Going Down In Flames: Bridges Burned Part 12

The next afternoon, Miss Enid led Bryn down a hallway and into a small room lined with file cabinets. "Any building the Directorate approved for construction will be filed here under the owner's name."

Bryn flipped through the alphabetized folders. The folder with her grandparents' surname, Sinclair, was empty. "Is there supposed to be something in here?"

"That is disturbing." Miss Enid rifled through the surrounding files. "I don't know how this could've happened. Blueprints are not to be removed from the library. They're lent out on an hourly basis but must be kept in the building."

"Is there any way to find out who looked at the blueprints last?"

"It should be listed in my computer." Miss Enid exited the room and walked to the front desk. She pulled up a file on her computer and frowned. "The last person to look at the blueprints was Nola."

Nola? Would Nola have given Alec the blueprints? He was her brother. Would she have known of her brother's plans? Did she want Bryn out of the picture so she could have Zavien to herself?

"She knows better than to remove them." The older woman frowned in disapproval.

"What do you mean?"

"Nola studies blueprints all the time. It helps her design the sets for Stagecraft."

That poked a nice big hole in her conspiracy theory. "How long has Nola been doing that?"

Miss Enid's fingers were a blur on the keyboard. "Let's see. Here it is. She started about two years ago."

Too bad. Nola in prison would make reconciling with Zavien much easier. Evil as the idea was, it made her smile. Back to the mystery at hand.

"Is there anyone who could take the blueprints from the library without checking them out?"

Miss Enid pursed her lips. "I suppose a Directorate member could."

Fabulous. Someone on the Directorate might have given Alec the blueprints. Ferrin's name came to mind first. As much as she despised him, he'd never do anything to endanger Jaxon.

"Thanks for your help."

"I'll let you know if the file turns up."

Okay. Now what? Bryn scanned the area for a friendly, or at least not hostile, face. Rhianna studied at one of the long wooden rectangular tables. She'd probably know where Jaxon was. Why should she try to figure this puzzle out on her own?

Rhianna glanced up at Bryn's approach and smiled. "h.e.l.lo."

"Hi. I wanted to ask Jaxon a question about the Directorate. Is he here with you?"

Rhianna pointed to the midnight-blue book bag hanging on the back of the chair next to her. "He went to look for a book."

"Know which way he went?" Searching for someone in the monstrous library could take all night, and there was no guarantee of success.

"Up to the second floor, I believe."

Which meant he could be anywhere. "I'll ask him another time."

"Thank you," Rhianna said.

"For what?"

"You came to me rather than searching him out on your own. We just quashed those strange rumors about you two, and I'd hate for them to start again."

"How can people be so stupid?" Bryn plopped down in Jaxon's seat. "I'd never sneak around with Jaxon for two reasons: one, because I like you, and two, because he annoys the h.e.l.l out of me on a regular basis."

Rhianna covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled. "I envy your ability to say what you're feeling."

"You should try it sometime."

"This is a frightening development." Jaxon came toward them carrying a thick leather-bound book.

"Afraid I'll be a bad influence?" Bryn asked.

"Yes. If you could remove yourself from my seat and stay away from my future wife, I'd appreciate it."

Bryn leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. "Now I'll have to become best friends with Rhianna to spite you."

Jaxon waved her away from his chair. "Go corrupt someone else. We have homework to finish."

"She wanted to ask you a question." Rhianna stood. "I'll visit with Miss Enid and give you two a moment."

"You can stay," Bryn said.

"Thank you, but I'd like people to witness that I trust you together." Rhianna walked toward Miss Enid's desk.

Bryn told him about the missing blueprints and Nola's habit of checking them out. "Patrons aren't allowed to take blueprints out of the library. Someone did and there's no record of the transaction. Miss Enid believes only a Directorate member could pull that off."

Jaxon frowned. "The Directorate is...political. Another Blue might try to outmaneuver my father in a business deal, but a plot to kill my father's family must've come from outside the Clan."

"That doesn't narrow the field much." There had to be a clue they were missing. "If Alec had succeeded, if he'd killed us, who would've benefited?"

Jaxon leaned against the table and stared off into s.p.a.ce. "I'm not sure. Alec was probably in league with the group that's been burning down Directorate members' houses for the past six months."

"We still don't know who the arsonists are." Time to drop the problem in his lap. "Why don't you think about it and let me know if you come up with anything."

Dry leaves crunched under Bryn's feet on the walk back to her dorm. Normally she liked fall. Tonight, the dried brown leaves littering the ground seemed discarded and sad. The overcast autumn sky didn't improve her mood. Happy couples walking by holding hands made her heart ache.

It was Sat.u.r.day. What was she supposed to do tonight? Ivy and Clint had invited her to join them in Dragon's Bluff for dinner. As great as they were about having her around as a third wheel, they deserved some time alone, so she had declined.

A chilly breeze brushed against her neck. Goose b.u.mps broke out on her arms. She needed a scarf. Maybe she should learn how to knit and make her own scarf. Since she was destined to be alone, she might as well start a solitary hobby.

Stupid Zavien.

She kicked a rock and watched it skip across the sidewalk. Her future would consist of knitting and adopting a bunch of cats. Life with cats wouldn't be bad. Maybe she'd knit clothes for the cats and start an upscale cat boutique. Women like Lillith would pay big bucks to outfit their pets in the latest fas.h.i.+on. There, she had a plan.

