Sierra fox hurried down the muddy path, typing a message on her phone.
Livestream ran late. Omw.It autocorrected to On my way! just as she hit send. Fantastic. The cheerful tone would make Xavier even angrier.
Sierra glared down at her heels, which were caked with dirt and crushed pine needles. “Ruined,” she muttered. And for what? Why did he need to meet her so far from everyone else? Things were bad between them, but it’s not like they were actually over. Her misstep had been a small thing. A forgivable mistake. Without Xavier . . .
She wouldn’t think about that.
Sierra breathed in the fresh air made sharp by the evergreens that cast long shadows over the ground. A few birds squawked overhead, but otherwise the path was silent. Her classmates were having lunch inside, away from the mud and the damp.
A loud rustling broke through the quiet. Sierra paused to listen, but the noise didn’t come again. Probably just a forest animal, she thought. It had sounded big, though, and she continued a little faster. No student had ever been attacked by a bear, but every year, Dean Whitaker reminded them not to go into the woods alone, especially during cub season.
Suddenly, a huge brown blur streaked across the path, almost hitting her.
“Ah!” Sierra shrieked, covering her mouth with a fist. She wanted to run, but she was frozen in place. The creature stopped a few yards into the woods. Trembling, Sierra forced herself to meet its eyes.
It was a baby doe.
“Stupid deer!” she yelled, sending the doe sprinting into the trees. Sierra tried to calm her racing heart. If she was freaking out over a cute little animal, she must be more nervous about meeting Xavier than she thought.
As she moved down the path, the knitting needles in her bag knocked against her arm, and she carefully shifted the tips away from her skin. Everyone else in the Stitch ’n’ Bitch Club she’d started used metal needles, but for Sierra, it was wood or nothing. She’d even had her initials burned into the ends.
The greenhouse at the bottom of the path was as lovely as the rest of campus. Tall panes of float glass rose in a Gothic arch, like something out of a storybook. A few special stained-glass pieces were set in casement above the door, which was closed.
Sierra frowned. Xavier had told her he would leave the door propped open, but maybe he hadn’t wanted the rain to blow in. She pressed her face against the nearest glass pane, careful not to smudge her makeup. Nothing moved inside.
The heavy scent of compost and violets made her nose wrinkle as she pushed the door open. It was surprisingly chilly in the greenhouse—nothing like its typical balminess. The last time she’d been inside was with . . . No, she wouldn’t think his name. He’d shown her the tobacco plants he’d been growing to make vape juice.
“You’ve got to be careful extracting the nicotine,” he’d said, pointing at a plant with broad green leaves. “It’s strong enough to take down a horse. Dope, right?”
Sierra had not thought it was dope. The only thing she disliked more than guys who smoked were guys who had a passion for killing things.
“Xavi?” she called into the space.
The only answer was a terrified flapping of wings as several birds escaped out a missing windowpane in the peaked roof, revealing the gray sky. She didn’t remember the opening being there when she was with him, but they’d been preoccupied with other things.
“Xavi, are you in here?” she asked again, walking between the rows of greenery, most of which had been planted by the forensic science students for their experiments.
The chill in the air entered Sierra’s bones. Had Xavier stood her up? Was it possible he was serious about dumping her? Angry tears pricked her eyes like needles. She wouldn’t let that happen. They belonged together.
A strange snuffling sound, like an animal crawling among the plants, made her hurry toward the table at the back of the greenhouse, where pothos vines spilled onto the ground, blocking her view of whatever was behind it.
Sierra stopped dead when she reached the table. Something white was sticking out at an odd angle, nearly touching the uprooted remains of the tobacco plants. There were plenty of tools lying around the greenhouse, but this was something else. Something she recognized.
Xavier’s shoe.
Sierra rushed around the corner, nearly twisting her ankle in her heels. When she saw what lay beyond the shoe, she screamed an endless agonized scream that traveled out of the greenhouse, up the path, and into the lunchroom.
At a table near the back door, Dulce Castillo’s ears perked up. Her best friend, Emi, was still talking about how unfair it was that Xavier Torres got picked for everything.
“Shh,” Dulce said. “Can you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Emi asked. “Everyone chomping on their food? Of course I can. It’s disgusting.”
“No, it sounds like—” Dulce paused, trying to listen over the sound of the noon church bells ringing down the road. “Never mind. It’s gone.”
Twenty minutes later, Sierra Fox came sprinting into the lunchroom from the hallway, her red curls in a tangle and her sheath dress covered in mud.
“Xavi’s in the greenhouse!” she screamed, her voice full of anguish. “He’s been murdered!”
Sierra gazed around the cafeteria in wide-eyed horror before crumpling to the ground. The entire student body fell silent.
Then everyone broke into applause.
“That was fast,” Emi said over the clapping. “Usually no one finds the body until after Labor Day.” She began stuffing chips into her mouth. “We should finish up so we can get to the greenhouse first. Early bird solves the murder.”
Dulce smiled. Xavier Torres was dead. The game had begun.
Copyright © 2025 by Lauren Muñoz. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
