“That’s the rumor,” Nathan says quickly. “I heard they were out for a run together and Emilio got bitten by a snake. Lesley identified the species, put a tourniquet on his leg, and got him the right anti-venom before it was too late.”
“I heard something similar, but he fell down a ravine, and she climbed to get him.” Dom rubs the back of his head. “Huh. I wonder what’s true.”
“Probably neither of them,” I say and turn down a path that intersects with the one Lesley’s on. “I mean, she doesn’t really seem like the type to climb anywhere, let alone know something about snakes. But anyway, I’ve got to go study. Don’t you two have class?”
“Class,” Nathan says with a dramatic sigh. “The bane of my existence.”
I wave to them and walk faster, hurrying to catch up with Lesley before she can disappear toward Calico House. Did she really save Emilio’s life from a snake bite? Or did she really climb down into a dangerous ravine to fish him out? Both scenarios seem possible, but extremely unlikely.
All I know is, Emilio trusts her, and she’s an important member of the society, which means I need to get close to her and see what she knows.
“Hey, Lesley!” I call out and she flinches like someone slapped her in the face before turning. Her scowl somehow deepens, like she has an entirely different glare reserved for people like me. “How’s it going?”
“It was going fine,” she says but leaves off theuntil you showed uppart which is very nice of her.
“Are you headed back to the house?”
“I have studying to do,” she says quickly as if it matters.
“Let’s walk together.”
She hesitates. It’s only a five-minute stroll from here, but she’s acting like it’ll be the end of the world if she spends it with me. I don’t give her a chance to say no, and soon we’re heading back together, though it’s like I’m performing a wisdom-tooth extraction on her without anesthesia.
I ask her about class and school, just making small talk, and she loosens up a bit as we leave the center of campus and move onto a gravel path that winds through trees and bushes until it links up with the house’s driveway. Our shoes crunch over the stone, and I step over roots and branches. The air smells like ocean and old dirt, and sunlight streams through the branches. It’s almost nice, and I might even enjoy myself if it weren’t for Lesley’s one-word answers and scowl. She’s determined to make it clear that I’m not welcome here.
“Can I ask you about something?” I look off into the distance like what I’m about to say is no big deal, but there’s a lump in my throat the size of a baseball and I’m so nervous I could puke. I concentrate on walking: one step, another, another.
“I guess,” Lesley says. “If it’s about the society, I can’t tell you. Ask Emilio instead.”
“Oh, no, it’s about the school. I heard a bunch of rumors and I’m not really sure what’s true.”
“There’s a lot of made-up crap about Saint Parras. No, there’s no pirate ship, and definitely no buried rum or gold or whatever morons think.”
“It’s not that. I’s actually, I mean, I heard this rumor about this girl—”
Lesley slows her pace. “What girl?”
“She disappeared last year. They say she fell off a cliff? I don’t know, I heard a bunch of conflicting stories and I’m not really sure what’s true. You were around for that, right? Did you know her? What actually happened?”
My heart’s racing and my palms are sweating. Lesley stops walking entirely and I go a few more paces before turning to look at her. I can barely meet her eye, but she’s staring at me with a serious intensity, not her usual scowl, and I’m not sure what the expression means. We stand there in awkward silence, Lesley measuring me with her eyes, before she finally breaks the tension.
“Why the fuck are you asking me about that?”
“Uh,” I say, blinking. I tug at my hair even though it’s my nervous tell, but I hope she thinks it’s just because she’s incredibly terrifying, and not because I’m the missing girl’s sister. “I’m not really friendly with any other upperclassmen. You know, people that were here and know what happened. I’ve just heard rumors from Dom and Nathan.”
She keeps staring at me. “You shouldn’t listen to anything those two say.”
“Right, so it didn’t happen then, the girl?”
Lesley steps closer. “It happened, and it doesn’t matter anymore. She’s dead. If I were you, I wouldn’t ask about her.”
“Okay, uh, why? I mean, it’s not like—”
Lesley closes the distance between us and jabs two fingers into my chest. I’m too surprised to do more than take a couple steps back. If I weren’t already suspicious, all my warning bells would be screaming right now. Her reaction is way beyond typical.
“I know what you’re doing. You think you’re clever, don’t you?”
I stare at her and can’t find words. My breath is ragged and my chest feels like someone’s shoving their fist through my ribs. Is this how my cover gets blown? Did Lesley figure me out before Emilio did? I don’t look like my sister all that much, but it’s possible—