Blood Will Tell

XXVIII

"But even then, I can't believe Senior Arden's hiding that from him too."

"I'm not sure if she's really hiding it from him or just doesn't feel like talking about it."

"About what?" Edin asked.

The three paused in the middle of the crowd. Rowan and Stefan exchanged looks. Though their lips were sealed, mutterings appeared to flutter from one pair of eyes to the other, and after what seemed to be a long moment of staring, the two then faced Edin. "Maybe it's better if you ask her about it," Rowan told him. "She was there when the Illenræns died out."

"Not just the Illenræns," Stefan added, bowing his head slightly.

Edin tilted his head. "Did it have something to do with Fallon's sister too?"

"Uh, I don't know if we should tell you that," Rowan said. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's one more family we're missing."

"What d'you mean? We covered all of them."

"Did we?"

"Yes," Stefan insisted, "there were five of them, now there's only four—"

"No I swear," Rowan interrupted, "there's another one. I can't remember but I just know."

Stefan opened his mouth to counter Rowan, but silence held down his tongue before it could roll into another objection. Then he said, "Wait a minute."

"We learned about the Favored Five in class," Rowan said, "and now it's the Favored Four because the Illenræns are gone. But I feel like we learned about six families too."

"Six." Stefan fingered his chin and pondered. "Wouldn't we know someone from the sixth then? We didn't go to the same school as Fallon or Loren but we knew of them because of their families."

"Right. I don't know."

The former academy pupils paused for a moment. Edin looked at the two, then asked, "Do you think there's a chance your memories were erased?"

The duo first glanced at Edin, then at each other, and then back at him. They erupted into laughter. "Erased our memories?" Rowan guffawed. "Nah Edin, I'm pretty sure we weren't cursed with memory loss."

"You can forget things without curses too," Stefan added. "Anyway it's getting late."

"Right, right," Rowan said, "let's grab a snack before we leave."

"Ro."

"What? There's no harm in asking."

"Even if we can because we're alumni, I don't know if Edin can too."

"I'll just sneak one for him then." Rowan winked.

And without hesitation, Rowan joined the queue of hungry students. Stefan and Edin waited at the corner. The latter let his gaze linger on the food, partially to avert the gazes of everyone else around him, but also because the food that was being served seemed appetizing. Savory aromas wafted from trays of fried rice, grilled chicken, and fried pork belly, while sweeter scents diffused from plates of layered cakes and bowls of cold fruit salad. A minute later he spotted Rowan chatting and laughing with a cafeteria worker, who later gave him three paper containers.

"Watch him fill them up with crackers," Stefan said. "He's addicted to those."

"They do look good."

"Mhmm. When I was still here, I'd get as many boxes as I can before I go home. For free food, it's pretty damn good."

Edin only nodded. A second of silence went by before Stefan opened his mouth once more. "Speaking of free, I'm glad that they made tuition free right before I started college."