Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (24 page)

“You don’t seem sick anymore.”

“I
feel
much better, Fiona
.
Thanks.”

Irritation stewed in my veins as I looked at his magnificent eyes.
It was difficult to be
annoyed
with
him
.
I
looked
over
at Camber
once again and
my fury returned.

“I am suspending your membership from the club
while
we are working on t
he Jody James murder
case
.
Who knows how long
it
will be
,
as
evidence
keep
s
pouring
in from all directions
. Your
girlfriend over there is still a suspect, by the way.
And
a liar!
”

Before he could say a word in
his
defense, I
stormed
toward
s
the school without looking back
, wiping a traitorous
tear from my cheek.
I heard him
call my name, but I ignored it.
S
winging
open the large glass doors
,
I marched
into
the
large,
empty
foyer
, furious
at his betrayal
, but realizing
I was
also
to blame for my jealousy.

“Fiona
!
Fiona!
”
a
familiar voice
sounded from down the hallway.

Maddie.
She had been released from soccer practice and was headed to the locker room.
Within a few seconds, she caught up with me
and
looked me over with
deep
concern in her
eyes
.

“What’s wrong
?
You look
as if
you’ve been crying
.
Are you still sick?”

“I’m better, actually.
A little bit of a sore throat
,
but I’ve been on antibiotics
,
so I shouldn’t be contagious.
No fever.
”

“Why
were you
crying
?
I can tell, your eyes are all puffy and teary.”

My biology angered me
.
Why did my
face have to give away
my
emotion
s
?
At times, b
eing human irritated me.

“I’ll say it;
it af
fects both of us—
Wolfe and th
e lying, vampire wannabe
murder suspect are apparently
a thing
and are
going on a date tonight.”

I realized the foyer was so empty, our voices
echoed. I moved us closer to the hallway
.

“Are you for real
?
Are you sure about that
?
He
doesn’t seem the type to go for someone like
he
r.
Last I knew, he
had his
gorgeous
eyes on you, Fiona.
Like, just last week
, hello!
”
she
said, confusion sweeping across her face.

“Well, not anymore.
He’s with her
all the time and plus, my cousin Haley told my mother she
is
double
-
dat
ing
tonight with Camber.
Who else is hanging around Ca
mber all the time in the halls?
”
I said, fighting my eyes from welling up with tears again.

“
M
aybe you
have
a point, Fiona
.
That’s
shocking
.
What about the case?
I mean, he can’t work on the
case if he is dating a suspect,”
she
said cautiously, shrugging a
muscular
shoulder.

We paused for a moment while the school’s attendance administrator walked by with an unseasonable pale
-
yellow suit, high heels clinking against the tile.
She jammed her keys into the main office door, switched on the lights, and walked inside.

“I just kicked him out of the club.
At least while we
are
on the case.
Which
, as you know, could take us the rest of the school year.
”

My eyes locked on t
he ground
, concentrating
on the
speckled
tile to redirect my attention from the tears that
fought to
flood my cheeks.
M
ore school personnel strolled into the foyer, whisking away to their offices, followed by Principal Dinges, bullhorn in hand
—returning from
the bus line.

Maddie stared out
of
the
towering
glass windows at the front of the school for a minute
, waiting for a group of students to walk by
.
I looked back
,
and
Wolfe and Camber had moved from the concrete bench
.
Figures, they wanted to get away from me in case I went back for more.

“So, who is Haley double
-
dating with tonight?”

I hesitated.
I knew telling
her would hurt her feelings as sh
e had been so excited when Carden asked her to the prom.
They weren’t
in a formal relationship,
but I knew she
hoped it would
develop that way.

“
Haley
is…
going out with Carden Doyle.”

Maddie’s eyes widened as her eyebrows
angled
towards the
bridge of her nose in anger.
She drew in a large gasp of air, exhaling with a fury.

“What!
Are you freaking kidding me, Fiona?
Carden
is going out with
Haley
?
”
s
he shrieked
, her voice echoing in the foyer.

I grabbed Maddie by
her sculpted
shoulders and told her to
be quiet
.
I didn’t want her to make a scene
as students were saunter
ing
into the
school
, filling up the foyer
—
a common place to hang out before the first bell
.
After
had
I
calmed
her
, we took a seat on the carpeted bench by the
main office, right next to
the
bronze statue of a howling wolf, our school mascot.

“Maddie, I
’m
with you
.
It’s one thing for my cousin to associat
e
with murder suspects
. H
owever, two of our club members associating with Haley and a murder suspect are not acceptable.
Carden’s membership in our club will also have to be suspended
.
Haley broke into the lab
.
No
matter what, if he associate
s
with her, it’s done.
I am sorry.”

