"Calista contacted you?"
Elise shut the side door behind us. "Twice. The second one mentioned you."
I stopped walking. That got my full attention.
We were far enough from the house that nobody could hear us. I'd been avoiding crowded rooms anyway. People had stopped staring at my face, mostly because the bruises were fading, but they still went quiet whenever Rhys and I ended up in the same place.
"What did she say?"
Elise handed me her phone.
I read the first message.
Then the second.
"Fuck."
"Yeah."
I read it again, and then I looked at Elise. I handed her phone back and pulled mine out.
"I deleted some of them. But I kept screenshots."
I found the folder and gave her the phone.
She started reading.
The first messages had been warnings. Questions about Graymoor. About Rhys. Things I hadn't told anyone and things from the compound.
Elise looked up.
"This one came before the Assembly?"
"Yeah."
She kept scrolling.
"That sounds like her," Elise said.
"It could be."
