Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(63)

“None of them make eye contact with me,” Valmont said.

“I’m familiar with that game.” Bryn laced her fingers through his. “Don’t let them bother you.”

“I really want to punch some of them.”

“We’re on the same page.” They made it to the second landing and headed down the hall toward Bryn’s door. On the floor, there was a plain white legal-size envelope like bills came in. Bryn nudged it with her right foot. “It’s too flat to be a bomb, right?”

“I think so.” Valmont leaned down for a better view. “Should I pick it up?”

“Us standing here staring at it isn’t accomplishing anything, so, I guess you should.”

He grabbed it and flipped it over. “No writing on the front.”

Bryn stuck her key in the lock. “Let’s get back inside.”

Once they were seated at the library table in the living room, Bryn gestured at the envelope. “You want to do the honors?”

“Sure.” He drew his sword and used it like a giant letter opened, slicing through the flap of envelope.

Bryn chuckled. “I’m not sure knights of old would approve of that maneuver.”

“Sometimes when I’m bored, I find domestic uses for my sword. It cuts a mean slice of pepperoni.”

The piece of notebook paper Valmont pulled out had three words scratched on it in pencil. “Don’t trust them.”

Bryn grabbed the paper and flipped it over like there might be more to the message on the other side. “Don’t trust who? What kind of stupid message is this?”

“Why would someone give you this tonight?”

“I don’t know.” Bryn stalked over to the phone. “We need a Green.” She dialed Garret and explained the situation.

“I’d love to help, but I won’t make it there and back before curfew.” Garret sighed. “If I could still fly it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Her heart ached for him, losing the ability to fly would be devastating. And then an interesting idea popped into her head. “Valmont rides on my back. Do you have a friend you can ask to fly you over?”

Dead silence met her comment. Crap. Had she offended him? Now what could she say?

Laughter came through the phone line.

“Garret?”

“I mean…it’s just…it’s such a simple solution.” Garret sighed. “And I never would have thought of it.”

“I guess that’s one of the advantages of being an outsider. You think differently.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re an outsider, anymore. Not after your grandparents recognized you.” Garret was back to his analytical self. “About the note, do you feel like it represents an immediate threat?”

“No. It’s more of an annoying mystery.”

“I’d like to practice flying with a friend and take a few trial runs before I head off across campus. Why don’t you bring the note to class tomorrow?”

“Will do.” After saying good-bye, she hung up the phone with a sense of satisfaction. She may not have solved her own problem, but she’d given Garret a way to overcome a huge stumbling block in his life. Who could he talk into being his pseudo-flyer?

…

In the hall outside Mr. Stanton’s classroom, Bryn showed the paper to Clint, Ivy, and Garret.

“That’s nice and vague.” Clint tapped the paper with his finger. “Couldn’t they have given a name? How are you supposed to know who not to trust?”

“That may be the point.” Garret held the paper up to the light and squinted at it. “I think this came from a student’s notebook. If you look closely, you can see the indents of writing from the page in front of it. Someone give me a pencil.”

Ivy grabbed a yellow number two pencil from her book bag. “Here you go.”

Garret reached for the pencil with his good arm, which was still holding the paper and then froze. Pain flared in his eyes. “I was going to shade over the paper to see the indentations, but someone with two functional limbs will have to do it.”

Everyone stood still for a moment. Ivy reached for the paper in Garret’s hand. “I’ll hold the paper, you use the pencil.”

Garret nodded and did as Ivy suggested. He traced over the back of the note with the flat side of the lead, shading in a large area. The outline of letters appeared in the indents made from the page on top.

“Can you see someone’s name?” Bryn asked. That would make figuring this out a whole lot easier.

“No.” Garret exchanged items with Ivy and held the paper up to the light. “These look like notes from an advanced economics class, which means the paper came from an older student’s notebook. No one our age would be enrolled in this class.”

Valmont tapped his fingers on the pommel of his sword. “And what does that tell us?”

“It tells us whoever sent this note isn’t one of Bryn’s immediate acquaintances. My best guess is someone wants to make you question who you can trust. The whole thing is probably baseless and meant to cause anxiety.”

“Well, it worked.” Smoke shot from Bryn’s nostrils. “I have enough to worry about on my own. The idea of someone doing this just to mess with me really pisses me off.”