together after school, get to know each other a little better, and then I could ask him—
Stop . Conspiracy theories about a dark-winged man being involved in Allison’s death, then finding his way into my very vivid nightmare wouldn’t do anything to help my case. Neither would talking to Cam. I couldn’t let myself go down that long, insane road. It led directly to the SS Crazy.
These drawings had to be a coincidence, right?
I looked closer at my drawings. I knew better now than to dismiss anything this similar as coincidence. My subconscious must have made me dream about Allison’s painting. That’s all. There couldn’t be a real man with dark wings out there somewhere.
With that dismissal, an odd feeling tugged at me, not allowing me to let it go. Still, I fought it. I’d just gotten the unbelievable gift of my sanity back. No way was I going to jeopardize it again.
Chapter Sixteen
“You thought all this was for Allison?” Lee popped a handful of M&M’s into his mouth.
We’d made it almost to the end of lunch before reverting to gossip, which Lee soaked up like a sponge.
“Isn’t it?” I pushed away the other half of my turkey sandwich, my appetite slipping at the thought of Allison’s death.
He grimaced. “Nuh uh. Tony DiMeeko died last night.”
Oh God . That’s what I’d missed by being late to class this morning. The cafeteria spun. I felt almost too sick to ask. Almost. “Do you know what happened?”
“Word is he hanged himself in his closet.”
My stomach bottomed out. It wasn’t just another death; it was another suicide.
Tony DiMeeko had been a star of the varsity basketball team, and that didn’t even compare to his skills on the pitcher’s mound. Last I’d heard, he’d been accepted to college on a baseball scholarship. He had everything going for him.
“Why do you think he did it?” I asked Lee.
He rolled the half-empty bag of candy between his hands. “Beats me. Maybe all that sports pressure got to him.”
The bell rang, clipping our conversation short.
“We’ll talk after school.” Lee dumped the rest of his M&M’s into his mouth and left.
I waited until the cafeteria had cleared out some, then walked to Music class.
Two of my classmates were dead within days of each other. I stopped in the stairwell to tug my secret notebook from my bag and see if anything I’d written down about Allison also applied to Tony. The idea was stupid. Crazy.
Either that, or I was crazy. Still.
I didn’t know what to believe. Except two of my classmates were dead. I couldn’t bring this to Cam; there was no way to know if I’d be able to believe him. Trusting myself was becoming pretty unreliable, too.
I turned the corner on the second floor, leafing through the notebook for the sketches. I’d been flipping the pictures so many times the one in full color had begun to tear from the book.
The image brought me back to my nightmare. So terrifying. So real.
I shook off the memory and kept walking. If I let myself relive that one again, there was no way I’d be able to make it through the day.
Focus.
Tony had died last night. Last night around what time? I swallowed, allowing the next thought to fully develop before I wrote it down.
Could Cam have had enough time after I left him at the park yesterday to find Tony and follow him home? Opportunity? Yes. Motive?
I lifted my quivering pen from the notebook.
Could Cam have killed Tony? I mean, he did save my life yesterday.
I slammed into someone. The notebook tumbled and skittered along the glossy, peach tile floor, and I fell on my ass.
In hindsight, navigating the halls with my head buried in the mysteries of those wings wasn’t the brightest thing to do.
“Sorry, Rayna. Didn’t see you there.” Luke Harper helped me up, then bent to retrieve my notebook. I watched, frozen in horror, as his fingers rolled the notebook into a tube and squeezed.
The neat-freak in me wanted to scream, and every other part of me
Stop . Conspiracy theories about a dark-winged man being involved in Allison’s death, then finding his way into my very vivid nightmare wouldn’t do anything to help my case. Neither would talking to Cam. I couldn’t let myself go down that long, insane road. It led directly to the SS Crazy.
These drawings had to be a coincidence, right?
I looked closer at my drawings. I knew better now than to dismiss anything this similar as coincidence. My subconscious must have made me dream about Allison’s painting. That’s all. There couldn’t be a real man with dark wings out there somewhere.
With that dismissal, an odd feeling tugged at me, not allowing me to let it go. Still, I fought it. I’d just gotten the unbelievable gift of my sanity back. No way was I going to jeopardize it again.
Chapter Sixteen
“You thought all this was for Allison?” Lee popped a handful of M&M’s into his mouth.
We’d made it almost to the end of lunch before reverting to gossip, which Lee soaked up like a sponge.
“Isn’t it?” I pushed away the other half of my turkey sandwich, my appetite slipping at the thought of Allison’s death.
He grimaced. “Nuh uh. Tony DiMeeko died last night.”
Oh God . That’s what I’d missed by being late to class this morning. The cafeteria spun. I felt almost too sick to ask. Almost. “Do you know what happened?”
“Word is he hanged himself in his closet.”
My stomach bottomed out. It wasn’t just another death; it was another suicide.
Tony DiMeeko had been a star of the varsity basketball team, and that didn’t even compare to his skills on the pitcher’s mound. Last I’d heard, he’d been accepted to college on a baseball scholarship. He had everything going for him.
“Why do you think he did it?” I asked Lee.
He rolled the half-empty bag of candy between his hands. “Beats me. Maybe all that sports pressure got to him.”
The bell rang, clipping our conversation short.
“We’ll talk after school.” Lee dumped the rest of his M&M’s into his mouth and left.
I waited until the cafeteria had cleared out some, then walked to Music class.
Two of my classmates were dead within days of each other. I stopped in the stairwell to tug my secret notebook from my bag and see if anything I’d written down about Allison also applied to Tony. The idea was stupid. Crazy.
Either that, or I was crazy. Still.
I didn’t know what to believe. Except two of my classmates were dead. I couldn’t bring this to Cam; there was no way to know if I’d be able to believe him. Trusting myself was becoming pretty unreliable, too.
I turned the corner on the second floor, leafing through the notebook for the sketches. I’d been flipping the pictures so many times the one in full color had begun to tear from the book.
The image brought me back to my nightmare. So terrifying. So real.
I shook off the memory and kept walking. If I let myself relive that one again, there was no way I’d be able to make it through the day.
Focus.
Tony had died last night. Last night around what time? I swallowed, allowing the next thought to fully develop before I wrote it down.
Could Cam have had enough time after I left him at the park yesterday to find Tony and follow him home? Opportunity? Yes. Motive?
I lifted my quivering pen from the notebook.
Could Cam have killed Tony? I mean, he did save my life yesterday.
I slammed into someone. The notebook tumbled and skittered along the glossy, peach tile floor, and I fell on my ass.
In hindsight, navigating the halls with my head buried in the mysteries of those wings wasn’t the brightest thing to do.
“Sorry, Rayna. Didn’t see you there.” Luke Harper helped me up, then bent to retrieve my notebook. I watched, frozen in horror, as his fingers rolled the notebook into a tube and squeezed.
The neat-freak in me wanted to scream, and every other part of me
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