Academy of Legends

Chapter 22: Snow (Sharp)

The few hours after Henry kissed me were spent in pure bliss. Even if it was only for a while, I could pretend that nobody had been murdered, and that life would be back to normal by the time we returned to the others. Purely fantasy, sure, but it was nice to dream. Even if it was only for a little while.

Reality had to set in once we'd rejoined all of Henry's brothers, though. Henry had gotten a text from Rapunzel, saying that she and Will had several leads and were going to see what they could find. The rest of us—including Belle, who had been forced to admit that the library didn't hold any answers—were gathered in the Charmings' room. I sat on one of the beds next to Henry. "What do you think this lead is, that she has?" I asked, watching the sun dance through the windows of their first-floor room.

Hugo drew in a long, slow breath. "Knowing Rapunzel, some kind of a crazy scheme," he said. "Or she wants attention."

"Or, she's actually on to something," Belle argued. "You never know. Will seems steady enough to not rush off into things without thinking. Besides, he's not likely to do something stupid, not so soon after ... Robin ..."

A dull silence fell over us all. Without Robin, it almost felt as if we'd lost all sense of direction. He'd been our adult supervision. Now, with him gone, what kind of direction did we have? We needed to find the killers, and fast.

Hugo flopped over backwards on his bed. "I just wish we didn't have our entire hopes pinned on Rapunzel," he said.

"It's not our fault she broke up with you, Hugo," Henry told him sharply. "Get over it."

Hugo rolled onto his side and glared at Henry. "Now is not the time for that," Hugo said icily.

I swiftly interrupted them both, knowing how long they could go on for. "And now isn't the time for that," I told them flatly. "Is the plan basically to wait for them to come back, then?"

"For the moment," Henry said, taking charge. Nobody—not even Hugo—argued. "If I don't hear from Rapunzel or Will in the next two hours, we're going to look for them."

We all nodded before relaxing. Two hours would probably crawl by like molasses. Still, it meant we could relax, since Will and Rapunzel would be the ones under pressure, not the rest of us. Lulled by the silence, my eyes closed ...

The sound of smashing glass caused me to jerk upright. "What's going on?" I cried, lurching backwards. Sharp glass rained into the room, narrowly missing a cringing Belle. But that wasn't the real problem ...

A small black object landed on the floor. "Grenade!" Henry yelled, his voice cracking. "Run!"