Page 123 of Shadowface

Her face turns red. “He kissed me.”

I can’t help but smirk, because Dani never gets flustered. But then I remember Xander has a girlfriend who he treats like a dog, and I don’t want Dani anywhere near that situation.

“Then what did you do?”

“I kissed him back, obviously. Then his crazy girlfriend found us, and I fled.”

“Did you find anything in his room?” I ask her to change the subject, keeping my eye on Lincoln, who’s still talking to that girl, who I now realize is a blonde.

Dani shakes her head. “No. But I did see something downstairs when I was looking at all those creepy ass pictures. Did you meet that friend of theirs, that girl, Wendy?”

I stutter out an answer as I continue to watch Lincoln, and he places his hand on the shoulder of the girl he’s talking to. “I met her briefly. Why?”

“Did you know she’s Dr. Garcia’s great-niece and Xander’s cousin? Her grandfather is Remington Vital.”

Vital.

The name on the family plaque.

I shake my head as if I’m supposed to know these deep familial ties within this region. “Who was Remington Vital?” I ask. But more importantly, who was Matteo Vital, who seems to be the overlord of everything?

A dark look crosses her face. “He’s the Supreme Court judge,” she says matter-of-factly. “Wendy’s grandfather put my father in prison, Summer. It was his conviction that put him in for life. And her father is the mayor of Kinsmen. This is all so convenient. If there was ever a family who could make things go away, it’s the Vital family. They’ve kept their family fortune intact for hundreds of years.”

My hand finds her shoulder as the campus starts to clear out, and she looks at me with a swell of emotion in her glistening eyes. “My father didn’t do anything; he didn’t kill anyone. He was innocent, I know he was. They convicted an innocent man to cover something up.”

Jesus.

My mouth goes dry at what this means, at how connected this all is.

Bound by blood.

Dani will eventually find out the connection between my father, my grandparents, and everything that happened, even if I don’t know the exact details. It seems like nobody else does, either, because the Vital family has a knack for making things disappear.

“What does this all mean?” I ask her.

She shakes her head, keeping a careful eye on Lincoln as students press around us, hustling to their next class. “I think everyone is in on it, and I think it all stems from this university, and the Order.” She points toward the looming, castle-like building, its aged stone radiating a palpable sense of misery.

The psychology building.

She continues, “There’s been so many missing people and mysterious deaths. And it’s not just recently, this has been happening for hundreds of years. No bodies are ever found, no one asks questions, no one is ever charged. But that all changed this week…”

My eyes fix on her. “Why? What happened this week?”

She runs her tongue along her top teeth. “They found a victim, and she lived through it. I’m going to find her and make her talk. I’m going to find out what the fuck that girl went through and what she saw.”

I wish her the best of luck with that.

“You have to promise me something, Summer,” she says.

An icy breeze brushes against my cheek as Lincoln’s eyes graze me from across the quad. “What?”

“Promise me you will never step foot in that house again.”

I lay my hand on her arm. I’ve never seen Dani so determined about anything before—she’s too close to the truth, and even though it may involve her, she needs to stay away from it.

“Okay. I promise. I’ll break up with him and I won’t go there again.” If I was smart, I would flee before the ReBirth Ceremony in a week. I would tell my mom I want to come home and transfer to another school far, far away from here. Mikael will lose his grip on me. He’ll have to grapple with his insanity all on his own.

As if he knows I’m thinking about him, Lincoln draws his gaze toward me.