Crescent Wolves - G. Bailey Page 0,50

think I’m crazy or something, okay? I know after I told you that stuff about my parents, you probably think--”

“Hey,” I say, looking earnestly up into his dark eyes. “It’s okay. I would never think that, Silas. You must know that by now.”

Silas swallows, the hint of a smile appearing on his face. “Thanks, Boots. I mean it. You’re…” For a moment I wonder what he’s about to say, but then he finishes with, “a good friend. Anyway,” he continues, lowering his voice and leaning closer to me, “I did some digging into the Academy’s history. This was back before I met you. It wasn’t because I was really that interested in it--it was for a project for Human Shifter Relations. You’re not in that one, are you?” I shake my head, and he continues. “Apparently, around twenty years ago, there were five students who went missing, all around the same period of time.”

“Really?” I frown. “Well, that’s…” What do I want to say? Absurd? Conspiratorial? But something in the dragon shifter’s eyes gives me pause, enough to make me instead ask, “Why hasn’t anyone talked about it, then? Do more people know about this?”

“Why do you think?” he asks. “Because they don’t want anyone knowing about it. Hell, I didn’t even know about it until I went to the library that weekend. I had to parse through about three books on the school’s history before I dug it up. Just a footnote in the section about the dangers of keeping this many shifters all in one place.”

“So what happened to them--the students who disappeared?” I ask. “Did they say?”

Silas shakes his head. “No. It wasn’t even written whether they found them or not.”

I swallow, afraid to ask the question even as I can feel it coming up. “So why are you telling me this, Silas?”

“Call me a lunatic,” Silas replies slowly, “but I’m wondering if maybe those disappearances are somehow… I don’t know, connected to the disappearance of this Brody guy.”

I blink, staring up at him. “You really think so? Couldn’t it just be a coincidence?”

“Sure, I guess so,” Silas replies, “but I don’t know, Boots. I just have a weird feeling. About this whole thing. I mean, why the curfew? Why all these new rules? Have you seen the way the teachers are looking at us lately? It’s like they’re watching us.”

“Silas,” I begin, “I’m sure they’re just trying to keep an eye on us--”

“Maybe,” he says, “or maybe they’re not as clueless about what happened to Brody as they claim to be. Think about it, Boots--if he really just wandered off and got lost, why all these new security measures? There’s something they’re not telling us, I can feel it.”

My mind is in pieces. Part of me wants to tell him to relax, that they’re protecting us, but another can’t help but wonder why the school would have kept quiet about earlier disappearances like this. If anything, one would think they would want to bring something like that up, if only just to reassure the students that this isn’t nearly that severe. Briefly I think back to Silas’ story, his claims that his parents were growing suspicious of the humans. Is it possible that they weren’t just paranoid rabble-rousers? “So what are you thinking?” I ask.

Silas glances over his shoulder for a moment, lowering his voice. “I want more information,” he replies. “This thing has me too wound up to focus on anything else. My grades have dropped, I’m having trouble sleeping… I can’t stop wondering about my parents, about what it was they claimed to be protecting me from. And maybe it is nothing. But if it is, then I want to at least be able to put my mind at ease.”

“Okay,” I say, nodding. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to sneak into the registrar’s office,” Silas replies. “That’s where they keep the files on all the students who have been students here, as well as all of their confidential information.”

My eyes widen. “Silas, are you serious? What if you get caught?”

“I won’t,” Silas replies. “At least, I don’t think so. I volunteered to help Mrs. Fairbanks out after class tonight. If I get the opportunity to get a look at the student records, I’m going to take it.”

I swallow hard, staring at him. “Okay,” I breathe finally. “But be careful, okay?”

“I will,” Silas replies. “And Boots...” His voice trails off, and my heart flutters in my chest as I become aware of how