All Chapters of A SISTER’S REVENGE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

I didn't hear a word Professor Hans said. My mind was elsewhere. In the parking lot of the Rusty Spoon. In the black sedan with the tinted windows. Watching a gloved hand wave at me through the glare. The student next to me nudged my elbow. A piece of paper slid across the armrest. You're Nova, right? The transfer student? I glanced at the source. A boy with messy brown hair and a nervous smile. I didn't recognize him. I didn't want to. I nodded once and turned back to the front. Another note. I'm Caleb. I heard you were writing about Alice’s case. I was friends with Alice. We should talk. My pulse jumped. I folded the paper and tucked it into my pocket without responding. --- The lecture ended at 10:50 AM. Students filed out, conversations buzzing around me like static. Ashley was already gone…she'd slipped out during the last five minutes, her back still deliberately turned. I gathered my things and headed for the door. "Nova." Professor Hans's voice stopped

I woke up gasping.The ceiling. The water stain. The lung-shaped shadow. My hands were tangled in the sheets, my heart pounding, my skin slick with cold sweat.A dream. Just a dream.The lake. The photograph. The figure in the shadows. The voice whispering "Hello, Nova" across the black water.None of it was real..The clock on Ashley's nightstand read 6:15 AM. She was still asleep, her back to me, her breathing soft and even. The cracked laptop sat on the floor where she'd left it. The fairy lights hung dead above her bed.I pressed my palm to my chest and closed my eyes, waiting for my heart to slow.Just a dream.But the warning echoed anyway, carved into the inside of my skull: You should have stayed away.I didn't sleep again.At 7:00, I got up, pulled on clean clothes, and sat at the small desk by the window. The campus was waking up outside,students shuffling toward the dining hall, a groundskeeper trimming hedges, a jogger circling the quad.Normal life. The kind of life where

I stood there for a moment after Madden walked away, her words settling into my chest like stones.I don't own napkins. It was there when I got there.If Madden hadn't left the napkin, then who had?Someone had placed it on that table, knowing I would find it. Knowing I would assume it was from her. Knowing I would go to the lake.Someone had wanted me there.I pulled out my phone and typed a quick message to Detective Cross: Madden didn't leave the napkin. Someone else did.Her response came a minute later: Be careful. Someone is playing games with you.Someone was playing games. But I was done being a pawn.The rest of the day passed slowly.I went to class. I took notes. I sat through a lecture on Victorian literature that I couldn't focus on. Ashley passed me a note with a drawing of a cat wearing a hat. I drew a mustache on it and passed it back. She made it a routine anytime we were in the same class. She snorted loudly, and the professor glared at us.After class, Myles was wai

I didn't move.The door was locked. I'd heard the click. The floorboard had creaked somewhere behind me, somewhere in the dark, somewhere close.Earl's body lay at my feet, his eyes still open, his mouth frozen in a shape that might have been a word or a scream. The gardening trowel pinned the note to his chest. You're too late.Another creak. Closer this time.I turned slowly, my hand wrapped around the lockpick set in my pocket. The greenhouse was dark, the single bulb flickering overhead, casting shadows that jumped and danced across the glass walls. Rows of plants lined the walkway, their leaves brushing against each other, creating a soft rustling that could have been wind or could have been movement."Who's there?" My voice sounded small. Too small.No answer.I took a step back, toward the door. My shoulder brushed against a hanging plant, and it swayed, dripping water onto the concrete floor. The sound echoed in the silence.Another creak. Behind me. Near the door.I spun.Not

Myles hesitated. Then he nodded. "Lead the way."I didn't go back to the dorm. I couldn't. Not with Earl's face still burned into my memory, not with the note still crumpled in my pocket, not with the feeling that someone was watching every move I made.Instead, I led him to the library. It was closed, but I knew a side door that stuck if you didn't pull hard enough. I'd found it my first week, back when I was still learning the campus, still learning who to trust.Turns out, I was still learning.The library was dark, the only light coming from the emergency exit signs and the faint glow of the moon through the tall windows. Shelves stretched into shadows. The air smelled like old paper and dust and secrets.I found a table in the back corner, away from the windows, away from doors. Myles sat across from me, his brown eyes steady, waiting."So," he said. "You're going to tell me why you're sneaking around the BioMed building at midnight? Or should I guess?""It's complicated.""It al