Verity must have taken the wrong uniform by accident.
If Rune left Wintersea now, she’d be able to stop at the university before meeting Gideon and collect the vial and coin from Verity. She quickly donned her riding clothes and tucked Alex’s ring—still on a chain around her neck—under the collar of her shirt.
As the silver band settled between her breasts, images of the future flashed in her mind: Standing with Alex on the prow of the boat as the mainland came into view. Walking together through the elegant streets of Caelis. Finding a group of friends they didn’t need to hide their true selves from. Reading by the fire while he played the piano late into the evening.
Soon, she told herself, throwing a cloak over her shoulders and fastening it at her throat. Soon.
After packing the Blood Guard uniform in one of Lady’s saddlebags, and the box of silk flowers from Gideon in another, Rune mentally checked that she had everything she needed—minus her vial and coin—then headed for the university. Leaving Lady in the school’s stable, she took the familiar paths across the campus and arrived at Summer Hall. After pulling open the double doors and nodding to the staff behind the front desk, she turned down the dormitory halls, which were quiet at this time of day, since most students were in class.
When she arrived at Verity’s door, Rune knocked once.
“Verity?”
No one answered. She knocked louder, and when there was still no answer, she tried the knob, which was unlocked. Turning it, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Verity, did I …”
Rune froze. The room was tinier than she remembered. More like a closet. And instead of Verity’s bed in the corner, there were a mop and bucket. There were no bookshelves overflowing with books or glass jars full of research projects, only shelves full of cleaning supplies. A ceramic sink stood along the wall, with dirty rags drying over its side.
“Can I help you?” said a gruff voice behind her.
Rune turned to find a rosy-cheeked woman with her hands on her hips, staring down at Rune like she was the oddity here.
“Oh. Um.” She must have turned down the wrong hall. “I’m looking for my friend. Verity de Wilde.”
“Unless your friend is a broom, you won’t find her in here.”
“Right.” Rune swallowed. “My mistake.”
The woman muttered something under her breath as Rune stepped around her. Out in the hall, she glanced back over her shoulder, certain that was the door to Verity’s room.
But it can’t be, she thought, continuing on, trying to orient herself. It belongs to a broom closet.
She circled the main floor, looking for Verity’s actual room, but kept coming back to the closet, where the woman was filling a bucket of soapy water.
Could Rune be so tired she’d forgotten where her best friend’s room was?
This didn’t bode well for this afternoon.
Giving up, she returned to the front desk and smiled politely, approaching the young woman behind it. “Hello. This is embarrassing, but I’m looking for my friend. Verity de Wilde. Can you point me toward her room?”
The girl gave her a funny look. “What was the last name?”
“… de Wilde.”
The girl took out a clipboard and ran her finger down a list of names and room numbers. She did it twice before glancing back to Rune. “I think you’re in the wrong building. No one here has that name.”
Rune blinked. “What?”
The girl repeated the words, much more slowly this time. As if that would help Rune understand.
“Verity de Wilde doesn’t live here.”
Rune glanced at the familiar purple dahlias on the wallpaper. Then the grass-green tiles beneath her feet.
“This is Summer Hall.”
The girl behind the desk nodded. “That’s right. Which hall are you looking for?”
This one, thought Rune.
A bad feeling cramped her stomach. But she was already running late. If she didn’t leave soon, she wouldn’t make it to Gideon’s by two o’clock.
“Thank you,” she said, backing out the double doors.
Outside, the air had grown colder, the sun hung low in the sky, and thunderous storm clouds were rolling in from over the sea.
Am I losing my mind?
First, the missing blood vial and access coin. Now, a missing Verity?
As Rune ran for the stables, her cloak billowing out behind her, she tried to think.
She’d been to Summer Hall hundreds of times. She could easily picture Verity’s room in her mind. The white roses on the wallpaper. Verity’s perpetually unmade bed. The towering stacks of used books on the floor, threatening to spill over at any moment.