Chapter 19

I jerked my arm free from Colin’s hold as soon as he swung the door of the art room close. The place smelled of paint and wood and brushes and many of the easels were covered with tarps. The place looked airy since it was currently not in use, which was why the windows were shut.

At least Colin hadn’t locked the door. Even if he did I’m sure that whatever he is I am faster than him with my wolf powers.

“What’s the big idea?” I demanded.

“The fact that you’re stalking me or the fact that you are surprise I actually noticed?”

“That’s not an answer to my question,” I said defensively.

“Why are you following me?”

I scoffed. “What makes you think I am following you, Colin?” I crossed my hands in front of me and glared at him. “What do you have to hide?”

He didn’t answer quickly. He was careful, watching my face as if he was trying to decide how much I knew. Not much from my perspective. In fact, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to know. I didn’t know what to think; first his odd behavior at the library, then he and Thomas Firth talking about Emerald and how Mary Thompson wasn’t to know about her being alive.

“Well are you going to talk or do I have to well what I know from the rooftops?”

“You don’t know anything!”

I held back my most treasured information and gave nothing away. “Well I know that you are a sociopath who stares from the edge of his history textbook…”

“What’s so weird about staring at the new girl?”

“Nothing, except that it gets even weirder when you appear out of the blue in the library and spew nonsense about Osiris like a total lunatic.”

He was silent and watched my face again much to my annoyance and after a few seconds of searching my face, I don’t know if he found what he was looking for, he bowed his head like he did in the library.

“I don’t have anything to hide that you don’t know about."

I frowned. “What the hell are you talking about you weirdo?”

“If you don’t understand then it’s not time to say too much yet. Now can I leave?”

“No you can’t leave,” I stood in his part ready to fight him if he tried to struggle.

He rolled his eyes. “What now? I thought you didn’t want the weird kid around you now you are the one keeping me around you. What do you want to know?”

“What are you?”

He frowned at the question. “What?”

“You heard me right, Colin, what the hell are you? I watched you at the pool. You are better than you let anyone let on. You could have easily won that last round with Parker but you let him win and every time, you came third.”

He crossed his arms over his midsection and raised his brow as he studied me. Gingerhead is not ugly. In fact, he’s actually really cute and when he becomes serious like he is now, he is quite handsome.

“So you have been watching me? Isn’t that strange when you accuse me of being a stalker every single time?”

I knew he was trying to change the subject so I gave him my best intimidating look which wasn’t hard since I have always been in a state of frowning for as long as I can remember.

He saw the hard look in my face and I expected him to cave in but Colin is a lot stronger than I thought, which is something I am slowly but surely beginning to learn. “Why do I have to be something? Why do I have to hide something, Ginny? Is it because you have something to hide? Or is it because you are a werewolf?”

My eyes could have popped out of their sockets I wouldn’t have been nearly as surprised as I was hearing those words drop from his lips. He knew? How long has he known about what I am?!

He knew he caught me by surprise there and he took that opportunity to nudge past my shoulder as he opened the door and left the art room, leaving me there with my mouth agape.

How the fuck? How the heck?! Funny, I’m beginning to feel like Edward Cullen and Colin is my Bella.

And I here I thought I was good at hiding things, at reading people but now I realize I must be slacking either that or Colin is more powerful than I thought he was. Which begs the question, what is he?

That question continued in my mind and I realized I had a lot of research to do and I know just where to start. The students file.

Fuck! I totally forgot to ask him about Emerald. He knew she was alive. Maybe if I had used that as leverage he would have caved in. Shit! How did I forget?

And where was she? If Mary Thompson didn’t know about it then that meant none of Emerald’s friends knew. How had Thomas Firth been able to convince her parents to keep her location secret?

So many questions and so little answers. The only way to find out is to keep tailing Colin and I don’t care that he knows what I am, I’ll use it to my advantage. Now that he knows what I’m capable of that puts him at a disadvantage because he knows he needs to be extra careful and when he’s trying to be extra careful he will slip up.

With that in mind I opened the art room door and left, joining the few students dragging their feet in the hall. As I made my way to the lunchroom I noticed Lizzie and Leo holding hands. She wasn’t even trying to hold it anymore, she was being a bitch and letting everyone know about it. Todd is definitely not happy with it and he was doing a bad job of hiding his displeasure.

I took a tray from the ones on the shelf and took two sandwiches which I added to my tray and a box of grape juice. I had just taken my seat on a lone bench, glad to have it all to myself when Todd came to my table, slamming his hand so hard that my sandwiches jumped.

“I hope you have a good reason for this?” I asked.

“Tell your boyfriend to stay away from my girl.”

“I think you’re talking to the wrong person. Leo is right over there looking into Lizzie’s bra and you are here to fight with me instead? Get your priorities straight buddy, unless you're scared of Leo," I teased.

He was about to say something when someone else joined us and I tried not to groan when Parker dropped his tray in front of mine and slide into the bench opposite mine.

“What do you boys want from me? I promise I’m not fucking your girlfriend and didn’t ask Leo to either. You guys should go talk to him.”

Parker didn’t look at me, he didn’t look at Todd either when he said, “Leave us Todd.”

Todd frowned. “What?”

“You heard me, leave Ginny and me alone.”

“Why do you want to seat with this outcast?”

“Because I want to, now leave, people are staring.”

I cleared my throat. “They are only staring because you, your majesty, are sitting with a peasant.”

Parker ignored me. “Well?”

Todd clenched his jaw but he had no choice but to go, seething with anger.

“Is Colin your next victim?”

“I hoped he would be but you are pretty up there.”

“Did you stalk Emerald before you pushed her off the edge of that balcony? How long have you been stalking her?”

I took a bite of my sandwich, resting my elbows on the table as I chewed. “You will be surprised to hear this but I actually didn’t have to stalk her long enough. She was stupid enough to follow me there and begged me to push her off.”

He slammed his fist on the table and as soon as everyone turned to look at us he forced himself to calm down while I calmly ate my sandwich and played his stupid game with him. “Damn it Ginny! I’m serious here.”

“Do you think I am joking Parker?”

“You think this is a joke but I swear I’ll prove that you killed her. I was the one who found her body and do you know what I found?”

I stopped eating. No one had mentioned that he found her, I had thought one of the cleansers or Mary Thompson found her.

He brought out a note from his pocket and slid it across the table to me. “Take a look at this.”

I read it without picking it off the table: Meet me in the assembly hall, Emmy bitch.

He misread the look on my face for fear and when he continued he sounded pleased with himself. “You were the last person she had a fight with…”

I snatched the paper off the table with the speed of lightning. “You are wrong. You are the last person who had a fight with her. I saw you both in the parking lot and I’m sure other people saw that too. Do you know what this letter means? It means that you are a suspect too. You found the letter and didn’t turn it over to the authorities, that makes you just as guilty as I am. What do you have to hide, Parker? Kinky sex on the staff table in the assembly hall?”

His eyes widened. I had him right where I wanted. I know he didn’t push Emerald but I think this letter might just be the key to solving that problem.

Lindsay, what have you done?