as she could say.
Jackson was quiet for a long moment, his jaw clenched. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded stiff, as if it was taking all his self-control not to shout. “It’s not just how she died, Scarlett. It’s everything that came before it. Harper and I were really tight. She was my family; we never kept secrets. Then she joined your sorority, and suddenly . . .” His gaze went distant, unfocused. “It’s like she became a different person. She had all this stuff she couldn’t tell me about. Secret traditions, late-night meetings nobody else was allowed to attend. The way she talked about the sisterhood, I’ll be honest, it sounded like she’d joined a cult or something.”
The familiar knot of guilt expanded, pressing against her until it became uncomfortable to breathe. Immersing herself in the Ravens had made her own world so much larger and brighter; she’d never stopped to think about the people who’d been pushed into the shadows. “We can be a little tight-knit.”
“It’s more than that, and you know it. The way you closed ranks after she died . . . even Gwen, who was supposed to be her best friend, would barely talk to me.” Jackson shook his head. “That’s why I came here, you know. This may come as a shock to you,” he said wryly, gesturing at his frayed jeans and Hendrix T-shirt, “but this preppy Southern campus wasn’t exactly my first choice. I was all set to go to Columbia when Harper died. But I knew I needed to come here if I was ever going to make peace with what happened.”
His usual sardonic expression faded, and for a moment, Scarlett got a glimpse of the scared, confused boy who gave up his dreams to cling to his sister’s memory. To follow a ghost. But then a new stab of fear shot through her. “Did Gwen tell you anything?”
Jackson shook his head. “We had this one conversation. But she just kept . . . I don’t know, choking up or something. I had never seen her like that. I know it’s traumatic for her, too. I mean, she was there. She almost died too. But I know her, and I know she wanted to tell me something. But she was so terrified and so scared . . . What would make her scared like that?” he said.
Scarlett rifled through her brain for an excuse before she realized he wasn’t actually looking at her for an answer; he was just lost in his own memory.
“After that she started avoiding me . . .”
“So you started following her,” Scarlett said.
Jackson crossed his arms, defensive. “You’re the one who broke into her apartment.”
“Guilty.” Scarlett held her palms up. “It’s just that . . . well . . .” She hesitated, unsure if this was the right thing to do. Confiding in an outsider went against every tenet of Kappa. But he was the only person in the whole world who might know where Gwen would go, and finding Tiffany took precedent over every tradition and protocol. “Look, this is a secret—”
“Shocker,” Jackson cut in.
“I know, but this is really serious.” Scarlett inhaled and then in one long breath said, “One of my friends is in trouble. She went missing after Homecoming. We can’t go to the police—there was a note. It was really specific, and I think Gwen might have had something to do with it. I know you’ve been watching her too, and if there’s anything you’ve found out or anything weird you’ve seen, I need you to tell me.”
“You think Gwen took your friend?” Jackson asked, his skepticism bordering on disdain. “Why would she do that? What did you do to her?”
Scarlett forced herself to maintain her composure. For all Jackson knew, Gwen was a scared, fragile girl who’d suffered a major trauma. He had no idea what she was really capable of. “It’s . . . complicated. But I promise, I don’t want to hurt Gwen. I just want to help my friend.”
“You’re going to have to give me a lot more than that. If she’s hiding from you, she probably has a damn good reason.”
Her fingers itched, prickling with the anticipation of magic. Out of respect for Harper, she was going to give Jackson one chance to work with her, but she was prepared to use magic if she needed to. Altering someone’s free will was against the rules, but now was not the time to worry about coloring