Rival (Briarcliff Secret Society Series Book 1) by Ketley Allison

Author:Ketley Allison [Allison, Ketley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mitchell Tobias Publishing LLC
Published: 2020-09-30T23:00:00+00:00

27

My stomach rumbles as I crouch over my desk and force my eyes to keep reading the document on my computer.

I lean back, absently rubbing my belly and wishing I’d gotten in a mouthful of fettuccini before being carted away by His Highness, King Chase.

The dorm room is utterly silent with me as the sole occupant, and I’ve left my bedroom door wide to get some air, because the longer I sat at my desk and worked on the history essay, the stuffier this room became.

Piper’s door is open, too, but it’s completely empty, save for her ghost. Her parents and sister stripped her bed, emptied her drawers, and cleaned out the center room and kitchen pantry, leaving nothing behind but empty food packets they’d shoved into our mini trashcan.

If it weren’t for the scent of gardenia in the air, it’s as if Piper had never set foot here.

My stomach growls again, with wet, bubble-bursting sounds.

At this point, I haven’t memorized the campus well enough to search for late night snacks, but perhaps there’s a vending machine in Thorne House’s lobby. I vaguely recall Ivy mentioning a coffee bar set up there.

Or, if all else fails, I can scour the Wolf’s Den for tossed-aside pastries, but that involves traveling Briarcliff’s paths at night.

I’m not up for that, cloaks or no cloaks. And there’s also Piper’s fall into watery depths to consider, and whether someone hides in the shadows to do it to someone else.

Damn you, Chase, for getting into my head.

In more ways than one.

Ignoring my stomach for a little longer, I turn back to my research on Rose Briar, this time containing notes unlike the first round I deleted when I was determined to leave Briarcliff. I’m trying to read between the lines, as if an answer to Piper’s demise is linked with Rose’s. But with all I’ve read, the issues surrounding Rose’s death are benign, nineteenth century issues. I click onto Briarcliff’s library website, attempting to look up texts from that era, but keep getting “NO RESULTS FOUND.”

It’s freaking strange. Wouldn’t Briarcliff Academy’s library, of all places, have original founding documents, or copies of it? Didn’t Piper say she’d found original papers?

Yet, other than a brief, transcribed obituary, there’s nothing much on Rose, never mind any link to Rose and Piper, save for the same cliff, one hundred and seventy years later.

The two couldn’t possibly be related. But this was the last assignment Piper was working on. The final subject in her head. Then, she fell off Lover’s Leap—Rose’s leap.

Piper loved the story and fed off Rose’s heartbreak, but … what am I missing here?

Brrrrrrrrrrrruuup.

Ugh. Stupid stomach.

My chair scrapes against the floor as I push it back and wander out of my bedroom, chancing a search through the kitchenette, even though I know what I’ll find. Again, I curse my lack of groceries and tell myself I’ll carve out some time Friday to grab some snacks, meaning I’ll only have to prowl for food one more day.

Like the rat they think I am.

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