Gothicana

“C’mon, honey,” the elderly lady took her away. “Come rest at the medical room tonight.”

Jade hiccupped, looking at Corvina with swollen eyes. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

Corvina rubbed her shoulder. “I promise I’ll be fine. Go rest for the night. You need it.” In truth, they all did, and she knew the administration wanted to keep an eye on Jade overnight since she was already a flight risk. Jade nodded and left with the lady, leaving Corvina standing beside Erica.

“I’m scared, girl. What the hell is going on around here?” Erica spoke out loud to herself, processing like everyone else.

Corvina was processing too.

Troy was gone.

It was hard for her to wrap her mind around that, even though she’d witnessed it with her eyes. Her heart kept telling her he’d come out of the woods gri

Why?

For over an hour, she observed the activity around her until people slowly began to leave and return to their rooms, just a few lingering around like her, looking slightly lost.

The hair at the nape of her neck prickled. Corvina stilled, looking around surreptitiously, finding nothing and no one out of the spooky ordinary. She turned her gaze up to the roof.

And standing against the backdrop of the dark night, clad all in black, stood the silver-eyed devil of Verenmore at the exact same spot Troy had been, looking down at her.