That had been quick...
“How do you know where I live?”
He scrutinized me.
“You ask too many questions.” Before I could protest, he continued. “I want you to go in now. This is neither the right time nor the appropriate weather for that kind of activity.”
Wow, Adrian DeLoughrey was being protective. Only there was one problem: I didn’t need a daddy substitute.
“Excuse me, but are you trying to dictate how and where I spend my time?”
Adrian narrowed his brow. He seemed to be getting impatient.
“Just listen to me.”
And again, he looked around, but apart from the storm and the treetops dancing in the wind, there was nothing.
He must be paranoid.
“Trust me. If you go outside, I’ll notice.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to the door to go inside and contact Bay as soon as possible. Then I remembered something else.
I looked around, but... there was no sign of Adrian. He was gone as quickly as he had arrived. And our mission with him.
Bay was on her own and somehow, I didn’t like the thought at all.
What if Adrian had had a good reason for taking me away? The reason he had been looking around the whole time...
The wind whistled through the trees, cracking the branches. I felt a little queasy in my stomach. Then, very quickly, I slipped back into the house through the door and decided to text Bayla.
Chapter 50
Bayla
I would love to be with Julie and her cute golden retriever puppy, whose soft fur Grace loved to use as a pillow for her head when she watched her series about female prison inmates.
That’s how quickly pets became tools...
The dog was immediately named Buddy by Larissa, to which only I objected.
“That’s not a dog’s name...” I had told her.
In any case, the name hadn’t really been creative. But you couldn’t argue with Larissa. If that were the case, I’d be snuggled up in my bed with a good book right now and not out here snooping around the university director’s office in this storm.
The moon was shining brightly, but that was of little use to me because it was still pitch black.
The room was surprisingly large, and the gigantic windows reminded me of those in a castle.
Larissa had simply thrown me into the lion’s den. All I needed was scary piano music, and I wouldn’t be able to control my fear.
I was in the office of my English professor, who was also the university director and one of the Copelands, which didn’t make my situation much better.
Grace had warned us about the Copelands yesterday, even though the excuse about the drugs had been really bad. Larissa did not believe that for a second, I was sure of it.
Knowing that Professor Copeland was one of those hairy beasts made my goosebumps break out again. I hated knowing all this. It scared the shit out of me at that very moment.
I slowly walked across the wooden floorboards of the large room.
The ceiling was very high, and I wondered what the room had originally been built for. Had this always been a university?
Suddenly it became brighter.
I stopped and stared in horror at the candles in the room, whose flames gradually lit up.
What the...
I blinked. Once. Once more.
This wasn’t normal. Nothing in this town was normal.
I tried to ignore the dimmed candlelight and kept walking.
My gaze fell on the two-step stone staircase that led down to seating and a fireplace decorated with stone serpents.
Of course. Snakes everywhere. Ornaments everywhere. The building had many unusual mixes of architectural styles. But everything at Vanderwood University radiated a certain glow, something almost mystical and fairytale-like.
To the left and right of the room, the walls were decorated with green exotic plants and bookshelves, as was the wall at the end where I was standing.
