The Culling Trials 3 (Shadowspell Academy #3)(21)

“Is she daft?” I frowned as a slight tingle of warning washed through my blood. Here we go.

I lowered my voice to a whisper, working on those light steps that Colt had seemed to master. Why was I so far behind on that? “People who get asked to skip disappear. Surely one of her friends would’ve told her that.”

“That’s the thing about being mediocre,” Ethan whispered. “You take any hand up you can get. You’re happy just to get noticed. At least, that’s what I assume, anyway. You’d know best, Wild.”

“I wasn’t the one using my daddy to cheat, Einstein. But keep throwing rocks in that glass house.”

Colt muffled a laugh. “I don’t think anyone else has put it together, that the missing kids were all offered a leg up.”

I held up my hand for quiet as I peered around the corner of the portable, not feeling the pressure of danger thickening the air. Not yet. Adam had to be inside.

Soft laughter floated by, along with a female voice, gay and light. Another voice joined the first, two people up the way probably headed out to enjoy the soft sunshine in this rare break between trials.

Tightly drawn curtains shielded the back window of the portable, so I led the others down the narrow gap between portables to the front, racking my brain for a plan.

A thought occurred to me. Out of all the portables in this row, of which there were tons, why would Colt assume that Adam was choosing Ethel’s? Did he already know, or was it a blind assumption?

Metal jingled, a handle being grabbed. I paused, breath trapped in my lungs. A warning signal prickled down my spine.

Colt clutched my shoulder, but neither of the guys made a sound. I nodded to show I’d heard it. A tiny squeak was the only indication that the door had swung open. Boots tapped against the wood of the porch, soft sounds but not up to par for a Shade. He wasn’t an assassin—at least not a good one. The door clicked into place a moment later.

If he took off across the lawn toward the mansion and glanced back, there was a good chance he’d see us, three people stooped in stalker mode between the portables. His suspicion would likely compel him to take a closer look...unless what he saw embarrassed or disgusted him.

Moving quickly, I pushed in between the guys. Colt’s hand came out to steady me, low on my hip. Ethan grunted and tried to move away, but I stopped him with a hand on his pec. The muscle popped against my palm and he froze, his eyes widening.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a release of breath, his gaze heating and dipping to my lips. Maybe he hated me, but it was clear his brain had just shut off.

“Pretending, you moron,” I ground out, leaning heavily against Colt and feeling his hand slide across my stomach. “Play the part in case he looks. Only a voyeur will stop to gawk, and it won’t be out of criminal suspicion.”

A shape passed by with a swing of a large arm. I recognized his crew cut and caught something in his opposite hand that I couldn’t make out. His face turned, and I caught a glimpse of nose before his figure disappeared. Steamy versus stalky—if he saw three people stuffed in the gap, he would take a second to look if he thought they were making out. It worked, he didn’t. That had to be a good sign.

“Come on,” I said as Ethan’s large hand touched down on my hip and Colt’s hand headed south to my butt. Heavy breathing and shifting bodies said I was the only one pretending, and I was suddenly encompassed in a circle of muscle and handsomeness most women would dream of.

I wasn’t most women.

“All right, show’s over.” I flicked Ethan’s crotch, jerking a little at the hardness but immediately gratified when he jolted away. He thunked his head against the portable wall and scowled, reality seeping through the burning gaze from a moment before. “Really? You hate me, but you’d do me, anyway?”

He shrugged, wiping the edge of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Why not? Not like I’d call you in the morning.”

I shook my head and turned to elbow Colt in the stomach, but he was already moving away.

“Sorry. I was caught off guard. Stopped thinking.” Colt gave me a mouth-watering smile. “I’d definitely call.”

I couldn’t hold a grudge against his disarming wink.

“Whatever,” I said, “come on. He’s getting away.”

At the edge of the portable, I caught the figure again, standing in the middle of the grass, facing the mansion. Sticking out like a sore thumb. Eyes found him, stuck for a moment, then darted away, no one wanting to spend too long gawking at an authority figure.

He stared down into his hands for a moment in what seemed like contemplation, then dropped them again and looked around.

“Can you see what he’s holding?” I asked, no idea why I was whispering.

“No,” Ethan said, pushing in close so he could see around the corner, and jabbing me with a part of his body that would’ve been strapped down by the right underwear.

This time I did throw an elbow, forcing him back. “We need to see if it really is Ethel’s room, and maybe figure out what he took. Or at least where he took it from.” I dragged my teeth over my lip. “But if we do that, we’ll lose him.”

Even as I said it, Adam pivoted and pushed forward, walking in the opposite direction of where Gregory had been taken. If he was looking for the lost kids, he was either on the wrong track or going the roundabout way.