The Book of Firsts

Forty-Two

Next morning, I was woken by a call around eight.

"I’m enjoying the excuse to telephone you, Cheshire," Kyou said. "I’m going to struggle not to make a habit of it, but unfortunately I think we’ve already been a little too carefree."

I was slow in responding because, with only a short break in the middle, I’d slept for a very long time, particularly for me, and was feeling overslept rather than refreshed.

"Bad, or just dubious news?"

"Jury’s still out," came Rin’s voice. "But we have a prime suspect for you."

"For all of us," added Bran, harsh voice made even more jagged by a growling note.

"Who?"

"Tomas Mikkelveldt," Kyou replied, lightly. "You may have met, or at least seen him. President of the Literature Club, and Meggan’s not-really new boyfriend."

"Oh, yeah, he was on the dive trip. But I don’t remember seeing him at the Refectory." I curled onto my side, then hissed in pain.

"Cheshire?" Rin asked.

"It’s too cold to get out of bed to take my painkillers," I said. "I’m working my way up to it."

He laughed, but then said: "Go medicate, and we’ll call you back in five minutes."

The connection immediately cut out, which made me blink, but I guessed he understood me enough to know my curiosity was stronger than my dislike of being cold. I debated taking my blankets for a walk, but my wrist objected to the idea, so I dashed quickly around my apartment, and was back under the covers by the time Kyou called back.

"I don’t remember seeing Tomas at the Refectory," I repeated.

"You passed him in the corridor, just outside the door. He must have stopped and turned around when he saw you filming, which is why we’re focusing on him."

"But what does he have against me?" I asked, snuggling down so the blanket was over my head. "Or—do you think he’s the person targeting you?"

"He was on our long list of suspects," Kyou said. "Tomas is both clever and cautious, which fits being able to pull off these boobytraps. He’s also been fourth place in a lot of exam rankings, and I know he resents that. But most of all there’s Meggan."

"Played loyal knight for years," Bran said, sounding disgusted.

"You said a while back that only Meggan could control when Meggan moved on," Kyou continued. "But Tomas, who has been offering her a shoulder to cry on, could certainly suggest a little pretence to in theory make Bran jealous, but in reality try to push him over the edge. Or at least create circumstances Tomas could use to completely eliminate his rival."

I processed that. "You mean, he could have done something a little more direct to make Bran not come back that night? And everyone would blame Bran’s disappearance on Bran’s feelings for Meggan." I paused. "I have a sudden sinking feeling I know why he would risk offering a sly shove to a near-stranger. At least, I doubt that was some kind of literary comment on the genre my father writes in."

"If he was watching to ambush me that night, he missed his chance," Bran said, sounding completely disgusted. "But he might have seen me coming back. And then you."

"I did wait a long time, but there’s nothing else in that direction, so it probably would raise suspicion for anyone paying attention."

"And after the trip Bran was flaunting evidence he has a new girlfriend," Kyou continued. "With the result that Meggan is upset, wavering for the first time since her ultimatum. If Tomas is as vindictive as this chain of attacks suggests, then injuring you could purely be because you’ve indirectly hurt Meggan—but more likely it’s a test to see how Bran reacts. Confirming that you’re Bran’s girlfriend, bringing it out into the open, could push Meggan toward letting Bran go. Or perhaps hurting you is simply a way of striking at Bran."

"Being around hot guys is so dangerous," I murmured. "So, what now?"

"First, all of us are going to behave very much as usual, in order to get Tomas' attention off you," Rin said.

"And in future suppress our tendency to take second looks when we see you passing," Kyou added. "We’ve grown too complacent."

"Our previous plan was to give our pest an opportunity to poison Bran," Rin said. "We proposed a Festival cake competition, and were hoping for arsenic sprinkles."

"Unfortunately, this occurred to faculty as well," Kyou said. "They’re very firm on the subject of risk minimisation."

"First a hidden camera in the Literature Club," Bran said impatiently. "And a keyboard logger on the PC in there, along with his laptop if we can get our hands on it. The aim being to see what passwords he uses, unlock his phone, get some software on it. Once we have that, we can track him everywhere."

"Even with that, we have to catch him in the act, and he’s not silly enough to fall for obvious traps," Kyou added. "Nor is he the personality type that will confess everything once we’ve pulled off the mask. We certainly can’t go to the faculty with our little collection of supposition."

"Bringing him to justice is nice in theory. Bringing him to his knees is the primary goal."

Rin’s tone was light, but I was left in no doubt he meant exactly what he said. Not that I was in any mood to object.

"We’ll move after we’ve confirmed to our satisfaction that he’s responsible," Bran said, softly. "And you, Cheshire…"

"Will restrain yourself from kicking him down any stairs, at least until we’re around to watch and applaud," Kyou said. "Or, at least, until you can do so without being expelled."

"I haven’t confirmed to my satisfaction that he’s responsible, either," I pointed out. "I’ll be taking precautions to avoid being an easy target."

"Do you need anything while you’re off?" Rin asked.

"I plan to catch up on some reading while avoiding today’s particularly horrible weather. I doubt I’ll even go outside until Thursday."

"No wall climbing for now," Kyou said. "So, I’ll meet you at the fence on Friday, Cheshire."

"See you then," I said, reflecting that Friday would be the first time I knew which of them I’d meet.

After the call ended, I spent even more time considering the word wavering, then put the whole question aside and read the first draft of my Dad’s latest book. Other people’s feelings would never be in my control. For my own, I could only be sure I didn’t want Bran and Meggan to get back together.