Strange Academy (Hot Paranormal Romance) by Teresa Wilde Page B

stupid kid she’d been. Not a single one of those girls from the party was her friend now. And Pippa was dead. “I missed out on a lot.”
    “Don’t make me into a perfect person just because I’m dead, dear. I held a grudge too long, and it cost us both.” Moonlight bleached one side of Pippa’s face, while the other darkened with shadow. “But at least we can talk now.”
    “I know, it’s great, except for when—”
    “I bring up Gray?” Pippa interrupted, her face brightening with mischief.
    Sadie flinched. “That part makes me nervous.”
    “He’s just so dishy.” Pippa’s voice went dreamy.
    Sadie’s stomach churned. “I wish you’d stop saying those things.”
    “I’m a figment of your imagination, remember? So you’re the one saying them.”
    “That’s why I wish you’d stop.” She rubbed her forehead. “I saw him with his son yesterday.”
    Pippa started, her back snapping straight. “Gray doesn’t have a son.”
    “Sure he does,” Sadie countered. “Sterling.”
    “Nephew.”
    “Nephew? How do I know that?” And why did she feel so relieved there wasn’t a Mrs. Alumnus somewhere?
    “Um.” Dream Pippa bit her lip for a second before snapping her fingers. “Sterling doesn’t live in Gray’s apartment. If Gray was the boy’s father, he would, wouldn’t he?”
    “Right.” That made sense. “Now if I could only work out who murdered you. Pippa, I don’t understand any of the clues in the box. The symbolism of the skull is obvious—”
    “His name is Yorick. ”
    “The silver earrings are nice, too, and I’ve always wanted a bust of Athena, like in Poe’s ‘The Raven,’ but what kind of clue is a game of tiddlywinks?”
    Pippa sighed in exasperation. “How many times do I have to tell you no one murdered me, dear? And they aren’t clues. They’re just things you need.”
    She wished for the real Pippa, not her subconscious’s version. But it was the real Pippa who had given her these obscure clues instead of just telling her who she thought was going to kill her. “I saw Gray with Sterling yesterday. I walked around the corner and Gray was hugging Sterling. In a very manly way, of course—”
    Pippa shivered. Since she couldn’t be chilly, Sadie didn’t want to think what it meant. “Of course.”
    “Sterling had this miserable look on his face.” She frowned at the memory. “It’s the first emotion I’ve seen from him. He’s a cold little kid.”
    “Maybe not so cold.” Pippa pursed her lips. “Poor boy.”
    “His uncle looked almost as miserable, like his heart was breaking. Then he saw me and ripped into me for something. I can’t even remember what. Breathing, possibly. Nephew, huh?”
    “What are you thinking?” Shouldn’t Dream Pippa already know, being a manifestation of her own subconscious?
    “Family must be important to him.” Really important. The way he’d menaced her... “He put himself between me and Sterling like I was some kind of threat. I think he would have done the same thing if I were a rampaging elephant.”
    Pippa got her dreamy look again. “Heartwarming.”
    “In an annoying way,” she agreed. “Do you hear that pounding noise?”
    “I hope it’s Gray,” Pippa said.
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    It wouldn’t work. Gray reached around the marble statue to pound on the door, the pulse of pain in his knuckles a welcome distraction from his aching stress knot.
    Why the hell did it take her so long just to answer the damned door? To irritate him, of course. She calculated everything she did to drive him crazy, from the time he caught her spying on him and Sterling, to the kiss he hadn’t been able to forget for two weeks. Well, it wouldn’t work.
    The door swung inward and a thrown-together Sadie, still tying her lopsided robe around a willowy waist, peeped around Thalia. Fresh pillow marks pinked her right cheek, like she’d rolled out of bed, leaving her sleeping lover. She’d probably maneuvered that, too. It