Strange Academy (Hot Paranormal Romance) Read Online Free

hear that?” His voice had turned to a malicious growl.
    “G—Gray said it when he was in your office.” She stepped back. Christian loomed.
    Blue eyes that had seemed so warm and friendly now pierced her. She swallowed, unable to break from his gaze, unable to even blink. Pressure filled her ears and she had a dizzying feeling Christian could look into her mind.
    “Can you hear through walls, Sadie Strange? I’ll have to remember to watch out for you.”
    Then he laughed, the corners of his mouth quirking up. The odd look was gone. With it, the tension disappeared, like text deleted from a computer file. She felt more off balance than ever. It was all she could do to follow numbly.
    He stopped at the last door at the end of the corridor. “Are you sure about taking your aunt’s apartment?”
    “I’m sure.” She was suddenly eager to get rid of him. “I’ll just go in alone.”
    After Christian left, she stared at the round golden key in her hand for a long time. Maybe this was stupid, thinking she could live in her aunt’s old place. But how else could she have made sure no one else would go into the apartment? Hidden among Pippa’s things might be the clue she needed to figure it all out. She would search everything until she found evidence of the truth about her aunt’s death.
    She turned the key in the lock. The door opened a couple of inches and then became so heavy she had to shove with all her strength to squeeze through sideways.
    Aunt Pippa’s apartment was a tidy little hobbit-hole. Her stamp was all over it, from the literary prints on the walls to the chocolate-colored comfy chair and the couch patterned with whimsical swirls.
    The main room was larger than all her student apartments combined. On one side, the dining area had a round table actually made of wood, not laminate from Ikea. A warm amber glow came from the pendant lamp above it. On closer inspection, she saw that the amber teardrops making up the lamp were actual pieces of amber. Wow .
    Wow again: On the other side of the room, a curved window seat begged you to curl up with a favorite novel and a mug of thick hot chocolate and read the winter away. There were a dozen red cushions to sit on and a creamy throw blanket to ward off the chill. She intended to spend a lot of time there. But then she frowned. You don’t have a lot of time, remember? You’re just here long enough to answer a few questions.
    She passed a narrow kitchen lined with cupboards on both sides and walked down a short hallway to enter the master bedroom.
    The circular window allowed a round patch of white light to fall across Aunt Pippa’s yellow-flowered quilt on the canopy bed. Sadie’s steady, dull grief flared from the background, making her chest ache. She folded up the bedding, glad to have some fidgety thing to do. She could sleep in Pippa’s bed, but not under her sheets. She’d mail the quilt to her mother.
    So far, so good. No one would walk up to her and say Oh, by the way, Insert-Name-Here killed your aunt , but today had confirmed her suspicions.
    As she walked back into the main room, she felt completely justified in her behavior at the funeral. Her sister, the so-called psychic, was a faker who even had the police fooled into thinking she could help them with their investigation. Ha! Chloë wouldn’t know a crime if it came up and snatched her purse.
    Sadie froze in mid-step. Holy shit, the wall. Aunt Pippa’s wall was covered in bookshelves. Empty bookshelves.
    Her heart pole-vaulted into her throat as she looked closer. The pattern of dust silhouetted the missing books on every shelf, from floor to ceiling.
    Her hands tightened to angry fists as burning anger ripped her open. Someone had stolen all Pippa’s books. It would have taken hours to do it.
    Pure adrenaline poured through her veins as she spied what was in the door’s path, what had made it so hard to open earlier. Her brain struggled to put meaning to what she saw.
    The brown