Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,55
her hand. “Why, Ms. Jules?”
No… Don’t do this now. I was coming to you, I swear! My heart turned somersaults, and Genie grabbed my hand under the workbench. She clearly thought the same thing—we’d left it too long, and now the secret was out. Victoria had discovered the pixie situation before I could tell her, and she was putting the whole Institute on lockdown until they could all be found. Judging by the grim expression on her face, I was about to be in major-league-trouble.
“I was getting to that,” Victoria replied with uncharacteristic snappishness. “It has come to our attention that a member of the senior class, Xanthippe Evershot, has been missing since last night. She attended the film screening in the banquet hall, left when it dispersed, and has not been seen since.”
“Isn’t that Charlotte Basani’s friend?” The other Ponytail, Gem Phillips, nudged her hair twin.
Suranne nodded, lowering her voice, but not so low that I couldn’t hear the gist. “She’s the one who said all those things to little Miss Atlantis.”
Genie paled as she heard that last part. “Crap…” She turned to me with worried eyes. “They’re going to think it was me, aren’t they? They’re going to start pointing fingers. I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was mopping up. I—”
“I know,” I interjected, understanding her anxiety. Genie would never put anyone in harm’s way, no matter how much they antagonized her. It wasn’t in her nature. But she was right—people would want someone to blame, and she’d be their first port of call. If they tried it, though, I’d be right there at her side, backing her up. She had alibis, including Charlotte, and those were watertight. Still, there was a tiny silver lining in this awful news—at least this wasn’t about pixies. Which meant I might still get my opportunity to come clean.
Victoria gestured toward Nathan. “Show them what has been recovered.”
Huh? Had they found evidence already? Victoria wouldn’t have canceled class if it wasn’t serious, which meant they suspected Xanthippe wasn’t coming back, or that some foul play had gone on. Horror washed over me as I envisioned crime scenes, blood, victim’s clothing, and then fresh horror washed over me as Nathan produced a Mason jar with three pixies inside.
Chaos no… Please, no. My mind and heart were strapped into a rollercoaster of emotions. I’d gone from worrying about my secret being uncovered to worrying about Xanthippe, and now I was back to the pixies again. Victoria would immediately guess I was responsible. But, aside from my fairly glaring part in it, she surely didn’t think the two factors were related—the pixies and the disappearance?
“These unknown creatures were captured early this morning, prowling around the Repository,” Victoria explained, her tone ice cold. “Any information regarding them would be greatly appreciated at this concerning time.”
Was she talking to me? Victoria didn’t look at me when she said it, but Nathan had his eyes firmly fixed in my direction. His expression didn’t give much away, but I caught a hint of furtiveness. Had he told Victoria about my Purge, because he presumed our agreed deadline had passed? Was she asking me to come forward, in front of everyone? No… if she knew everything, then she would have called me out in private. Maybe he suspected my pixies of causing the girl’s disappearance. My heart lurched into my throat, my head throbbing with too many thoughts. Did anyone else suspect me of creating the pixies? I tried to steal a discreet glance around the room, and everyone seemed to be looking at me. Undoubtedly, they were all thinking the same thing—the pixies were mine.
Just then, Charlotte appeared in the doorway, her face twisted with anger and her eyes red with tears. “I’d say it’s pretty suspicious that we’ve just found these things loose in the Institute less than a week after Persie Merlin-Crowley’s arrival.” She glared at me, saying what everyone else was already thinking. “Isn’t that what you do, Persie? Purge monsters?”
Sitting beneath the fierce heat of so many eyes, I had no answer to give that they would accept. Everyone knew what I could do. It wasn’t a secret, though I wished it could’ve been. Genie squeezed my hand tighter to let me know she was there. But I doubted she, or anyone else, could get me out of this scrape. I’d made the pixies, and a girl had gone missing. Deep in my heart, I felt certain that the two