Free Eternal by Kristi Cook

eat a lot of takeout, and escape the pink hearts and cupid cutouts that would take over campus for a few days. All we needed was Dr. Ackerman’s permission.
    I rose, plugging my phone back into its charger. “Okay, Sophie’s meeting me in the lounge and then we’re walking over to Ackerman’s office together. Want me to get you something from the vending machines?”
    “Yes! Skittles, please. Two bags and I’ll be your friend for life.”
    “Wow, if I’d known you were that easy, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble.”
    She wrinkled her nose at me. “Ha-ha. Now go,” she said, making a shooing gesture in my direction. “You’ll feel much better when this is all settled.”
    “Okay, wish us luck.” We were going to need it, since the administration frowned on last-minute weekend pass requests. Somehow we’d have to couch this as an educational opportunity, highlighting our plan to visit the museum.
    “You got it, girlfriend,” Cece said with a grin.
    I beat Sophie to the lounge. I’d already bought three bags of Skittles—two for Cece, one for me—when she arrived, out of breath and sporting a thin sheen of perspiration on her forehead.
    “What’d you do, run? Where were you?”
    “Over at the chem lab,” she huffed and puffed. “With Tyler and Dr. Byrne.”
    “So, you really are doing it? Working on Aidan’s serum?”
    She nodded. “We really are. It’s pretty cool too.”
    I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
    “Right back at you,” she said with a smile, then pointed to the colorful bags I was clutching in one hand. “What’s with all the Skittles?”
    “Cece has a sweet tooth. So, how is it working out with Tyler? I can yell at him if he’s being obnoxious.”
    Oddly enough, Sophie’s cheeks reddened. She bent down, fiddling with her shoelaces. “No, it’s . . . he’s fine.”
    “Um, okay.” I refused to allow myself to read anything into her reaction.
    “Just let me check my mail, and then let’s go,” Sophie said, smoothly changing the subject. “I think Ackerman’s office hours end in fifteen minutes and we don’t want to miss her.”
    I nodded, following Sophie over to the mail cubbies. I almost never checked mine, since I rarely got anything. Except . . . there was a small padded envelope sitting there in my box. Maybe something from Lupe? She’d sent me the delicate silver crucifix necklace last year, which I still wore tucked under my shirt every day—a link to home and to the people I loved there.
    I reached for the envelope, turning it over in my hands. It was addressed to me in an unfamiliar hand, with no return address.
    “What’s that?” Sophie asked, peering over my shoulder.
    “I have no idea. I’m almost afraid to open it.” My hands were shaking, I realized. Something about this felt . . . off.
    The postmark was dated January sixth. Had it really been that long since I’d checked my mailbox?
    Ignoring the feeling of unease, I ripped open the seal and reached inside, pulling out the packet’s contents with a frown. It was a small, cream-colored square card with a key taped to it. Beneath the key, there were four numbers—a security code, maybe?—and a single word scrawled in script. Trevors.
    Aidan’s butler, Trevors, had sent me a key. A key to what ?
    “Okay, that’s weird.” Sophie examined it, then lifted her gaze to meet mine. “It looks like a house key, right?”
    “Maybe,” I said, my heart accelerating as I considered the possibilities. A key . . . to a house. Aidan’s house? If so, what did that mean? Was it some sort of sign from Trevors, a hint that maybe Aidan was somehow back in Manhattan? My stomach did a little flip-flop, my mind racing dangerously fast as I processed the thought. Was it possible, or just wishful thinking?
    Only one way to find out, and that meant obtaining the necessary weekend pass.
    “We’ve got to get to Dr. Ackerman’s office,” I said,