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I hadn’t been able to tear my eyes away from the jack-o’-lanterns on the balcony, even as I stood outside on Saturday morning.

Waiting by the Cadillac, I watched my breath steam up the cool October air.

This was the best fall I’d ever had. It was the most I’d ever felt at home.

Every day with the Feverpoint Freaks felt like an adventure. Even if that was sometimes terrifying.

In all the cutesiness of our fall activities, it was easy to forget what life outside of this park was like. Just past the chainlink fence and iron gates, Valemont was descending into religious fervor and chaos.

And we still had a job to do.

If we had any chance at protecting this creepy old park that I’d come to think of as home, we needed to figure out where this DMT was coming from.

The best lead we had was Radford University’s labs. We were onto something when we approached the Laniidae sisters about the university’s science labs. Because of LD and The Oracle’s tight grasp, we’d missed the mark.

But that didn’t mean the theory was dead. Especially after what we’d learned from Tracer.

Nash and Cyrus had spent the week casing Radford’s campus and looking for ways in. And they’d figured it out.

The three Freaks appeared from the loft together, each of them dressed in black, tactical gear.

Blade ran toward the Escalade and pulled open the back passenger door. “After you, Trinket.”

Once we were loaded into the SUV, we headed out of Valemont and farther up river toward Radford University. For the most part, we drove in silence. Each of us worried about the mission ahead.

But once the car rolled onto the perfectly paved streets of campus, Blade peered out the window and laughed. “Didn’t think I’d ever spend this much time at college.”

I let a snort escape my nose as I watched outside.

Hung on every streetlight were banners for various sports teams. The only one I recognized was for the women’s hockey team, the Reapers. Repeat champions, the team was pretty well known in Valemont and all the surrounding towns.

Alternating between the hockey, football, and soccer team posters were ads for LionShare, the betting market app I’d tried my hand at.

Weird.

My eyes caught on a huge gym facility, multiple floors and a footprint that spawned an entire academic building's square footage. And beyond that, I could see the huge cement building that houses the hockey rink.

“It’s quiet.” Nash sounded worried.

But Cyrus nodded. “That’s the hope. Campus is empty, Reaper’s away game.”

Catching Cyrus’s dark eyes in the rearview mirror, I asked, “How does that help us?”

“Less students in the buildings. More of a chance no one catches us.”

Blade let her tongue play with her lip piercings. “Might mean the security guards are too busy watching the game on their phone to do regular patrols.”

“Right.” I swallowed hard, the thought of breaking and entering making me nervous.

Laughing at myself, I couldn’t believe that’s what made me nervous.

Just a little while ago, I’d ended a man’s life during a hunt in Feverpoint — the very man whose identity brought us to this campus.

The grounds were well-manicured, smooth paths curving around each building. At the center of the campus, a towering stone building in a collegiate gothic style overlooked the rest of the lawn from atop a hill.

It surprised me that The Oracle hadn’t bothered to establish a presence here. The whole place was gorgeous, and given the sports culture, I was sure that some unseemly shit was going on under the surface. God only knew how many coverups this university was responsible for.

As we drove around, looking for the science building, I took in the rest of the college. It was a mix of ultra-modern and original buildings from when the school was founded in the 1800s.