“Alice,” I whisper. “Something happened—”

“Not talking to you.”

“Come on,” I hiss. “Back at the campfire, there was a—” God, I don’t know where to start. “It was the fight, I think—”

“Quit the chatter,” Deputy Norris orders. I catch his eyes in the mirror. He raises a brow as if to say, Say something. I dare you. I shutter my gaze and look away.

After a few minutes, Norris speaks up. “So, Carolina. My kid applied couple a years ago—he didn’t get in. Tough school to crack. Pricey, too.”

Neither one of us knows what to say to that.

“How’d y’all swing it?”

We both hesitate. Swing what? Getting accepted, or the cost? Alice answers first. “Scholarship.”

“How ’bout you, girlfriend?” Norris’s eyes find me in the mirror. “I’m guessin’ need-based?”

Alice stiffens, and my hackles raise. I’m not his girlfriend, and I’m not ashamed to have financial aid, but that’s not what he’s asking—“Affirmative action?” is written all over his knowing sneer.

“Merit,” I bite out through gritted teeth, even though it’s none of his business either way.

He chuckles. “Sure.”

I breathe through a surge of impotent rage. My fingers curl into my thighs, tensing with all of the things I can’t afford to say right now.

After a few minutes, the car slows. We’re still miles from campus and there’s no intersection or car in sight, just a straight two-lane road illuminated by the squad car’s headlights. Then I see why Norris is stopping. Two figures have emerged from the tree line on the other side of the road. As the squad car pulls closer, lights on full, the figures cover their eyes with raised hands. Norris rolls to a stop beside them, turns the volume down, and lowers his window. “Late to be out for a stroll.”

“Norris, is it?” The blood drains from my face at the sound of that voice.

Deputy Norris’s shoulders tense. “Kane.” His eyes slide to the left. “Morgan. Sorry about that. Didn’t recognize y’all.”

Alice leans against her own window to get a better look at who I know to be Selwyn and Tor. Nosy Legendborn.

“I noticed,” Sel says smoothly. He bends at the waist, and I direct my eyes straight ahead, face blank. In my peripheral vision I see his gaze linger on me for a moment, then move to Alice. His attention sets my nerves on fire. “Stragglers from the Quarry?”

“Yep,” Norris confirms. He hesitates, then clears his throat. “Anything to be concerned about there?”

Selwyn stands. “Not anymore.”

“Glad to hear it.” Norris’s chuckle is tight. Nervous.

Norris knows. He knows.

“Is that all?” Sel asks dryly. If Norris is offended that he, a Durham County Sheriff’s deputy and full-grown man, is being as good as dismissed by a teenage boy, he doesn’t show it.