Cursed

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I really needed to shorten my explanations. 

"Shit!" This comes from Erik and he runs his fingers through his hair. I try not to think of my dream and how my own fingers had been twisting in his blonde hair. 

"You're right, there is definitely a pattern here." Kate is typing ferociously on her tablet. She must be looking up the news reports on the bodies that have been dug up thus far.

"The news keeps saying they think it's the killer of the girls, but we know that isn't true, right?" Mir asked anyone who would answer. I wish I had the answer for her. 

"It has to be the Cursed Ones. If the bodies are barely dead, they might still have blood fresh enough for them to drink it. I'm sorry, Moreau, but it's looking like it's them." Ivelyn tells me. "On the bright side, they're not killing people, just digging up dead people, which seems grosser somehow." She shrugs. 

I hated that she might be right.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm going to talk with Daniel about it." I insist. 

"Okay, so what if it isn't Daniel and his weird cousin and it isn't the Cult? What then?" Addie asks the one question we all missed. It never occurred to me that there was a third option. There were reasons it looked like it was Daniel and Giu, but there were reasons it seemed to be the Cult. 

There could be a third person or thing that we hadn't even thought of. 

"Let's not think about that yet," Ivelyn held up her hands. "Moreau, you talk to Daniel and loop us in. Then, we go from there. If Daniel admits that it's him we'll deal with that. If it's not and he accepts our truce, we focus in on the Cult and other options. Fair?" She's asking everyone but looks directly at me.

"Yeah, that's fair." I finally tell her. 

It's weird with Ivelyn being so logical. She makes me seem like the irrational one. Was I being irrational about Daniel?

Maybe.

"Okay, well let's get to class before we all get detention again." She advised. We all went our separate ways. I turned to talk to Erik, but he was already halfway down the hallway. I don't think he was mad at me, but it still hurt.

I turned to go to class.

The second the bell rang, signaling the end of first period, I headed straight for Daniel. He sighed when he saw me, but he didn't try to leave. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and faced me.

"It's okay Giu, I'm good." He turns his head to tell her. Suddenly, she's next to him. She purses her glosses lips together, unsure. 

"Okay, I'll be waiting outside." She gestures towards the hallway. I smile at her, but she keeps walking. It wasn't in a rude way, but a little cold. She had this charm about her, but when she turned it off it was ice cold. 

"We need to talk," I tell him, holding my chin up. I won't be scared of him. His chocolate covered eyes pour into mine. 

"I'm listening." his tone brash. I clench my jaw. 

"Not here, when can you meet up?" I keep my own voice level. 

He breaks eye contact, looking over me. He sighs, then drops his gaze to the ground.

"I can meet up with you tomorrow." This makes me roll my eyes. He sounds like he's doing me such a favor. 

"Pff, okay. Tomorrow it is." I turn to leave. He grabs my backpack strap. A gasp escapes my lips and my heart stops. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Zack start to walk over to us.