“I agree.
There’s nothing we can do now.
I guess I’ll look for another prom date,” Maddie laughed
with a sarcastic tone
, dropping her eyes to the
floor.

“Well
,
you have nearly three months, Maddie.
It was a little premature for him to ask you anyway.
If we don’t have dates, we’ll just go together!”

Maddie
f
orced
a
smile.

“That’s a deal.
We’ll probably have more fun anyway
,” she said airily.
A second
had p
assed by
before she relaxed her position on the bench, “
Oh,
Fiona, I heard something in soccer practice we might want to follow up on.
Don’t know if it means anything, but it’s interesting, nonetheless.”

“Okay
, what is it?”

“You know Mr. Thomas, the freshman math teacher that’s friends with Mr. Zuptus?”

I gazed at Maddie with an intense
curiosity
.
I couldn’t imagine what type of story that
she
could have
about
this random teacher.

“
Yeah,
my mom said he just inherited
over three
million bucks and a bunch of other stuff.
She read all about it in the paper.
Did he quit
?
”

“No, he still
teaches
here
for some odd reason
.
However, we were gossiping about it during practice, and
a girl
on my soccer team
remembered that
Victoria Newsted
lived
for a few years
with the Thomas
family when she was younger
.
She lived next to the Thomas’s. Th
e
Thomas’s
were her foster family when she got taken away
from her mother
for child abuse.”

I
nodded
my head in acknowledgment this might be of value.

“Hmm, that is interesting.
I bet she wishes she was still living there and not at home with her mother and th
e
freak Dimitri LeMorte, the
craziest
person on the planet.”

“Really?
Great
.
Hope to meet him one day soon,”
she
laughed
and pointed
towards the
locker room.
“Gotta go get ready for school
, s
ee you at lunch
!
Oh, and
Haley Frost better hope I don’t see her
in the hallways
.
”

“You won’t see her, Maddie, s
he was expelled.”

The rest of the day at school, Maddie and
I
sulked
about
boys.
At lunch, it was all we could focus on
.
During my classes, Wolfe invaded my every thought like a virus.
I realized immediately this is exactly what my parents had discussed with me upon entering high school
.
I shouldn’t
date
until college.
I had to snap out of my slump
and
realize that my lab, getting into college
,
and landing a perfect forensic job
,
were
my priorities.

When I got home, I tried to fight a panic about Wolfe going on his first date with Camber.
Even though I didn’t have confirmation this was happening, the circumstantial evidence was high.
I
neared Haley’s door
and
heard
a violent
coughing
fit
.
Not that I
truly
cared
, but in the end, she was
human
,
so I opened the door to check on her
.
Normally, this would be Janice’s job, but I had to pick up the slack since she was still in the hospital.

“You
alright
, Haley?
”
I
forced the words from my throat.

“I feel horrible.
My throat hurts, I have a headach
e
and every time that I cough, I think I’m going to die.”

She wasn’t
going anywhere
.
The double-
date
had to be
canceled.
Then
, dread set in
—
Wolfe and Camber would go alone.

“I’ll text my
parents.
I know
my
mom will want to
take you
to the clinic before it closes so you can get on medicine.
You most likely have strep since it’s going around
,
and it’s what I had.”

I sent a text message and
rushed down the hallway to
the pink palace
.
At my computer desk,
I checked my email and found two messages from Detective Chase.
One
—
a short note about Emily Vance being detained for questioning
,
and the other
—a
report containing the details
of
the cave evidence for our group to discuss
.
T
he inevitable had to happen, so I decided to get it over with and call Carden Doyle to let him know that he was suspended from our club.

“Hello.”

“Carden, this is Fiona Frost.
Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“It has been brought to my attention you have become involved with my cousin, Haley Frost.
I understand you were scheduled to go on a double
-
date with her tonight?”

“Fiona, I have no idea what you are talking about.
I don’t even know your cousin.”

“Carden, it is
alright
, I mean, it’s a big deal with the club
,
and she is a menace,
but not a big deal overall.”

“Fiona, I do not know your cousin!
What are you talking about?
Where did you get this information?”

“Haley told my mom you were going out with her
tonight.
Is this not true?”

“No, not in the least.
I was actually going to call Maddie and see if she wanted to come over and watch movies.”

Something wasn’t right
.
How did I get this wrong?
I apologized for the miscommunication, quickly
ended the call and dialed
Madd
ie
as
fast as I could
, getting
her voicemail
after three rings
—
You’ve reached Maddie’s
message emporium
,
say what you will
!

I screamed as if screaming would make her check her messages faster
.

