7

Bobby

Saturday: 1:37AM

It had felt wrong to bust in and violate their privacy like that. And taking advantage of Glass’s disability the way we did made me want to run into the bathroom and puke.

I hadn’t told Gabe everything. I’d insisted that it was our duty to stop a criminal before he hurt anyone else. I knew that would rile her up and she’d want to take action.

I should have asked her to tuck that silver button away somewhere safe. Explained to her how touching it had detonated an explosion in my brain. How I had been trapped inside the scene of Marisa’s attack and couldn’t get free.

She’d known all along about my visions and the tumor that had nearly blinded me. When she’d finally put the button away, the vision eased up, but its remnants still clung to my sight in frayed strips.

The moment I spotted the button glinting on her open palm again, I was instantly sucked back in. And I didn’t even have to touch it. This had never happened before.

My heart was pounding wildly, their voices echoing faintly as if from miles away. Half-deaf to what was around me, all I could see was the continuous loop of Marisa fighting off the man in a bandana who’d overpowered her. She’d never had a chance.

I was stuck, as if I’d been dropped into wet plaster that had begun to thicken.

I blinked and tried to shrug off the bone-deep exhaustion that had turned my limbs to rubber. I was about to keel over any second. The real room behind the vision shimmered in a vague blur.

“Easy, dude. We got you.” Glass had me by the arm.

“Was there some kind of party in here?” I heard the security officer ask. “Underage drinking is not tolerated on this campus.”

“No ma’am,” Glass said. “We were just, uh, roughhousing a bit.”

My ears rang, words reaching me in muffled waves. I teetered as they led me to the bed. Gabe whispered, gripping my arm, “It’s okay.”

“Is that guy all right?” someone asked. “Looks really out of it.”

“He’s fine,” Gabe said. “He’s just blind.”

It was true for the moment, anyway. I tried to blink things clear, but it was little use. Sounds were garbled and tinny. My heart sped up. I was so going to be sick.

There was a silence, and then Marisa spoke. I strained to understand through the distortion. “It’s my room, Officer. We were just getting a bit silly. My boyfriend and I knocked heads.”

“You shouldn’t have this many people in your room at this hour.”

Marisa laughed. “I know. But it’s a special time. My good friend Gabriella Sorensen, the famous pianist, just got accepted here. She brought her friend along on his first trip to New York. He lost his sight when he was thirteen and has always wanted to visit. You’re familiar with Isabella Sorensen, aren’t you?”

“As in the Sorensen Theater?” asked the officer.

“Yep,” said Marisa. “As in the famous opera singer that donated half the money for the concert hall.”

“Ah, I see,” said the officer. “But we did get an alert from the NYPD. A body was found a few blocks from here. Maybe consider calling it a night?”

The words slashed through my daze like cold steel. A body? I began to shake as if I’d been packed in ice.

“Oh, shit,” Gabe said softly beside me.

Fingers dug into my arm. Glass hissed in my ear. “Don’t even think about saying anything, Pendell.”

Now there was a body. And an attacker on the loose, and Glass wanted me to stay quiet. It was insane. Jeremy Glass was insane.

But with Marisa unwilling to speak, I was in no position to argue. No one would believe me. Plus, I was still frozen, unable to utter a word.

After the campus security officers left, things came slowly back into focus. I could move again, if a bit sluggishly. Marisa had pulled her dark hair back into a semblance of a ponytail.

“That was pretty smooth,” Gabe said, eyeing her warily. “How on earth did you know all that about me?”

Marisa had crumpled, all traces of bravado gone. “When Jeremy told me he was at the Smoke and Jazz Lounge, I looked up the website. I saw your face and read about your background.”

Marisa leaned against Jeremy, her face hidden. He pulled her close, protectively stroking her hair. “How do you think she got here in the first place? Research is Marisa’s middle name. Especially when it comes to my whereabouts. Nice work about the blind thing, girls.”

Marisa looked up at him and managed to smile. But I could see she was still shaking. And with the vision waiting to pull me back into madness, so was I.

“So, I guess that’s it, then?” Gabe threw up her hands and began to pace the dorm room. “We don’t go to the cops?”

“Absolutely not. I thought we were clear on that,” Glass said.

“I can’t. You wouldn’t understand. If Papa ever found out…he never wanted me to come here in the first place.”

“It’s not their business,” Glass snapped.

“These guys are ridiculous.” Gabe said. “Let’s just try to enjoy our weekend and buzz out of here, Bobby. I’ve had enough.”

Phantom shreds of the vision streaked across my sight like cobwebs. I knew if I didn’t do something, it would only get worse. I clenched and unclenched my fists. “No,” I said, softly.

“What?” Gabe swiveled on me. “Bobby, you’re not thinking clearly. Let’s go now. Please.”

“No,” I said. “We can’t.”

I didn’t just want to find out who Marisa’s attacker was.

I had to.