Page 26 of Thrall
“Great.” Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. “The one time you need someone to overshare on the internet.”
Mila gently tugged at her bowstring. “I’ve seen a bit of what happens when he feeds from someone,” she said. “All you need to know is thatweirddoesn’t cover it.”
Lucy decided against asking for clarification. “The other night, I woke up in my quad courtyard, and my neck was freshly bleeding. He may have fed on me twice already.”
Pallas and Mila each had their own muted reaction to that. “All the more reason for us to take precautions,” Pallas said. “Most importantly, no going out after sunset. If you have evening classes, drop them. If you have classes in buildings connected to steam tunnels, drop those too. You should be safe in Quincey Hall, for now. We just have to do our best to keep him from being invited in.”
“I asked the other RAs to spread the word that one of the residents has a toxic ex,” Mila said. “There’s an email going out right now warning Quincey students not to let anyone in who doesn’t already have card-swipe access. But overly helpful students aren’t our biggest risk. That would be you.”
“Because I’ll supposedly let him in,” Lucy said.
“Oh, you will,” Mila said. “With a smile, too.”
Lucy considered arguing. But it was hard not to think of her one clear memory of the other night.Hold still. Even before he’d fed from her, she’d obeyed him.
“Okay,” she said. “So if I’d let him in—how do we make sure I don’t?”
“If he’s going to draw you out, then there’s going to need to be someone there to pull you back,” Pallas said. “I know you may not like this, Lucy. But this is the best we can do to keep you—”
“Let’s at least try to give this a positive spin, boss.” Mila held up both her hands in a wry littleta-da. “I heard you’re not a fan of your roommate, Lucy. Want a new one?”
“No,” Lucy said.
“I don’t love the idea myself,” Mila said. “They don’t exactly encourage me to have sleepovers with my residents, you know.”
“Bet they don’t encourage you to point weapons at your residents, either,” Lucy snapped.
Mila exhaled. “And here I thought we’d moved past that.”
“It won’t be the most comfortable arrangement,” Pallas said, with the politedesperation of a kindergarten teacher. “But, Lucy, our friendwillcome for you. And when he does, Mila is our best chance of protecting you.”
The thought settled in Lucy’s stomach like a stone.
“Listen,” Mila said, “I know you’re pissed that I lied to you. But if anyone’s going to keep you alive, it’s going to be me.”
That was probably true. But Lucy felt distinctly unmoved nonetheless. First of all, she wasn’t pissed that Mila lied to her. She was pissed that Mila had threatened to kill her. If that was unreasonable of her, so be it. “There’s no one else who can do this?”
“Yeah, what about me?” Natalie said. “I’ve got plenty of room.”
“Room, sure,” Mila said dryly. “But how’s your aim?”
“When he comes for Lucy, our hope is that he’ll be fully focused on her. And that maybe that’ll make him more vulnerable,” Pallas said. “And Mila was a junior archery champion. She won’t miss.”
“So Lucy is bait,” Natalie said.
Mila’s smile went brittle. “Isn’t that better than the alternative?”
“If this is going to be a debate, you should move it inside.” The strain was a bit more evident in Pallas’s voice now. “Sunset is in half an hour.”
Lucy glanced up. A delicate orange had started to wash over the sky. There was plenty of light now, but she’d learned over the past week just how quickly night could fall on the mountain.
Mila stood up. “I can walk you to the shuttle, boss.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s not far,” Pallas said. “Natalie can walk with me. And you two can go right over the hill to Quincey. It seems like you have a lot to discuss.”
Natalie caught Lucy’s eye, clearly waiting to read her reaction. The problem was, Lucy wasn’t sure her reaction was terribly rational. Pallas and Mila were right. Or more accurately, they had a plan, which was almost as good as being right. But that didn’t mean Lucy wanted to spend the rest of the night looking at the cool appraisal in Mila’s eyes, either.
“Lucy?” Natalie asked, finally. “I can go back with you, if you want.”
