BLUE BLOOD

56 | secrets and satin

Targets... Avery had been targeting them too.

"I used to think I'd end up with a girl like Satin Queens or Sasha Laurence, but now I can't accept it," he murmured, his voice pitching. "I'm just- I'm so confused and thrown off."

I shifted slightly backwards, unable to listen any further. It felt like an intrusion.

"I miss you Azalea and our letters, but I feel like - I feel like she filled something you left behind. I never told her because she'd never be able to take it. She's too fixated on the truth about Ella," A pause. I knew he was thinking about Grace. "In that way, we're the same."

The world was starting to sway as I moved backwards. Quickly, I pulled out Avery's phone to text Pierre for a plane. He'll find me and arrange for me to return. I just needed to leave the tunnels...

"She knew the answer to the riddle," Avery said, rationalizing it out, "She's the only one after you who knew the answer. Two side. A circle has two sides. I- Am I crazy?"

No.

"Am I insane for thinking that she's you?"

No, you're not, Avery, I thought. I quickly wiped away tears that were falling from my eyes.

"You just disappeared. You left without another letter. You never replied to my letter and to this day, I don't know if I should break down this wall between us and let the tunnels collapse. That's how it was engineered, wasn't it? You used to tell me that it was impossible to even remove a stone because then the whole tunnel system would collapse."

My fingers trailed the crack split down the center of the wall. Very soon, it would collapse, if not taken care of. I glanced at the letters strewn across the floor. Maybe it was for the better. Maybe if I left these letters here then my past would be buried, like them.

"She's so sharp that it's impossible for the average person to hide anything from her," Avery mused, quietly. "I can hardly hide the things I know from her. Once she figures it all out... she'll never speak to me again."

I stilled at his confession.

What?

"She's right to not trust me," Avery said, softly, "On that night, I was the last person in the room with Ella."

I blinked back tears. His footsteps faded as he left with nothing but his confession. No. It couldn't be. It couldn't be.

But he admitted it himself.

I don't know how long I stayed there but when Pierre sent me a message, I got up, and without thinking, I gathered every single letter into my arms. I would take these letters but let everything else destroy itself. These letters would remind me of a time when he was good and I was good.

Then, as I made my decision, I carefully pulled out the loosest stone of the wall between us. I walked out before the whole tunnel collapsed, just like my heart.

x

After I returned to my dorm to sleep for nine hours, I woke up to an administrator saying I needed to visit the dean. Apparently, the blue bloods' disappearances caused a huge commotion. Someone had spread a rumor that we left to Blue Blood Island to party, amidst midterms season. That rumor then made its way to a reporter, who lurked around the gates of the academy in hopes of scoring a juicy story to publish.

No matter how much sway the blue bloods had, they were still students at Queens Erlington Academy. None of the skipping would have mattered, if the press hadn't started getting involved. Any article that would expose the academy to the public would result in parents pulling their children out of school. The high profiled sent their children here to protect their privacy, not for unplanned reporters to dig around for secrets.