The headmaster raised his eyebrows, and Kingston furrowed his brow at me in a what-the-fuck expression. Cassandra was the school nurse and a siren. More than that, she was Toland’s most formidable tool during investigations.
“And Charles.” I sighed. “And Devra.”
Toland’s eyes widened as I listed the other two members of his interrogation team. Charles was a mage who specialized in spell detection and looked like an awkward TA, complete with elbow patches. Devra was an empath and the school’s psychic advisor, who looked more like somebody’s stern grandmother.
It took a few moments for him to gather the three staff members, as well as his assistant, Vesper. They all seemed to understand what was about to happen, but I caught a few surprised looks when I suddenly took the lead.
“We have to go downstairs,” I said. Then I shuddered. “Down a lot of stairs.”
“You say you followed Owen down here?” Toland
sounded nervous, his voice bouncing off the stone walls as we descended the steps. “All of you?”
“No.” I shook my head, keeping my gaze trained forward—Owen was dead, but that didn’t stop an irrational part of my brain from fearing he’d jump out of the shadows any moment. “I followed him on my own. The guys came down later.”
“And how did you know where to go?”
The question seemed to be directed at the group in general, so I kept my mouth shut, letting someone else take that one.
“I heard her screaming,” Jayce said grimly.
“You couldn’t have.” Toland glanced at him sharply. “If you were in the classroom as you say—”
“In our heads,” Xero chimed in, his voice low and serious. “Like the feeling of a scream. She drew us down here.”
“She’s a strong succubus,” Cassandra put in dreamily, shooting me an almost impressed look. “It isn’t impossible.”
“All right,” Toland said begrudgingly. “Then what?”
“It was right here at this corner.” I pointed, my mouth going a little dry. “I followed him around it, but he hid somewhere—probably in that corner there—and hit me over the head. I lost consciousness.”
I paused, unsure of where to take everyone next. I hadn’t exactly been looking around for landmarks when I was slung over Owen’s shoulder, and I didn’t know how long I’d been out.
“This way.” Kai registered my confusion and stepped forward, taking the lead.
We followed him through the dark halls, which felt more like tunnels down here, until we found the hallway filled with scorched rubble and charred lumps. I grimaced, suddenly glad we hadn’t eaten breakfast before the assembly.
Some of that rubble was once Owen.
“He took me into that room there.” I gestured with my chin to the gaping hole in the wall. “Then he tied me up and started messing with stuff on the shelves.”
We snaked through the rubble single-file until we made it to the room. Toland’s face went pale as he stepped inside, and he scrubbed a hand down his face. Whatever had been on the shelves was long gone, leaving nothing but blackened circles and gemstone-colored dust.
“How?”
Toland’s question seemed to encompass everything, but I didn’t have any answers for him.
“This room—it was guarded securely,” Devra muttered as she ran her fingers over the wall. “The wards. They would have had to disable—”
“He would have had to disable,” Kai corrected curtly, baring his teeth a little. “We had nothing to do with it.”
“You believe he worked alone?” She shot him a piercing look.
“If he wasn’t, then whoever was working with him did a terrible job.” Kingston sniffed, arching a brow. “He had us pinned down. Had he called for backup, we would’ve been slaughtered.”
“He hurt you?” Toland asked.
“Yeah. It wasn’t an easy fight.” My stomach turned at the memory. “He slammed Kai up against the wall. I thought he was dead, but then—”