Blackstone Academy: The Rogue

21. Troy Roman

Troy P.O.V

Date: October 2, 2238

"God, that was so close." Nova leaned against the elevator wall, her chest rapidly rising and falling. "If not for y-"

I mashed the emergency stop button, and with a slight jerk, the elevator stopped.

"What's wr-" Kayden started, but I grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall before he could finish. "Whoa, whoa! What are you doing?! I just helped you. I-Is this how you express gratitude?" He chuckled nervously, eyes shifting from me to Nova, the uncertainty of whether or not I was joking or not apparent on his face.

"Shut up!" I snapped, my hand tightening around his throat. The whites of his bulging eyes became more visible as he squirmed against the wall, grabbing my wrist. "I want to ask you something, and I swear you better not lie to me, Kayden, or you'll regret it."

His Adam's apple bobbed beneath my palm, so I loosened my grip the tiniest bit. "What is it?" He squeaked out.

"Did you have anything to do with what happened to Ms. Jacobs?"

"No!" He shoved me hard away from him with a strength I hadn't known he possessed. "And I can't even believe you would ask me that."

"Then, why were you acting all jumpy when I came down to get you from the lab during Family Day?"

At the time, I'd attributed his behavior to being hopped up on caffeine and simply shrugged it off. But now I couldn't stop wondering if it was due to another reason.

"I wasn't." His eyes didn't quite meet mine as he crossed his arms, then uncrossed them before planting them on his hips. "I wasn't."

"You were. Just like you're doing now." I pointed out. His denial only further infuriated me.

He visibly swallowed before lowering his head. The weight of his guilt and shame probably eating away at him.

"Kayden," Nova softly called, bringing his head back up. She moved closer and gently touched his shoulder. "Please, just tell us the truth. Were you involved?"

"No! I promise you," he looked at me. "Both, I'm not involved in this."

The sincerity in his voice almost convinced me of his innocence, but there was no way my instincts were wrong. I was sure he was hiding something.

"Okay, fine. You aren't involved." I stepped closer, glancing at the camera in the corner above Nova's head before lowering my voice. I wasn't even sure if it was equipped to pick up audio but I wasn't taking any chances. "But do you know something about what's going on? Anything at all?" I continued.

His left leg bounced as he licked his lips and looked off to the left. "No. All I did was let my classmate in to see his girl. That's it. I swear."

"This classmate of yours, does he have a name?"

He nodded. "Joseph. Joseph Hall."

My head whipped toward Nova to see a similar shocked expression on her face as on mine.

"What? Do you know him?" Kayden asked, looking between the two of us.

"He's the teaching assistant for our class," Nova explained. "But I didn't know he had a girlfriend. Or at least I never saw him with one."

"Me either." I combed my hair back and blew the air from my lungs. "What was her name? And why did he want to see her?"

He contemplated it for a moment. "Mary, I believe it was. But I don't know why he wanted to see her. He didn't say."

"He didn't say, or you didn't ask?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

His jaw clenched. "Both. I just assumed he wanted to surprise his girl. And who am I to stand in the way of romance?"

"Well," I moved directly in front of him, towering over his slightly slumped form. "Thanks to you, not wanting to stand in the way of romance, Ms. Jacobs got attacked by a mutant, and they think I have something to do with it."

He swallowed again and seemed to shrink underneath my hard, penetrating stare.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely audible even in the quietness of the elevator. "I-I-I didn't know any of this would happ-"

"Stop. Just stop." I held up a hand and moved to the other side of the elevator. "I don't want to hear an apology or no lame-ass excuses, Kayden. It's too late for that. Let's just go talk with Joseph and see if he can tell us what the fuck is going on."

I reached for the emergency stop button but stopped at his words.

"You can't." He said.

"Why not?"

"I haven't seen him since Family Day."

"What do you mean you haven't seen him? People just don't disappear, Kayden."

"I haven't seen him. M-maybe he's with Mary."

"Shit!" I looked up at the ceiling with my eyes closed and loudly groaned before focusing back on him. "Let's go talk to her roommate then. You know her dorm number?"

"No."

"Okay, what about a last name?"

He shook his head.

"Oh, that's just great. Real fucking great." I hit the emergency stop button, restarting the elevator. For a second, a brief moment in time, answers had seemed within reach, and in one fell swoop they'd vanished. "Can this fucking day get any worse?" I muttered to myself, folding my arms tightly across my chest.

"Soo..." Kayden cleared his throat. "Are you gonna rat me out?"

My head turned sharply in his direction. "Seriously? That's what you're worried about?" I scoffed and walked out of the elevator, ignoring the shouts of my name at my back.