Connor shot me a knowing grin over his shoulder. Chloe scrubbed her face.
“Find anything?” I asked her.
She leaned back in her chair. “I don’t really know. I mean, I got into my mom’s files. Her passwords have always been pathetic.”
“And?”
“And it’s definitely a steroid, but that’s it. There’s nothing else sinister about it.” She shook her head. “Except, why in the world would she slip me steroids? It’s just weird.”
“She didn’t make lab notes or anything?”
“Nothing remotely helpful. Although she referred to a ‘Trojan Horse’ a couple of times. Nearly gave Connor and me a heart attack. I so don’t need some hacker computer virus right now. But it’s not that—we scanned all the machines to check. So it must be code for something else. I’ll figure it out.” She grimaced. “Maybe not tonight, but I’ll definitely figure it out.”
I glanced at my watch. “Yeah, we should head back. Just in case Kieran got busted. I really can’t take any more demerits and detention this year. If York sneers at me one more time I might just lose it.”
“What about the second pill we found,” Quinn asked. “Did Marcus figure out what it is?”
“Should know by tomorrow night.” Connor shrugged. “The Academy is basically a high school, you know. It could just be an upper or caffeine pill.”
“Maybe,” I said doubtfully. There were just too many coincidences and variables.
And secrets. Definitely too many secrets.
At the front door, Kieran kissed Solange good-bye. I cleared my throat at him obnoxiously until he glowered at me, but if I didn’t set a precedent right now, he’d be interrupting all of my makeout sessions.
“I’ll call you,” he whispered to her before heading out to the van. He pulled my hair as he passed me. Chloe was already in the backseat, her knees pulled up to her chest. Quinn grabbed my arm as I was reaching for the front door handle. He twirled me backward into his arms and dipped me, like they do in those old-fashioned black-and-white movies. And then he kissed me cross-eyed.
“See you soon.” Even his whisper felt like a kiss. I somehow managed to get into the van and buckle myself in. Quinn slapped the side of the van and Kieran pulled away, spitting gravel.
“Wow,” Chloe murmured. “That was some kiss. I need a vampire boyfriend.”
I grinned. “He has a lot of brothers.”
“And every single one of them is yummy,” Chloe agreed.
After that, we rode back mostly in silence, trying to process what we’d found out tonight. It wasn’t dawn yet but the sky looked more gray than black, like ashes covering a red ember. The memory of Quinn’s kiss kept interfering with my concentration.
Kieran groaned. “I don’t trust that smile.”
“Yup,” Chloe reiterated as Kieran pulled up onto campus. “I definitely need a Drake brother of my very own.”
Chloe might be making jokes but I knew she was freaked out. I’d have been freaking out too, if I’d just confirmed my own mother was drugging me. But it was late and we were tired and we both just wanted to fall into bed.
Hard to do that when the mattresses were half off their frames and most of our stuff was strewn about as if a mini hurricane had come in through the window.
We both stood and stared.
“Someone tossed our room!” Chloe shouted, incensed. She ran straight to her computers, running her hands over the wires and checking the plugs like a mother checking a small child for broken bones. “I’ll kill them,” she muttered. “I’ll kill them.”
The closet doors were open, spilling cargo pants and school sweatshirts and all my pretty dresses. A tube of toothpaste was on the floor by my foot. My books were everywhere, my organized stakes and daggers were scattered. My jewelry box was upside down and silver chains, turquoise pendants, and bracelets spilled out in a tangle.
“Whoever did this wasn’t robbing us,” I said flatly, untangling a necklace from the nearby lampshade. “They were looking for something.”
Chloe finally looked up from her computers, reassured that no one had tampered with them. She scowled.
“Who the hell would do that? And what the hell were they looking for?” She nearly choked on her own words, staring horrified at the open bottles of aspirin and cold tablets spilling out like confetti. We looked at each other grimly. “Someone was looking for my vitamins,” she stated dully, as if she couldn’t quite believe it. She held up her Xena action figure, arm bent and marked with a footprint. “Someone who is going to die horribly when I find them.”
I shoved my mattress back into position and then dropped on top of it. I was suddenly so tired I could barely stand up. “Who else knew you were taking vitamins?”
Chloe shrugged, wincing. “Anyone who heard us fighting or me bitching about it afterward. A few people asked me for some when they saw me finally do a good roundhouse kick at the gym. I guess they figured it was a magic pill. With the flu and Hel-Blar attacks and everything, everyone wants an edge.”
“Steroids don’t make you finally get a roundhouse,” I told her. “Practice does that.”
“Yeah, but the steroids made me stronger.” She rubbed her palms on her legs, as if they were sweating. “And I’m really suddenly wanting another vitamin right now.” She swallowed. “Does that make me an addict?” She stared at me frantically.