The Legend of the Eight: The Hunted (Book 5)

19: The Seven

NINETEEN: THE SEVEN
MAY 2
NICOLE BRADLEY

HER STOMACH TOOK ANOTHER DIP—the fourth one since they'd been there. Dr. K fidgeted with the lock and Nicole gripped the sides of the cardboard box she was carrying even tighter. They were standing in the North Hall, outside room 313, and her head spun faster than it ever had before.

While the rest of the senior class was in Dr. K's classroom (being taught by Levi Heart that day) the Eight gathered to do something they'd been putting off for months. It was time to clean out Logan's things from his dorm.

Cam, his roommate, understandably opted to forego the cleanout. He hadn't been around much since losing his friend and after a few weeks, the Eight stopped trying. He'd come to them when he was ready.

That's what Alex said when they talked last week. He'd been gone for weeks, living with family in the Mortal World, and they talked over the phone once a week, usually on Saturdays, with an encrypted phone that was virtually untraceable. He was sad to hear about Logan but grateful that she made it out of Purgatory okay. Then he told about his acceptance letter to UCLA. Nicole's letter came the next day.

"We can get someone else to clean this out," Dr. K said as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. "You don't have to do this."

"It's fine," Kate spoke for the group. "He was one of us. We should be the ones to do it."

They entered the dorm and Nicole looked around, surprised by how completely ordinary it looked. Two beds (made sloppily but made nonetheless), two desks, two wardrobes. A pile of books sat on the desk that must have been Logan's (Cam's was bare like he'd never touched it) and the top one was his most recent read—The Count of Monte Cristo. His place was marked with a gift card to some frozen yogurt place and he looked about twenty pages from the end. Nicole's heart sunk.

"Did his parents say what they wanted us to do with all of his things?" Liam asked, opening the wardrobe doors and revealing Logan's impressive collection of near-identical cardigans and jeans. "Or Danny? Did he come through here yet?"

Dr. K shook his head. "They chose not to," he replied solemnly and then looked around at the group of seniors standing there. "I'll leave you to it, then. If you need anything, I'll be in my suite downstairs."

After Dr. K left, the Eight stared at each other and then at the room. It had been preserved like a museum in Logan's absence and Cam's half wasn't very lived-in either. Nicole put an empty box on his bed and considered putting his books in it but never touched them.

Eventually, Liam broke the tension and grabbed a crumpled tee from the side of Logan's bed. He unfolded it, a navy shirt printed with three elements from the periodic table—Barium, Cobalt, and Nitrogen—and then he smiled.

"Look at this," he said and Nicole recognized the shirt immediately. It was one he wore the first time they were at the old boarding house.

"He loved that shirt," she said with a teary smile.

Even Wil nodded. "I swore it took me three months of chemistry classes to get the joke," she said and then laughed nostalgically. "He was such a nerd."

Drew put his hand on her shoulder, laughing with her. "The nerdiest. You know, he used to hide whatever book he was on in his notes so he could read during class. Most people hide their phones or snacks but Rogers? Rogers hid his reading."

Liam laughed. "Remember when Mr. Geralono caught him?"

"Well this is a first," Drew said in an exaggerated Italian accent, mocking the Basic Magic instructor. Nicole had to take a week of lessons with him prior to joining the rest of her classmates in senior classes to make sure she was ready after eighteen years without any magical instruction.