eliminate me before, just for being an outcast, there was no telling what lengths they would go to now that they suspected me of attempted murder .