Kristi Cook - Eternal

“Nice. The weather was great. Anyway, where’s Aidan? I thought you two were supposed to stick together over break?”

I took a deep breath, bracing myself. I hadn’t called her to tell her what had happened. I couldn’t. After all, I knew that she genuinely liked Aidan. They all did, my friends, but Sophie most of all.

And, okay, there was more—the more people I told, the more real it seemed. Besides, I had hoped to have some answers before I told them that Aidan was the Vampire Stalker. Instead I had nothing.

“What’s going on, Violet?” Sophie asked, her brow knitted. “You just went ten shades of pale. Is Aidan okay?”

I shook my head, my windpipe constricting painfully. “I don’t know. He’s at the Tribunal right now. For all I know, they might have destroyed him.” But they hadn’t—couldn’t have. I would have felt it. I was sure of that.

Sophie’s eyes went wide, the color visibly draining from her face. “Destroyed him? What? Why?”

I swallowed hard. “Tyler was right. Aidan is . . . he was the Stalker.”

“No way.” Sophie shook her head. “Not Aidan.”

“He had no idea what he was doing, Soph. It was the serum he was working on, doing something awful to him. He was in a trance, completely disassociated. It was Aidan, but it wasn’t.”

She covered her mouth with the palm of one hand. When she let it fall, I saw that her fingers were trembling. “How do you know? I mean, are you sure?”

“I had a vision last fall. I thought it was a dream, since I wasn’t able to replay it. But on the last day of school, it happened just like I saw it. He went after my friend Whitney in Central Park. Matthew and I got there just in time. I was able to stop him, but”—I shook my head—“but yeah, I’m sure. He left that night to turn himself in to the Tribunal. He’s not coming back,” I choked out, tears welling in my eyes. “Not in this lifetime.”

Sophie scooted closer, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “And you didn’t call me? You’ve been here all by yourself?”

I wiped my eyes with the back of one hand. “Matthew’s been around. A lot,” I added.

Releasing me, she shot me a glare. “I still can’t believe you didn’t call me, even if you did have Dr. Hottie hanging around.”

“There wasn’t anything you could do. Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin your vacation.”

“Well, what about Cece? Does she know?”

I nodded. “She’s been trying to project to Mrs. G. Cece thinks she must have some sort of shield around herself, around Aidan, too. I’ve got to find her, though. I need to tell her about my vision. I think I saw something that might clear Aidan.”

“Okay, slow down.” She held out a hand. “What vision?”

“One I had just before break. I saw something in the lab, but I didn’t realize what it meant at the time. I think someone was tampering with Aidan’s serum. Mrs. Girard needs to know that it wasn’t Aidan’s fault, that someone did this to him. Intentionally.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“No. I couldn’t see anything but hands. At the time, I thought they were Aidan’s. I wasn’t really paying much attention. It was just boring, everyday science stuff, as far as I could tell.”

“So you can just replay the vision, right? Look for clues this time.”

“Matthew’s been trying to talk me through it, but so far, nothing. I don’t know . . .” I shook my head. “What if he ’s the one who tampered with the serum? I think that’s why I’m having such a hard time with the replay.”

“Do you need him to talk you through it? Or can you do it on your own?”

“It’s easier with him, but sometimes I can do it on my own.”

Sophie scooted to the edge of the sofa. “Okay, let’s do this. What do you need?”

I sat up straight, looking around the apartment. “I wish we had an old-fashioned clock here. You know, one that ticks really loud.”

A slow smile spread across Sophie’s face as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “There’s an app for that. Hold on a sec.” She started tapping her screen. “It’s got all kinds of sounds that are supposed to be relaxing. Okay, check this out.” She tapped an icon that looked like an antique grandfather clock, and there it was— ticktock, ticktock.

“That’s perfect!” I cried, closing my eyes and settling myself back against the cushions. Ticktock, ticktock. “Okay, just stay really quiet and let me focus. I can do this.”

A deep breath, in through my nose, out through my mouth—once, twice. I emptied my mind of extraneous thoughts, hyperfocusing on the sound of the clock. Seconds passed, a minute, maybe two. And then the room fell away.

I was in the lab back at Winterhaven. Just like before, microscopes lined the far wall, a Bunsen burner on one of the black-topped tables. I saw the hands, holding a dropper, extracting a liquid from a small vial and dropping it into a test tube. One drop. Two. Three. Then the vial was capped and put into a little wooden rack. As the hands reached for a second vial, I forced myself to pull back, to look around the room. The clock on the wall read five forty-five; one long, rectangular fluorescent light was flickering, making a faint buzzing sound. I pulled back farther, mentally moving myself toward the door. Turning my head to the left, I found him—the owner of the hands. His back was to me, but I could tell he was tall. Blond. Familiar. He capped a second vial, placing it in the rack, turning slightly so that I could just make out his profile . . .

“Oh my God!” I cried, my eyes flying open as I was pulled from the vision. “I know who it was.”

As soon as we were all back at Winterhaven on Sunday afternoon, I gathered everyone in Cece’s and my room and told them about the vision—and about my successful replay.

“It was Jack,” I said.

“Seriously?” Kate chewed on her lower lip. “I mean, yeah, he turned into a total douchewaffle, but still. Why would he do something like that to Aidan? I thought they were friends.”

“I have no idea,” I said with a shrug. But it had been his face I’d seen in my vision—Jack’s. I was one hundred percent sure. My visions didn’t lie.

“Maybe I should start tailing him,” Cece offered. “You know, astrally speaking. See what the boy’s up to.”

“No way. That’s against the COPA. I don’t want you getting in trouble.” I shuddered, remembering the vision I’d had last fall—the one where Cece had been expelled. It had something to do with me sending her out snooping for clues. There was no way I was going to risk it. Nope, not a chance.

“So . . . what now?” Sophie asked. “What does Dr. Byrne think?”

“I haven’t told him. Aidan’s kind of a—a sore subject with him. I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s better this way. That I’m better off without him.” I glanced over at the window, where fat, soft snow fell silently against the glass, and sighed.

Where was Aidan, and what were they doing to him? I’d asked myself these questions a million times a day, and yet I was no closer to answering them now than I’d been two weeks ago. The moment I’d arrived back at Winterhaven, I’d gone straight to the headmistress’s office, ready to confront Mrs. Girard. Only Mrs. Girard wasn’t there. Just as Matthew had said, she’d taken a temporary leave of absence and Dr. Ackerman was acting headmistress. No one could tell me where Mrs. Girard was or when she was expected back.

What the hell is going on?

Anger shot through me, quickening my pulse. Jack had done this to Aidan. Jack , whom I’d always considered a friend. He’d been on our side, one of our Scooby Gang. I was going to find him and kill him. Okay, maybe not literally, but—