I was the first one down for breakfast the next morning. I wasn’t sure why Olivia wasn’t there, but her wake up time varied from day to day. I had a much better idea why Conrad was absent. I’d kept him up until four-thirty. The poor guy had earned a late morning, and I envied him.

But even after the cartoons, the nightmares kept plaguing my sleep, so I was there to wish Igor a good morning.

I had only gotten as far as the coffee pot before Darius came to get me. I steeled myself and told him I would be right there. I had to grab yet another round of painkillers. Breakfast of champions.

Before I could reach the cupboard, Igor said, “The girl is not a vampire, Vasil.”

Darius and I both stared at him. Igor finished his task before turning to glare at the count.

He went on, “She needs food and rest.”

“I wasn’t aware I was imposing on her,” Darius said.

I stumbled toward them. “You’re not!”

But it seemed my opinion wasn’t important to the conversation.

“Did you remember to stop for lunch while you were out yesterday? Or the day before?”

The vampire blinked. “No. I don’t think we did.”

Igor looked at me with one of his eyes.

“It’s all right,” I assured him.

He let out a loud humph, then held out his hand to me. “Coffee.”

I passed him my mug. He pulled out the thermos I’d been using and transferred the coffee, but he didn’t pass it to me. He put it aside and bent down to open a low drawer, pulling out some parchment paper and a paper bag.

I looked at Darius, but he only shrugged.

Igor put a fresh apple in the bag, cut off a length of paper, went to the oven, and pulled out a muffin tin of…eggs? Halfway through the conjuring trick, I realized what he was doing. The magician—the incredible, fantastic, amazing Igor!—was assembling a breakfast sandwich, complete with English muffin, Canadian bacon, cheese, and egg. He wrapped it in the paper, put it in the bag, then handed me my breakfast-to-go and coffee.

I couldn’t decide between applauding and weeping for joy.

Instead, I said, “Igor, you aren’t a sweetheart, you’re an angel!”

He rolled both eyes this time, one after the other. “Doing my job hardly qualifies me as a celestial being.”

“Says you.”

I ate while Darius drove. I was focusing on my delicious sandwich, and I didn’t have much focus to spare, so it was through a muzzy haze that I realized Darius had asked me if I was all right. I mumbled around my sandwich that I was.

You’d think a man with superhuman hearing would have heard me the first time, but no—he asked me again.

“Is there a tentacle growing out of my forehead that I’m not aware of?” I said.

“Um—”

“Right. I’m dead. Is the flesh rotting off my face or something?”

I caught a glimpse of Darius’s expression before he turned back to the road.

“What’s with that oh-so-subtle smile, Count Vasil?”

“If you’re joking about face rot and tentacles, there can’t be anything too wrong with you.”

“Nah.” I rolled up the bag and tucked it in my door. “I told you, I’m fine.”

“Emerra Cole, you’re a lousy liar.”

I fiddled with my thermos. The snap-down plug made a satisfying click when you flicked it up and down. “I’m not a bad liar.”

“Another lie.”

“Is that some kind of FBI training, or is it a vampire extra sense?”

“I wouldn’t need either with you. Your voice changes whenever you lie. The only person you might be able to fool is Jacky, and only if he was already distracted.”

“Well, thank you very much. I’ll have to practice more.”

“Or you could tell me the truth.”

“Are you worried because of what Igor said?”

“It is worrisome that Igor said something—he doesn’t usually put himself out for other people—but I understand his concern.”

I waved my hand. “It’s not a big deal. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“That’s all?”

“Yeah.”

Seconds passed. I was sweating bullets and trying not to do whatever it was that made me a bad liar—which was probably like trying not to be nervous when you’re carrying the expensive china. Oh! Hey! Even my hands were shaking. Neat.

Count Darius Vasil pulled into the exit lane. “Thank you for being willing to come with me today.”

