my brain as I head back to the men’s dormitory after finishing up my last class of the day, Magical Theory. I could barely focus on Professor Binns’ lecture about the seven pillars of magic, and I know I wasn’t the only one. With the second attack so closely resembling the first, whispered theories and rumors are running rampant again. And while I’m normally not one to buy into gossip or drama, I can’t sit this one out.
Something strange is going on. This isn’t just a random set of events. The attacks were carried out on two students, neither of whom have anything major in common. Not their gender or race or magical abilities. They only had a few classes together and didn’t seem to be good friends—nor were they enemies.
I know all this because I’ve been doing a little digging. And the more I ask around, the more confused I get. It doesn’t make any damn sense.
What is going on? Why are students being attacked?
The admins don’t have much to say beyond the standard safety speeches. They ask us to report any suspicious activity and to avoid walking alone on campus at night if possible. But those are normal ways to avoid normal danger.
These attacks are not normal. There’s something strange going on at the Academy of Unpredictable Magic.
And I’m determined to find out what it is.
Chapter 15
Sneaking out of a dorm room you share with three roommates is a lot easier than you might expect.
Dmitri’s paranoid, so he’s a light sleeper—but I don’t sleep near him. My bed is set up over by Cam’s side of the room, and Cam snores and sleeps like a sack of potatoes. Asher’s a pretty heavy sleeper too, although he’s quiet. Sometimes I worry he could die in the middle of the night and none of us would know, that’s how deeply he sleeps and how little he moves.
I put on a pair of gym shorts and a tank top then steal Asher’s black hoodie and pull that on because hey, it’s chilly outside, and also, I’ll blend in better in the dark.
Something has been bugging me about the first student who was attacked—Jessica, the one I found in the showers. Her memory of that day was apparently wiped out, either from the head trauma or by magical means, so she couldn’t give any details about the hours leading up to her attack. But as far as I’m concerned, it makes absolutely no sense for her to have been in the showers.
She was fully dressed, dry, and had no signs of assault besides the bruises on her face. And a shower in a busy locker room is the worst place for a clandestine meeting. If she was meeting someone for some reason, there are better places on campus. Places where people either can’t see you, or where you can blend in with everyone else, like the dining hall.
Not to mention, if she’d been attacked in the locker room where she was found, someone outside the room would’ve heard.
That tells me she was attacked somewhere else and then moved into the showers so nobody would wonder about where she’d been or what she’d been doing there. They’d be asking all the wrong questions based on her location.
I’m not sure how Jessica was moved, but there are plenty of ways that could’ve been managed. Magically or otherwise.
The guy who was attacked, though, Sebastian. Where was he found?
I was walking out of my History of Magic class when I saw them wheeling him out past me. And that class is over on the east wing of the main building…
The campus is dark and silent as I creep through the grass and along the path toward the main class building. The late hour makes this familiar, friendly place take on a whole new vibe—a much less pleasant one. I keep looking over my shoulder, paranoid. It feels like the whole campus is holding its breath. The darkness seems to hide things in its depths, things I can only glimpse out of the corner of my eyes.
Steady girl, I tell myself. You’re just letting nerves get to you. Nothing’s out there.
The front doors to the building are unlocked. Not surprising. The professors often have their own projects, and a lot of them have teacher’s assistants who I imagine might want to stay late to work. Considering how hard the midterms were, I bet come finals week, there’ll be a bunch of students in here studying at all