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“The roof of the library.”
A roof in the dark? Wow. Sure, why not? Nothing at this college can ever happen in a normal room with the lights on.
“Why up there?” I ask, even though I’m pretty sure he won’t tell me anything.
“I didn’t ask him why, obviously.” He glances down the hallway and leans in. “There’s a door at the far end of the top floor, past the study rooms. It’ll be unlocked. You have to go up on your own and leave your phone in your room.”
“And if I bring it?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“There’ll be someone at the door who’ll check, and if you’ve got it on you, you’ll be sent straight back down.”
I fold my arms and hold his gaze, since I want him to think I’m considering it instead of jumping at it. “Fine.”
“One more thing. Don’t tell anyone about it, including whoever you think is on your side. If it reaches him, the meeting’s off.”
Right. Of course.
Braxton nods at me and strolls away, and I wait a little, since I’d rather not end up next to him again.
A rooftop at night with a mysterious, potentially very dangerous man... What if Elsie...? No. Supreme wants something from me, and he isn’t going to get it by pushing me off a building. And anyway, he wasn’t running the society when Elsie died, so why would he have had anything to do with it? He was just another member back then. And up there, it’ll be only the two of us, which is exactly what I need if I’m going to get any truth out of him.
JAYDEN HAS BOOKS STACKED at the end of the table at the back when I get to the library, and he’s got one open in front of him, a pen resting in the middle of the page.
“Any luck?” I ask as I pull out the chair next to him.
“Nothing new.” He shuts the book. “You?”
“I’m meeting Supreme.”
His eyes widen. “What?”
“Braxton caught me after class and said he agreed to it.”
The color drains out of Jayden’s face. “When?”
“Tonight.”
“Where?”
“The library roof.”
“No.” He vehemently shakes his head. “You’re not going up there.”
“It’s already agreed.”
“Then cancel it.” His fingers clench into fists. “Do you know where they found Elsie? At the bottom of a building at night.”
It’s probably a coincidence. There aren’t many places on campus where you can meet someone without anyone else around, so a roof isn’t exactly a strange pick, especially if Supreme doesn’t want me anywhere near the tunnels.
“He’s spent weeks trying to get me to say yes to him,” I say. “He’s not going to ruin all of it now by doing something to me.”
His gaze is trained on mine. “Are you supposed to go alone?”
“Yep, and I have to leave my phone in my room.”
“So you’ll be up there with no phone and no backup.”
“What do you want me to do?” I raise my voice, glancing around to check that no one’s nearby to overhear me. “If I don’t go, we’ve got nothing. You don’t know who he is, I don’t either, and this is the only chance we’ll get to figure something out. He’s not going to bump into me at the dining hall and introduce himself.”
