𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬

19 | Meet My Fist

          Two hours passed since dinner, and there was still no sign of Riley anywhere. Connie and I even headed back inside the dining hall to check if there were any late arrivals. She was nowhere, vanishing out of thin air.

This now lead us to practically hunt down Adam Xanthus.

Well, I was hunting—Connie simply dragged his feet behind me.

"We checked the library, the dormitory, the dining hall, all the girls' washrooms, and every damn floor that's accessible to students." I huffed. "Where else could she be?"

"Maybe outside." Connie pondered lightly as we made our way towards the upper stairwell. "Though she would only be located there if Xanthus killed her and buried the body."

"Connie," I hissed in outrage. "Now is not the time to be saying things like that!"

"What are you two conniving about?"

A gruff voice broke our glaring contest.

I glanced towards a recognizable head of silver hair, the familiar sight of Zelda's permanently placed grin reaching us in the darkened hallway.

"You kiddies should be heading back to the dorms, curfew is in fifteen minutes."

"Zelda," I greeted. "You say that, but you're also loitering around."

"I'm just speaking out of experience; no one wants the nocturnal spirits on patrol catching you guys." She crossed her arms and gave a mischievous look. "I got caught once in first year and had to spend a week sorting Professor Bellmore's herbs—had a rash up my forearms for the following month."

Connie was about to shoo her away, so she walked closer instead.

"Hey, I see you in the courtyard all the time."

"You're highly observant," he mocked.

"I also catch you with Nova a lot." Zelda ran her tongue over sharp teeth. "The guys absolutely hate your guts—except Lyric, he has a strange fixation that you're probably aware of."

"All too well," Connie responded with a slight tinge of defeat.

Zelda turned to me suddenly. "Your dormitory is across the castle, I'd get moving if I were you."

I blinked.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure I get Connie back to his dorm." She gave a canine filled smile. "Promise."

"It's Constantine." The correction from my contract was half-hearted, having given up on convincing people otherwise.

"What's with the sudden chivalry, Zelda?" I gave a suspicious stare.

"This wolf is meeting up with someone at Neutral, and I'm going to use Connie as an escape goat if I get caught." The lycan spirit gave a bashful look; well, as bashful as one of her nature could give. "I'll just say that he got lost and I helped him."

The 'escape goat' in question was obviously offended. "You'd dare assume that I would lose my way?"

"Of course not—" Zelda interrupted herself as she suddenly sniffed the air and turned her head towards a stairwell entrance. "Patrols are coming, we gotta' zoom."

Before I could stop them, the girl grabbed hold of Connie and placed a hand over his mouth. Violet eyes glanced with unease as her sharpened nails rested on flawless skin. I almost felt bad for sending him off with a feeble wave, the returning look of fury entering his gaze as they headed into the opposite direction.