Great. I’m stepping in one sinkhole after another. “Ash is interesting…I, well…He’s cute.” True, but totally meaningless. And it places me well within the clueless range.

Blackwood leans back in her chair like she’s wondering how deep I’m going to dig myself in—I’m wondering the same thing. “Dating is not allowed,” she says flatly.

“But looking is, right?” I know I’m pushing it here, but if I don’t sell this reason, she’s going to go digging for another.

For a second, she doesn’t move. Then she says, “I’m going to lay this out for you as plainly as I can, November, because otherwise I fear you will yammer on about every kind of nonsense, and I don’t have time for nonsense. Last night you were out of your room. Last night one of our students was murdered. If there is some evidence or reason that I should not suspect you, you should state it now.”

“I…” I’m completely at a loss. “I’m sorry I left my room and broke the rules. I shouldn’t have. But I absolutely did not kill anyone. I wouldn’t do that. I just wouldn’t.”

“Did Layla know you were gone?”

I resist the urge to rub my forehead, because I can’t show them how rattled I am. This is bad. Real bad. “No. But she heard me when I came back.”

“Did you speak?” Blackwood asks.

I nod. “I told her I was out with Ash and she got angry.”

“Did she report you?”

“I told her she didn’t have to because a guard had already seen me.”

“Which hallways did you take that night?”

It takes all my willpower to stay still. “I took the staircase closest to my room.” Does she know I’m lying? Can she see it?

“And Ashai?”

I pause. “I don’t know.”

“But you were with him.”

“I was paying too much attention to not getting caught myself that I honestly couldn’t say which way he went.”

“But he came and left when you did?”

“I assume so.”

“But you don’t know.”

I want to say something that prevents Ash from looking suspect. The last thing I need in this dangerous situation is to make an enemy out of him. But for the life of me, I can’t think of anything. “No, I don’t.”

“Whose idea was it to go to the vine courtyard?”

I tense. “Ash’s. Well, both of ours, really. It’s my favorite place on campus.”

“And Ash was generous enough to break the rules to show it to you?” There is an insistence in her tone, and I know that I’ve somehow made this worse, not better.

“We just thought it would be fun.”

“And how was Ash benefiting from this arrangement?”