Relief poured out from me. I wondered if he’d be able to sense that too.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Nah,” I said. “I’m just glad you’d let me come. I know I haven’t been much use—I promise I’ll stare, like, really hard at anything you want me to—but I kind of want to know who-dun-it.” I clicked the lid of my thermos some more. “And I’m worried about Miranda.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“I do.”

The vampire put his free hand over his mouth and rubbed his chin.

When we got to campus, we headed up to Wayde’s old office. Rena Drix was the only one there. She was sitting in the chair that Summer had occupied the other day, fidgeting with a long piece of brown and white plastic. Darius wished her good morning. I turned to check something, but there wasn’t much point since I was already inside the room. All the same, I was pretty sure I knew what that piece of plastic was.

“Did you take down Wayde’s nameplate?” I asked.

She pinched the plate’s opposite corners between her hands and let it twirl. “I did,” she said.

“Why?”

“Kiel’s secretary told me that he was going to have someone clean out Wayde’s office. It’s probably stupid of me, but I didn’t want them to throw it away.”

“Is it the dinosaur sticker?”

I saw the twitch of a smile. “All hail, Lord Spike.”

“Did Wayde put it on himself?”

“I think a student put on the first sticker, but I know he’s replaced it at least once. The students built up a whole lore around it. If you offer prayers and fruit snacks to Spike before finals, you’ll get a better grade.” She put the nameplate facedown on the desk. It made a loud click. “But Kiel wants to run a respectable institution of learning.”

“Are you the only one here today, Ms. Drix?” Darius asked.

“No. Louis opened the room. He has all the keys, and he promised to keep it open in case any students need help. If you’re looking for him, he should be back soon. He asked me to watch the place while he got a drink.”

“May I ask why you’re here?”

“I’m supposed to be working on my project, but as you can see, even Lord Spike can’t help me with that.”

Louis Summer strode into the room, holding a can of soda.

“Well, well!” He shut the door. “So the FBI agent and his assistant are still haunting the building. Have you come to ransack Wayde’s office?”

“That’s an interesting idea,” Vasil said, “but it wasn’t my original plan, and I’d have to get permission to do it. That’ll be difficult since Kiel is out of the building.”

“Is he hiding from you?”

“Would he have a reason to hide from me?”

A mean grin spread over Summer’s face. “Everyone knows that Kiel hated Wayde.”

“Do you know why?”

“Jealousy?”

“Jealous how?”

“Everyone loved Wayde. Kiel inspires only tolerance or indifference.”

I couldn’t help thinking of Miranda and how two-faced she was for not wanting to date him.

I said, “You seem a little harsh in your judgments, sir.”

Louis smirked. “I like to think I’m realistic about my fellow men.”

“Are you observant?” Darius asked.

“I like to know things.”

“Do you know where Professor Frost is?”

Summer scoffed. “Who cares? Is he supposed to be teaching right now or something?”

“No. He’s supposed to be meeting me and Miss Cole here.”

“Then he’ll probably be here in a few minutes. If he’s ever on time, it’s incidental.”

“What do you think of Professor Frost, Mr. Summer?”

“I think he’s a lovable ass, desperate to climb his way into people’s good opinions, but his hooves keep slipping on the rungs. It’s entertaining at first, but over time it becomes sad.”

“He’s not that bad,” Rena said.

“And no one can trust your opinion because you say that about everyone.”

The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them: “Yeah. Maybe if you’re lucky, someday she’ll say it about you.”

Drix let out a grunt of laughter. Summer glared at me. Darius tried to glare at me, but the effect was ruined because he was also trying not to smile.

I decided the hole I dug wasn’t nearly deep enough, so I grabbed the nearest shovel. “Want to tell us how much you hated Wayde?”

Summer frowned. His eyes dropped to the floor. “I liked Wayde.”

There was a short silence.

“Interesting,” Darius said.

