Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 41

"So what's it like to get away with murder?"

I stiffen at the voice behind me and turn in my seat to see that Ava has walked up to my lunch table and is standing several paces away, her arms crossed over her chest. I can sense Indigo sitting up straighter from her place next to me, her eyes narrowing as they focus on Ava.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say calmly.

A smirk curls the edge of Ava's lip as she glances around the cafeteria. Even though it's a Saturday afternoon, there are still a considerable number of students who are hanging out on campus for today. A few heads have begun to turn in our direction as they hear her and she raises her voice like she's trying to include them.

"You were a witness to both murders, isn't it just too much of a coincidence?" she says as she drags each word out, every syllable a carefully crafted knife that she digs into me.

"Ava, you'd be doing yourself a huge favor if you would just shut up for once," Astrid suddenly fires back from where she sits on my other side.

Ava smiles prettily as she tilts her head and locks her gaze with Astrid, "Is that a threat?"

"I can make it a promise," Astrid growls as she starts to get to her feet, but I reach out to grab her before she can get out of her seat.

"Astrid, just let it go," I warn her as she tries to shake me off.

But Ava isn't done yet and I can tell that she knows that she's struck a chord as she narrows her eyes at us and keeps talking.

"It's funny though, why didn't you just bring them back from the dead, Astrid? You've done it before-."

Astrid lunges then and I have to dig in my heels to try and stop her, but not soon enough as she manages to lash out with a clawed hand as she drags me behind her. Ava easily takes a step back to dodge her hand as she smiles and laughs.

"Did Finn say something to your little friend and you killed him for it? Quite a temper for a Hallewell," she muses as she stares Astrid down.

"Let me go!" Astrid hisses at me.

"Maybe it's you who we should be suspecting, don't you have anger issues since your boyfriend died?" Ava taunts.

Tessa has to reach over and help hold Astrid back as she spits a curse at her and strains toward Ava, the muscles in her arms bunching and drawing taut.

"Astrid, she wants you to hit her so you get in trouble," I tell her in a low voice.

"She's not worth it," Tessa says in a loud enough voice that the other people in the cafeteria can hear her, "everyone knows that you're a bully, Ava, no one thinks that you're cool for it."

 Ava frowns darkly at Tessa, her eyes unfocused in a way that is unsettling and not natural.

"At least I'm not a murderer," she says, her voice eerily monotone as she turns and walks away.

She leaves the cafeteria without another word or glance, the eyes of several students following her before they look back toward our table. Astrid relaxes once she's out of sight and pulls her arm out of my grip as she sits back down with a huff, her chair squawking. A few people are still staring at us and I try not to meet their eyes as the whispering starts up, hands cupping to mouths to hide their words as they talk into their neighbor's ear.

"Alright, show's over," Tessa says as she glares at a duo of girls sitting near our table.

One of them blushes a deep shade of red as she stops talking to her friend and looks away, her eyes refusing to meet anyone's gaze. The whispering quickly begins to die down as Tessa sits and turns her back on the cafeteria.

"I would slap her, but I don't want to get charged with animal abuse," Tessa mutters and Astrid snorts halfheartedly.

I cast a quick glance around the cafeteria and suddenly make eye contact with Luke from across the room. He's sitting at a table with a few people that I don't know and I feel like we're a million miles apart, the distance stretching out between us. I feel cold and hollow as he looks away after a second, his eyes no longer meeting mine as he continues to eat like nothing is wrong.

Like his friend since grade school isn't being persecuted for a murder that she didn't commit. I ignore the twisting in my gut as I share a glance with Indigo, who has remained silent through all of this. She shakes her head and I instead focus on eating as Tessa suddenly clears her throat.

"Luke refused to talk to me," Tessa says in a low voice as she glares past me in Luke's direction. "I can't believe that he's this much of an idiot."

"Don't worry about it," Astrid mutters, "boys can be stupid."

Tessa sighs after a moment as she stabs a tomato on her tray and inspects her handiwork, "I guess you're right."

It doesn't take long for us to finish up lunch and Tessa announces that we're going to go to the mall for the evening.

"It'll be fun," she assures us as she leads the way out of the cafeteria and back to our dorm room.

"If I see Ava it will be doubly so because I'll be sure to break her face," Astrid chimes in as she cracks the knuckles on one of her hands.

"See? There's some violent positivity," Tessa points out as we walk down the hall to our room with Indigo in tow.

"I try-...," Astrid begins to say, but she trails off and slows her footsteps as she approaches our room.

"What is that?" Tessa says as she pauses in front of our door.

"What?" I ask as I step past them to the door, only to stop when I see what she means.

Taped to our door is a piece of paper with a word scrawled on it in black sharpie.

Killer.

I want to rip the piece of paper down and shred it, but Tessa stops me before I can touch it.

"Don't, it might be enchanted," she warns me as she carefully grabs her wand and extends it toward the paper.

With a flick of her wrist, a rune flickers to life on the paper before it bursts into flames. We skitter backwards as smoldering bits of paper fall to the carpet and Astrid darts past us, her hand open as a glow comes off of her palm. The smoke from the flames disappear quickly before they can rise to the ceiling where the water sprinklers for the building are and the embers go out as she directs her hand toward them.

"I swear that I'm going to kill Ava," Astrid vows as she stares down at the burnt mess on the floor.

"Please don't, we don't need it added to the list of things against us," Indigo says and I can't help but smile at her talking to Astrid.

"We're going to have to be careful, she's got the school turned on us now," Tessa mutters as she touches the dozens of bracelets around her wrists, her lips pressing into a thin line.

"Just another part of going to high school at Greenwood Academy," I find myself saying, "no biggie."

"Violent positivity, I like it," Tessa counters and I smile bitterly.