Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,41

who'd dragged the guys in. I was the one who hadn't realized Claude had been tracking us.

"How did I not see that ghost?" I wondered aloud.

"What ghost?" Evan pulled out a chair on my right and sat. Malcolm sank into the seat across from me as Gray and Z and Andros exited, to make plans or sleep, or both.

I stared dully into Malcolm's eyes. "Ginny's ghost boyfriend—the one who possessed Andros and me. I should have prepared for that. Expected it."

Malcolm shook his head. "You can't prep for everything."

Evan leaned forward and crossed his hands on the table then sank his head onto sideways onto them so that they pillowed his cheek. He gazed tiredly up at me. "Does it matter? I mean, Mr. King was some kind of freak. Maybe he noticed you hacking into things. Maybe he noticed you monitoring his computer. Maybe he monitored yours. Who knows?"

I shook my head. "I bought a separate computer. I kept everything in a separate file."

"It's called magic, Hales," Evan countered before giving a huge, moaning yawn. "Maybe he paid someone to monitor you."

"He definitely sent Ginny to check on you at school," Malcolm's words were thoughtful.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. "But why?"

"No idea. But did anyone else find the daddy thing creepy?"

I bolted upright in my chair, spilling lukewarm coffee on my lap and not even caring. "That's it. The dad thing. Emelia aka Ginny asked me about my dad when she was at MAD." I groaned and kicked the table leg in my frustration.

"Hey!" Evan complained when I jolted him.

"Sorry, I just realized, though. He didn't send anyone to my prior academies. So why then?" I racked my brain and slowly recalled the explosive fight after I'd left Medeis, just before I'd gotten into MAD. "I'm an idiot."

“Why?” Evan asked even as he yawned.

I pulled my own hair in frustration. “I had Dad possess him just before I left. We were fighting … I never should have done that. That’s when he must have figured out that Dad’s a ghost … and that I knew all about the serum.”

My phone rang, nearly giving me a heart attack.

When I fished it out of my pocket, my actual phone, not the burner, was the one ringing. My heart shoved all my thoughts aside, like this was a race, and emotions were taking the lead over logic. I expected to see Tia's number or Mom's if she was sober enough--but when I saw Station 4, Pinnacle Police on the caller ID, my knees buckled.

I slid to the floor and squeezed my eyes shut as nausea overtook me. The phone rang again in my hand. I stared at it like I'd never seen a phone before as flashbacks of the police coming to tell me about Dad. I'd been sitting on the front steps and seen them pull up in their sleek black cars. I'd been confused until I'd seen an officer take off his hat ... and then I'd just known.

My knuckles grew white as I gripped the phone tighter and tighter.

Evan was the first to notice my face. He immediately came over. He didn't even ask what was wrong, it was obvious by the way my eyes were glued to the screen that the phone held me captive. His arm glided around my shoulders and he pulled me into his side. "They could just be checking in with all the Ball attendees," he half-whispered.

I still couldn't force myself to swipe to answer.

"Can I?" Evan's finger hovered over the phone.

I nodded again.

He swiped and put the phone on speaker.

I struggled to find my voice. Years of forcing myself to do things I didn't really want to do let me push through the barrier of thick cobwebs my brain was weaving as a preventative shield. Part of my mind was already cushioning itself for the blow.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hayley Dunemark?" a crisp female voice inquired.

"Yes?" My eyes darted up to Evan's, tears already forming.

"Ms. Dunemark. I'm glad to hear you're well. Many of the ball's attendees ..." she trailed off when she realized she put her foot in it.

"See," Evan mouthed at me as he squeezed my shoulder, trying to reassure me.

But the police officer's next lines shattered me like glass.

"It's my regretful duty to inform you ma'am, that we need you to come down to the morgue to identify your moth—"

I dropped the phone.

Evan's arms scooped me up as my vision became tinted with black. My shadow magic wrapped around me, creating a