Anna only needs an audience (however unenthusiastic) to turn into a cheery tour guide. “Sorry for the mess. I would say it isn’t always this bad, but that would be a complete and total lie.” She moves her hand to the side as we walk down the staircase. “This is our wall of sisters,” she explains. “Everyone who lives here, no matter how brief, signs the wall.”
“Ah. I didn’t look too close on the way up. These are the names of everyone who has ever lived here?”
“Yep!”
The paint is a neutral, bright cream color, and sure enough, the girls have signed their names in black permanent marker. I pause, taking in the hundreds of names written in smaller script to ensure there is space for the hundreds more still to come. “It’s better than most graffiti, I’ll give you that.”
My eyes flick to find Cher’s bubbly script. It shouldn’t affect me to see her name like this. I read her entire private diary earlier this week. But knowing she stood in this exact spot and wrote her name, no doubt trying to get her signature just right, pokes at my insides in ways I can’t quantify.
Was she frightened when she was taken, or resigned? Did Cher cry for her sisters here? Did anyone know what she was going through, or were they whispering in secret about her creepy older boyfriend?
My fingers touch on Cher’s name as my chest tightens. “Did you know Andranik?” I blurt out. There are better ways to extract information with stealth, but when the job hits this close to home, I lose all finesse.
Anna stills. “Nobody knew Andranik. He wasn’t exactly a ‘get to know your friends’ kind of boyfriend.”
“But he came here, right? He spent time here with Cher.”
Anna crosses her arms over her chest. “Boys aren’t allowed to spend the night, if that’s what you’re asking.” Her voice lowers. “But if your roommate doesn’t speak up, then it’s something one could get away with if she really wanted some extra time with her guy.”
I close my eyes, remembering each glimmer of brightness in Cher’s green eyes whenever I would quiz her the night before an exam, and she would get each answer correct. Even when I was tired and made it clear I didn’t want to quiz her, she found a way to make me comply. Cher could talk anyone into anything—even making a roommate feel comfortable breaking the rules to let a man into their room. “I’m guessing Cher’s roommate didn’t mind.”
“Cher’s roommate had a fella of her own, so I’m guessing it was a mutual thing—letting their boyfriends sneak in at night. Can’t exactly report it if you’re doing the same thing.”
“Tell me about the roommate. Taline, right?”
Anna nods. “She went missing the week after Cher.” Her voice catches. “Sorry, it’s still pretty fresh.”
“Tell me about Taline’s boyfriend.”
Anna sniffles. “He was a lot like Andranik. Not much to tell, really. Both older guys. I don’t mean seniors; I mean like, professor-age. Like, at least two decades older, if not more. It was hard to tell. Andranik had super long teeth.” Anna pauses to shiver. “He was tall and lanky. Taline’s boyfriend was Hovan. He didn’t talk much, either. Like, I’m pretty sure not at all. I would say hi and smile, and Hovan would just stare at me with his upper lip curled, like I’d farted in front of him or something.”
Well, at least that fits the description of a vampire. It’s hard for vampires to be around humans without attacking to feed. It makes sense that Hovan hated even a greeting from a girl who leaves her jugular exposed so cavalierly.
Then why come into the sorority house? It makes no sense. And how did he curb his urge to attack?
Before I can come to any solid conclusion, my gaze zeroes in on a tight scrawl. My fingers brush over the name. “Cher mentioned that a girl named Zagiri went missing from this house last year. Were you here then?”
Anna’s lips tighten. “I was only a sophomore back then. I didn’t know Zagiri all that well. She kept to herself. Spent most her evenings in the lab.” Her voice lowers to a whisper. “She was on academic probation, but she studied harder than anyone here.”
I lean back against the wall. “I’m trying to wrap my mind around how three girls go missing from the same house. A year apart, granted, but still. It’s messing with my mind.”
Anna nods. “I know the feeling. Same house and same room.”
I turn my head toward Anna. “Come again?”
She points up the stairs. “We had a hard time recruiting after word spread about Zagiri’s disappearance. No one wanted to live in Zagiri’s old room. Claimed it was haunted. You know how silly people can get. But then Cher came along and insisted she take it. Cher was such a sweetheart. And Taline, too. They took Zagiri’s room without a single complaint.” She shakes her head. “Now it’s like the room is cursed or something. We’re never going to fill that space next year.”
Interesting that all three girls had the same room, but something in Anna’s phrasing sticks out. “Cher wanted the room?”
“Insisted is more like it. We were going to give her a different one, but when she got here, she was firm that she would take Zagiri’s old room. Taline was the same way.”
Cher knew that Zagiri’s disappearance had to do with the supernatural. That’s the only explanation.
Again, my dark arm hair stands on end. All superfluous information flies out of my brain, refocusing me on the solid two things I know to be true:
All three girls are from trapping families.
Taline and Cher very much knew that they were entering the room of a trapper who had been abducted by one of Bel’s creatures.