They Came In Hoodies

Chapter 18: This Is Wrong

Gray POV

I sat on the floor of my dorm room with the box of Else's belongings on my lap.

I had pored over these items the last 24 hours, trying to make out anything that could help me understand Else better. So far, I felt like I had come up empty-handed. The items in the box only told me she was a Forest Witch, which I knew little about in general. But also, I did not know what these rings or gem pendants meant. Did they show rank? Were they related to some different magical breed altogether?

The longer I stared at the contents, the more I got frustrated with it.

Just as I was about to call it quits for the day, there was a pounding on my door.

Quickly, I shoved the box under my bed and opened the door to see Birch sweaty and out of breath.

"They are taking things out of Else's apartment," she panted.

"What?" I gasped as her words echoed in my mind.

"You should come," she huffed as she pulled on my hand.

I let her pull me out of my room, only wearing socks. I didn't know why they were removing things from Else's place, but I was going to get to the bottom of it.

In a matter of a few minutes, Birch and I were at Else's door frame watching a handful of people moved her belongings into boxes. As they moved around, paying zero attention to us as they put her personal items away and tapped the boxes shut. It looked as if they were moving her things out of here, like they wanted her out of this school.

The sight caused me to feel sick. I may have not loved Else, but I knew she gave her life to this school and the royal family. She deserved more than this.

"What is going on?" I shouted at them, unable to hold myself any longer.

It was one thing for me to be in there, but something felt very wrong about these strangers in here. They shouldn't have been here. They didn't belong here.

Walking out of the bedroom was Egrick. He wiped his hands on his dress pants and smiled at me as if there was nothing wrong. But there were so many things wrong with this scene.

"We are just looking for answers," Egrick replied calmly.

This didn't look like that. This looked like they were kicking her out.

"What kind of answers are you looking for?" I probed.

"Anything that we can use against Graywick."

"And you think you will find things there?" I snapped.

"Else was a lover to Graywick. There has to be things she left behind that we can use to our advantage."

At that moment, someone dropped one of her coffee cups, shattering it on the ground. I shot him a look, although he paid little attention to me.

"It doesn't look like that to me."

Egrick frowned as he walked out of her apartment, pushing us out with him. He closed the door behind him and sighed. "We are trying to gather any clues to help us."

"We both know Else, Egrick. She would have shared everything she knew about Graywick."

"There could have been things she held from us."

"That's not what you are doing. You are packing up her things in there. Egrick, you know Else. You know the side she was on. If she didn't bring up anything, then it's because she had nothing more. There is nothing here."

Egrick shrugged. "And how are you so sure? It's not like you knew everything about her."

His comment was a slap to the face and caused my blood to boil. "You know what I am saying is true."