Golden Melody (Editing)

Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Zatariel Learns to Talk With His Hands (For Her, Obviously)

Zatariel's Point of View

It was just another exhausting day of being Wayne Academy's overachieving, milk-tea-dependent, emotionally constipated student council president.

Also known as: a walking miracle.

I had just finished triple-checking the event permits (for the fourth time), rewriting a school-wide announcement someone else should have sent before the holiday break, and tracking down yet another missing sophomore girl.

Yeah.

Just another typical Friday.

The case should have been closed already. Jayson had reported the whole situation directly to the palace after the last incident, and security supposedly tightened everything.

But then the intercom rang again.

Another parent is complaining. Another missing student.

This time it was Erika De Luna.

According to the rumors floating around the academy, she had a college boyfriend who worked as a bartender to support himself. Poor guy—literally poor. Which, in a place like Wayne Academy, automatically made him the number one suspect.

Most people were already whispering that Erika must've run away with him.

BUT I DON'T THINK SO.

Erika had been at that party.

The same party that the other four girls attended before they disappeared.

Which meant one thing.

She didn't run away. She was taken.

Just like the others.

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my eyes.

So yeah.

Typical Friday.

Despite the chaos that apparently counted as my normal life and the unfair burden of being devastatingly handsome on top of it, something actually made me pause.

My phone buzzed. I opened social media and saw Asha's latest post.

A photo of Miexha. Apparently, she was getting better.

Okay... better was a generous word.

She still hadn't returned to class. She still hadn't regained that nervous little energy of hers—the way she used to bounce slightly whenever someone spoke too loudly, or something startled her.

I stared at the screen longer than I meant to.

God.

How I wished I could call her my girl.

But that was something that only existed in dreams.

============

I was about to sink dramatically into my throne—ahem, my designated chair in Section 1—when I spotted the royal twins, Asha and Jayson Dom, sitting at their desks doing what looked like...

Interpretive dance. Seriously?

At first, I assumed it was another one of their weird twin-only communication or secret codes for rebellion. Maybe a silent musical number I hadn't been invited to.

Then I walk closer.

Oh.

That's...

Sign language.