Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 23 - Letting Go Doesn't Always Work

The following week Oaklynn returned to class.

He wanted to be happy to see her, but every time he looked into those storm-grey eyes, smelled her perfume or caught a glimpse of her thick dark hair, a sense of guilt stabbed at him. In the back of his mind something told him to look away, that she was no longer fit for his eyes, that even the act of looking might bring the wrath of the Karkadda down upon him.

In their seminars they managed to be civil, just about, but in larger lectures she sat apart from him, alone in the back reaches of the halls. A fleeting, furtive smile was all they were able to exchange, the last vestige of the relationship they'd once had. It filled him with rage and sadness all at once, the unfairness of it all biting him once again.

Luke had no choice but to watch her walk away as they piled out of their latest lecture, and he was treated to an extra side-dish of jealousy when he saw Kasper and three other students waiting for her. All smiles and laughter now when she approached, and he felt his whole body tense as Kasper slung an arm around her shoulders, turning and walking her away. He didn't see the look on her face, but he didn't need to.

Whatever rules and traditions she'd been fighting so hard against seemed to finally be taking their toll. She was becoming one of them, integrated, indoctrinated, and forgetting all about the human boy and his pipe dreams. Every piece of him seethed. He didn't even blame her, really, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of rage about the whole, insane world he'd stumbled into.

Then halfway through the week another Karkadda was killed.

A fresh media frenzy descended on the woodland south of the campus where another girl had been found, another student brutally cut down by DeVergne and his killers.

Of course, only Luke and any Karkadda nearby knew that for sure, but the police maintained they were looking at several possible suspects, and couldn't (or perhaps more to the point, wouldn't) share any details for the integrity of the investigation. He sorely hoped that DeVergne remained on that suspect list. He'd thought about going to Nalen after the kidnapping incident, but there were too many things he couldn't say, too many things that wouldn't be explained. Without facts – without evidence – Nalen was the proverbial immovable object.

So right now he had little choice but to watch the news report fold out, a sense of deja vu washing over him as the reporters asked the same questions.

"I guess no more walks in the woods after dark, guys," Kyan muttered, a half-finished glass of soda turning absently between his fingers. "You'd think they'd be able to track this psycho down, wouldn't you?"

"Plenty of evidence left lying around," Kenny agreed. Despite the news report currently churning along the screen, his appetite remained undented as he cleaved off a third of his hot dog with a single bite. "I mean, it's like amateur hour out there."

"Like you'd know." Aliyah muttered, snatching a fry from his plate and popping it neatly into her mouth. "Finding a body is one thing, linking it to whoever killed them is another."

"Look who's been hitting the true crime documentaries, eh?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." She shuddered. "I think it's actually making me even more paranoid."

"They don't catch this guy soon they're gonna start sticking us under curfew," Kyan said. Luke could see the uncomfortable hunch of the other student's broad shoulders as he spoke. "I mean, that night, you guys must've got pretty close to whoever did it."

"Isn't that a comforting thought?" Kenny swallowed down the mouthful of hot dog nervously. "What's your point."

"Nobody else has seen anything? Really? No witnesses?"