Chapter 346: Summons

I had no choice. I had to go to my room eventually. With Charlotte ever my silent bodyguard, I drifted across the Yard toward the dorm, walking slower and slower with each step as dread tried to keep me from finishing the trip.

"Miss Hayle." I turned, grateful for the distraction, to face a smiling young man in a crisp black uniform. I recognized him, though couldn't place from where. It wasn't until he handed me a sheet of paper the same color as his outfit, reddish curls as round as his cheeks, that I made the connection.

"You're her page." One of them. I knew him from the trial. He'd stood with Maurice-now Mom's secretary-and a second page.

"Vincent." He winked at me. I found myself grinning even though he might have been fourteen, but was clearly flirting. "We never actually met, coven leader."

I took the paper from him. "I guess we didn't," I said. "I was too busy trying to save Mom."

He bobbed a nod. "Leadership looks great on you." Another wink. Really? Smart ass. But at le