The sidewalk pitched.

What the h.e.l.l? Heart racing, Bryn fought to maintain her footing. Zigzag cracks appeared in the cement. A fissure ripped open beneath her feet. Acting on instinct, she s.h.i.+fted to dragon form and took to the air.

Where she'd stood moments before, there was now a gaping trench. What was going on?

A rumbling roar filled the air. Gra.s.sy areas rolled and heaved. Trees toppled or sank into fissures. Sidewalks were swallowed whole. Anyone on the ground s.h.i.+fted and took flight.

Was this an earthquake? The other students seemed as confused as she was.

A siren wailed. The piercing noise grated on her frazzled nerves. Did they think that noise helped? Flapping her wings, she flew higher to escape the sound.

From this vantage point, she noticed something strange. None of the buildings were affected. How was that possible? No, wait. There, below her, several fissures raced toward the history building like someone was directing them.

Blue dragons converged in the sky and flocked toward the history building. They positioned themselves in front of the building and exhaled frozen flames at the ground, driving spears of ice deep into the earth, like they were trying to create a dam of ice. What good would that do?

The oncoming fissures closed in and hit the subterranean ice wall with a resounding crack. Shards of ice and dirt shot high into the sky, but the fissures slowed and then stopped a dozen feet from the building.

And then there was silence. Bryn checked the ground. No new fissures appeared. The sidewalks stopped their strange gyrations. Was it over?

Time to find someone with answers. Bryn settled on the ground, where she s.h.i.+fted and searched for a familiar face. Jaxon's friend Quentin stood near the history building.

"Was that an earthquake?"

He shook his head.

"Then what was it?"

Eyes narrowed, he scanned the sky. "It was an attack."

The only dragons capable of attacking in this manner were the Orange Clan, but that made no sense. Neither Octavius nor Vivian could be involved in this. "How did you know what would stop it?"

"We're taught how to defend ourselves against the other Clans." Quentin frowned. "I imagined fighting another male over some offense. I never expected anything like this."

Bryn surveyed the destruction. It looked like someone had taken a giant knife and slashed gaping raw-edged wounds into the grounds. Clumps of dirt and gra.s.s were flung all about. Trees lay broken and twisted, or submerged in rifts. Some of the sidewalks disappeared completely. Others were broken into rubble.

It made no sense.

"Why would someone do this?" Bryn asked. "I know the radical Revisionists hate the Directorate, but I thought they were all Black dragons, unless they started recruiting outside their Clan."

Quentin flicked a bit of dirt off his sleeve. "Whoever did this purposely attacked on a weekend evening. Imagine what would've happened if they'd attacked in the middle of a school day. Hundreds of students would've been on the grounds. Many would've been injured. This was a warning. "

Bryn hugged her arms across her chest to ward off a sudden chill. "I don't understand. Why attack the campus?"

"The inst.i.tute stands for everything the Directorate believes in."

"That means none of us is safe," Bryn said.

Quentin didn't respond.

Chapter Thirteen.

All students were required to return to their dormitories and sign in. Teachers were dispatched to Dragon's Bluff to round up anyone off campus. Bryn sat in the first-floor lounge chewing her fingernails and waiting for Clint and Ivy to walk through the door. When her friends crossed the threshold, she ran to hug them.

"I was so worried about you guys."

Ivy sniffled. "We didn't know anything had happened. Mr. Stanton showed up at Fonzoli's and announced that all students were to return to campus and sign in at their dorms." She blinked rapidly. "When I saw..."

Clint pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "It's all right. We're safe. The Directorate will investigate and figure out what to do."

Clint speaking favorably about the Directorate? That was new. "Do you really trust them to protect you?"

He shoved his hand back through his hair. "The Directorate is kind of like your parents. You may try to sneak around and break some of their rules, but when things turn ugly you know they'll take care of you."

The way Clint kept his arm wrapped around Ivy sent a pang of envy through Bryn's chest. If Zavien and she were still together, would he put his arms around her? Wait a minute. Where was he?

"Have you seen Zavien?"

Clint and Ivy scanned the room.

"Maybe he was at the theater building." Ivy said.

Bryn pushed her way through the crowd to the front door where people were checking in.

"Has Zavien Blackthorn signed in?"

The woman taking signatures flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "He hasn't. Don't worry. We haven't rounded up everyone from Dragon's Bluff."

Bryn checked her watch. "When should I start to worry?"

"Anyone who isn't accounted for in thirty minutes will be declared missing. Security is searching the campus for anyone who might've fallen in a rift."

She shuddered. What a horrible way to die. Now what? With no other options, she went to sit with Clint and Ivy. Every time the door opened, she checked for spiked black hair.

"If he dies before he has a chance to apologize, I'm going to be p.i.s.sed."

Ivy patted her arm. "I'm sure he's fine. He'll live to apologize and everything will go back to the way it's supposed to be."

Time crawled. Bryn stared at the clock, willing the hands to move. It felt like she was in a slow-motion sequence from a movie. People around her talked while the sound of her own heart drummed in her ears.

When twenty-five minutes pa.s.sed, she shot to her feet. "I can't take this anymore." Without a clear idea of what to do, she approached the front door.

The lady with the clipboard gave a sympathetic grin. "Worried about your friend?"

"Yes." Bryn's throat felt tight. "Can I go check with the medics?"