Solasta Academy: Blood & Moonlight

Chapter Seventeen

Calia wasn't sure when Vincent took the box from her or being led to her dorm room by her friends. She did nothing but sit on the edge of her bed, clutching the note in her hands, staring blankly at the pile of laundry in the corner. Guilt plagued her entire body as she could not stop thinking about Naomi's missing now-found fangs. It was all her fault. If Calia hadn't come to Solasta, she would still be alive. All of them would. Minutes—or maybe hours—went by until someone strode into her room, and she slowly managed to look up. She expected Soari or Amias to come in, but the male who stood before her stared at her curiously. Or maybe it was sympathy. Calia didn't know when it came to Professor Blackwood, who was notorious for being ruthless to his students. And there was the rumor that went around that he had an inappropriate relationship with a student years ago. So why was he in her room now?

Unease crept up her spine when he remained silent despite Calia's lingering stare. Not until a minute passed was she brave enough to speak aloud. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what happened," he said as if it was nothing. As if there was no heart in his chest. "You shouldn't have been the one that opened the box, Miss Nox."

"Did you come all this way to lecture me, Blackwood? If so, you can leave because I already know I should have let someone else open it instead of me. I wouldn't be feeling this way if I did." Since she found the fangs in the box, Calia regretted opening it. But it was the killer's gift, and she was curious about what was inside. What was the term her mother loved to say to her when she was little? Curiosity killed the cat? But in Juliette's saying, she would say curiosity killed the Calia. Maybe it would end her someday because she can't help but find answers to questions storming her mind every hour of the day.

Blackwood leaned on her doorway with arms crossed, his gray eyes softening. "You're giving what the killer wants, do you know that? By opening that gift in front of the whole school, you gave them more reason to capture you."

She frowned. "Do you think I don't know that?"

"I think you're risking your life to force the killer out of the shadows."

"Three girls have been mutilated last week alone," she said matter-of-factly while standing up on two feet, even when her body told her to shrink back. To obey the authority figure before her. "They are dead because the killer wants my attention. They want me. Why shouldn't I play along? If it helps to stop others from dying, I will do whatever is necessary."

"You're only sixteen, Miss Nox," he said quietly, his gray eyes storming with an emotion she couldn't recognize.

She chuckled. "Sir, no one cares about age here. And from what I hear around Solasta, neither do you." Before Professor Blackwood could reply with a retort, she continued as if this was a normal conversation and not one about murders where she was the main focus for the killer. "I am as protected as I can get right now. Thank you for coming, though I am not entirely sure why you did in the first place."

Blackwood searched her room slowly, and once he saw Mister Cuddles lying peacefully on her pillows, a hint of a smile spread across his face. He left his spot from the doorway and began to amble toward her bedside table where the frame of her and her mother was. He picked it up and analyzed it for a full minute while Calia did nothing but frown at his strange behavior. "The similarities are undeniable."

"I suppose so," she replied softly. "Many told us we looked like twins."

He carefully placed the frame down and then moved to glance at her. At this moment, he wasn't stone-cold Professor Blackwood, who insulted her on her first day. He was just a male who felt what it was like to lose someone—just like her. "You're lucky to have had her as a mother, no matter how short," Calia wasn't sure how to respond, so she only nodded once. "I'll see you in class."