Chapter Twenty-Three
BARVE HURRIED towards the empty lecture room, not wanting to be late to meet the rest of the team. It was a good feeling to have an entire group of friends here at university and he had liked the way Lila had got a look at Nolan’s backpack yesterday, so he had no objection to her apparent decision to join them. He had a feeling it was more to do with seeing more magic than anything else but, honestly, that was most of the reason the rest of them had started off trying to solve the puzzle surrounding Nolan Summers.
He got to the room and opened the door, taking in the mass of empty chairs and two familiar seated figures. Lila and Fal looked round with wide eyes but then saw it was just him, not anyone who would object to them being there, and visibly relaxed.
He greeted them and took a seat next to his brother as he asked, “Were you talking about Nolan?”
“We were actually talking about music,” Fal said. “Lila’s going to a concert of a local band on Friday night.”
“Why don’t you come with me?” she said to Fal.
“Yeah, I’d love to.”
Barve smiled at his brother. He’d clearly missed a lot in the minutes before he arrived as that sounded a lot like a date.
Lila began to speak again but then the door opened and they fell silent and stared at it, freezing, then slumped as Elliot and Callie walked in together. As always, Barve’s heart started beating quickly at the sight of Elliot, even though the moment was bittersweet, fear growing in him that there would never be anything romantic between them. Elliot’s comments at the stakeout at Nolan’s house suggested that Barve wasn’t anything like the kind of person he found attractive. Barve hadn’t given up hope but it was a painful blow.
“You haven’t decided anything without us, have you?” Elliot asked, putting down his briefcase and a couple of large books he’d been carrying under his arm.
“We haven’t mentioned it yet,” Fal said, his tone sharp but lacking its previous bite. The way Elliot had stood up to the Vice Chancellor to get them treated fairly and openly stated his allegiance to them had changed Fal’s opinion of Elliot, even if he wouldn’t admit it. Sometimes Elliot didn’t seem afraid of anything, almost larger than life in his bravery.
The thought reminded Barve to say, “By the way, the Vice Chancellor got the art lecturer to give me a one week extension to hand in my first painting thanks to you.”
“Is that long enough?” Elliot asked, looking over at him.
“It’s plenty of time.”
Elliot smiled, so handsome it was painful to see. “That’s good news then.”
“What’s this?” Lila asked and, when they told her, she called the lecturer and Vice Chancellor a variety of colourful names that further endeared her to Barve. If she and Fal were going to start dating then his brother was lucky.
When this conversation ended, Elliot steered them back to the subject of Nolan. “We have less idea of what’s going on with him than when we started looking into his strange behaviour. We’ve ruled out most of the possibilities.”
“We haven’t ruled out drugs yet,” Fal said. “Just because he didn’t have any on him yesterday doesn’t mean he’s not taking them. They could be in his home.”
“He could be seriously ill,” Lila said. “That would make him act differently.”
“I don’t see how we could find those things out,” Elliot said, sitting down. “Our combined magical ability is to read memories from specific dates, not to search out memories of drug use or hospital visits.”
“Then we need to get into his house,” Barve said.
“We’re not doing anything as illegal as breaking into his home,” Elliot responded. “We wouldn’t just be expelled if caught, but sent to prison too.”
“The last boy I dated gave me his house key,” Callie told them.
Elliot at once reached into his trouser pocket and got out his mobile. “It’s worth a try.” He dialled a number and had a short conversation that made him smile. When the call ended, he said, “Good deduction, Callie. Eva has a key and will give it to me at lunchtime, but we mustn’t forget that Nolan shares the house with two other boys, so we still have to be careful. Maybe I should go alone.”
“We’ll wait in the car for you outside the house,” Fal said. “You can ring the doorbell first to check no one’s in and, when you’re inside, we’ll phone you if anyone returns. Do either of you girls have a mobile as we don’t?”
They both nodded and Barve wondered if this would be his chance to show Elliot that he could be brave too and start to change their relationship. “So should we go at lunchtime?”
“That’s probably the best time for the house to be empty,” Elliot agreed. “Hopefully this will give us some answers.”