“Maddie
!
Oh my gosh, Carden is
not
going out with Haley, he doesn’t even know her.
Oh my gosh, don’t say a word to him about this
!
He was totally going to ask you over tonight
,
so don’t ruin
it!
”

I threw myself on my
bed
for a moment to gather my thoughts.
Without further thought,
I
marched back to Haley’s room to interrogate her.

“Haley
!
Why
’d
you tell my
mom you
were going on a double
-
date tonight with Carden Doyle?”

Haley
propped up in her
bed
, looking
a
t me with her bright blue blood
shot
eyes;
her platinum curls in
full
disarray.

“Fiona, I said
Duncan
Doyle
—
Carden
’s older brother from Hartford,” Haley’s voice crackled, she grabbed her forehead as if to steady herself as she positioned herself on her pillows.

I felt like an idiot the moment she said the word
Duncan.

“
Ralph Booner’s friend?
”

“Yes,”
she
said, throwing her body backward
and pulling
her comforter
to her nose.

“You did?”

She
let out a moan.

“Yes
, Fiona.
Your mom
’s
an idiot
.
”

She endured another
violent coughing spell.

“If you ever call my mom an idiot again, you will be sorry.
She has a PhD in
c
hemistry
,
and I hardly think that
spells
idiot
.
And did you know that Duncan Doyle is
probably
2
1
-
years
-
old?
You’re
only 14!”

“I just turned 15, now you
’re
the idiot
,
”
she said, coughing.

“When was your birthday?”

“Two days ago.”

For the first time, I felt
a
trace
of guilt about
Haley.
My parents were not the type to skip over a birthday, even if it was
the terror
known as
Haley Frost.
My mom certainly couldn’t have known it was her birthday
,
or she would have
made reservations for a
family dinner
,
followed by a
birthday
cake
with candles
at home
, and
many presents.

“Really?
Oh my, Haley.
I’m so sorry we didn’t do anything for you.
My
parents
couldn’t have known
.
Actually, Janice is the birthday tracker of the house and with everything going on—
”

“Fiona, I don’t give a crap about my birthday, stop justifying things
,
and get the hell out of here.
I’m sick and stop grilling me!”

I wanted to ask her about Camber and who she was going out with, but I didn’t want
confirmation it was Wolfe, n
ot from her mouth, at least.
That would make the sting even worse
,
so I simply left
her
alone and
returned
to my bedroom.
I kept my sanity with the hope that it could have been somebody else
even though my
instinct was telling me
different
.

I was still under house arrest because of Gerald Smith, so
after my mom and Haley returned from the clinic, pills in hand,
I
enjoyed
a relaxing night with my parents watching movies
in the living room
.
Haley stayed in bed, so I had
them
to myself without
her drama.

The following morning
came in a blink of an eye
,
and as if on cue
, I received a call from Detective Chase
only moments after my alarm sounded
.

“Fiona, would you like to ride along today?
I’ve got a spot I want to visit to get more information about the items found around the victim’s body at the crime scene.”

“Sure thing.
It will be just me since Maddie has to host a soccer camp at school today.”

After about an hour, Detective Chase
knocked
on the front door to pick me up.
The
skies
were gloomy
with abundant
gray clouds but no rain.
According to protocol, Agent Bronson still had to follow us, so we
caravanned
to a shop on the outskirts of town called
Desde’s Gothic Garden.
During the ride,
he
kept the small talk
on
the weather, politics, and the dynamics at the police station
—
who was being promoted and such.
I kept a watchful eye out the window as we
drove,
as I had never been to this part of town before.
We
soon pulled into the parking lot
in front of the shop.

“
Almost forgot
—
we
made a match to the unknown print on the sword,”
he
said
, putting the car in park
.

“Are you kidding me?
Another teen vampire?”

“No, he
’s
from Hartford University.
His name is Alex Drumley.
He is
a member
of the Paranormal Science Department—
”

“Knew it
!
I knew they were all freaks!
”
I said
,
my
voice breathless
from
excitement.

“
D
on’t rush to judge.
T
he department actually
estimates
Alex in the cave, specifically in the
orb room
that night
,
between
one and one-thirty in the morning
.
They do
research
t
here frequently
,
and Alex is doing his graduate school thesis on the
Arles Cave
and needed to collect data prior to the
Witching Hour
.
”

Agent Bronson pulled into the adjacent spot
,
nodding
as I climbed out of the passenger’s seat.

“Well, he could be the murderer, right
?
If Emily Vance says she was attacked with chloroform, he could have been waiting for them when they arrived.
Case solved?”

We walked
in
front of the store
, pausing
momentarily.
The red brick building was shoddy, two
stories
, and it appeared as though the
retail store
was on
the
bottom
floor with a residence on the top—probably the owner’s home. T
he storefront was
intriguing
with a deep burgundy awning hovering over the front
entrance.