“Professor Wayde was one of the few genuinely happy people I’ve ever met. He didn’t care what others thought about him, but he was still kind to everyone.” Summer caught himself and added, with a shrug, “Almost everyone. I think he tried to get under Kiel’s skin sometimes.”

“He would try to get under Kiel’s skin?” Darius asked.

Drix explained, “Professor Wayde usually only teased people if he knew they didn’t mind.”

“But I assume Kiel minded.”

“And Wayde teased him anyway,” Summer said. He let out a loud sigh. “He was an inspiration to us all.”

“Did either of you ever hear Wayde talk about an Egyptian scroll? It probably came into his possession in the last three or four months—”

“You mean the fake?” Summer said. “Is that the counterfeit you’re after?”

Darius was surprised. It was subtle, but both his eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch. “You knew about it?”

“I thought everyone knew about it. It’s not like he bothered to hide it. God! I thought Wayde had gotten a hold of something important. That was just some stupid scroll meant to sucker tourists.”

“Did he show it to a lot of people?”

“I saw it lying on his desk and asked him about it. He told me it was fake. He never lied about it.”

“Did he tell you where he got it from?”

“I didn’t bother asking.”

“You weren’t interested in it?”

“I have no interest in Egypt, and even less interest in forgeries.”

“Did Wayde seem interested in it?”

Summer offered us a lopsided smile. “It’s clear you didn’t know Professor Wayde.”

Rena said, “He got excited over everything.”

“What about you, Ms. Drix?” Darius said. “Did you know about the scroll.”

“I’ve seen it. I never asked about it.”

The door opened. We all turned to see Professor Frost, looking breathless.

“Agent Vasil, I’m sorry I’m late,” he huffed.

“Frost,” Summer called, “he’s asking about the scroll.”

Frost’s brow creased.

“The one Wayde got three months ago?” Summer prompted.

“What? The fake?”

I glanced at Darius, but this time, his professional mask stayed firm.

“Do you know what happened to it?” Summer asked.

“He took it home. It was his new prized contender in the real-or-fake game.”

“Could Wayde have interpreted the scroll himself?” Darius asked.

Frost grinned. “Good heavens, no.”

“He took pride in the fact he couldn’t even recognize the writing,” Summer added. “He had a button made that said, ‘I don’t know what this says,’ in Middle Egyptian. He wore it to all his conferences.”

“Why would he take pride in that?” I asked.

Summer must have still been upset about my earlier comment. All he did was stare at me with his lips pressed together.

Frost explained, “Egyptian languages are Director Kiel’s specialty and something of a passion with him.”

Ah. Yeah. That’d do it.

“Could Director Kiel have interpreted the scroll?” Darius asked.

Summer folded his arms. “Director Kiel could have read it, and if he stumbled, it would have been because the scribe had bad handwriting.”

Darius looked at Frost. The professor nodded.

“Not that Wayde would have ever taken it to him,” Louis said.

Vasil put his finger up to his lips, but his thoughts were interrupted by a soft chime.

Rena Drix pulled out her phone. She barely glanced at the screen before stumbling to her feet. “Sorry. I have to go.”

She picked up her bag and headed to the door.

Frost said, “Agent Vasil, I’m afraid I don’t have much time.”

Darius lowered his hand. “Yes. Of course.”

“Would you rather talk here or somewhere more private?”

“I would prefer a private room. A quiet one, if possible.”

“We can use my office.” As Frost led us to the door, he called out, “Good day, Mr. Summer.”

Summer had already gone over to his computer. He pulled out his chair and droned in a bored voice, “Goodbye, Frost.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the edges of Frost’s mouth tick down.

Any guilt I might have felt for my tactless comment disappeared in that instant. After all, it’s not like Summer ever tried to hide what he thought about people.

I stopped at the door long enough to say, “I hope, with all my heart, that you have a wonderful day, Mr. Summer.”

And I said it in my most cheerful voice and with my brightest smile…because I knew that would annoy him the most.

I shut the door behind me and found Darius there, watching me.

“What?”