II.

The Grand Library was easily the most impressive building on the Rosewood Academy campus, which was quite an accomplishment when the campus in question had over 100 buildings, each worth millions.

The gilded floor tiles in the Heritage Center and the silver chandeliers in the Legacy House couldn't hold a candle to the library with its marble tables, red velvet carpet, stained glass windows and massive collection of valuable books. Despite its beauty, most Rosewood Academy students had never seen the inside of the place. Some were too afraid to step foot in the building, fearing they would shatter some antique or tear a page in some first-edition Jane Austen novel.

But most students never ventured into the library simply because they didn't feel worthy.

On a normal day, Hanna was one of those students ― the scholarship kids who felt too dull to sit among so much shine and wealth. A pebble among diamonds.

Today, though, she had someone to see, and she knew he would be there, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Caleb Rivers sat on a leather armchair in the main room, slouched into the cushions with a laptop on his knees. He had that smirk on his face, like he knew just how much he didn't belong and didn't care at all. Hanna had always admired that about him, though she would never tell him that.

Her relationship with Caleb was strictly business; she needed someone to fix her perpetually broken laptop, and he needed sustenance money. Their system worked beautifully.

Hanna sat in the armchair beside him, feeling self-conscious. She could feel about a dozen eyes turn on her instantly. Judging from the way Caleb's smirk widened, she knew he could feel them too.

"What brings the princess to see the pauper this afternoon?" he said, not even looking up from his computer screen. This was an old joke between them, going back as far as their first year at the Academy. At first glance, Hanna could have been one of the legacies ― the students whose families practically owned the boarding school, the kind of girls who crushed gems and used them as bath salts. She curled her blonde hair meticulously each day and made sure not even a drop of lip gloss was smudged. Caleb had pegged her as a princess from the start; imagine his surprise when they ended up in Cavanaugh Hall together ― the dorms known all around campus as a refuge for scholarship students. The peasants of the school.

And suddenly, Hanna wasn't such a princess anymore. But by then, the name had stuck.

Hanna shifted her purse from her left to her right, opening it cautiously. "I have a mystery for you to solve."

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "I've upgraded from peasant to detective. And it's only taken four years." He shut his laptop and turned to her, grinning. "What's up?"

"I got a message from a blocked number yesterday," Hanna said quietly. She took her phone out of her bag and handed it over. The text was saved. She knew it word for word now.

Caleb let out a low whistle as he read it. "What was in your drawers?" he asked.

"This." She opened her purse just enough for him to see the evidence sitting in her bag ― the matches, the gloves, the canteen. The smell of gas seeped out. She shut the bag. "Whoever this 'A' person is ― I think they're going to try to frame me."

"Who would want to do that?"

"No idea. That's where I need your help."

"Tracing a blocked number? Pre-school stuff." Caleb smirked. "But tracing a blocked number through only a text message ― that's more like grad school. It'll take a lot of work."

"I have cash." Hanna handed him an envelope. "Five hundred, to start with."

"Well, damn, Princess. That's quite a price tag."

"If I get framed for arson?" Hanna shook her head. "My scholarship money, my whole future ― shot to the ground. This is nothing compared to what I could lose."

Caleb nodded. He knew what it was like to depend on scholarships here, on maintaining near perfect grades and squeaky clean records. One misstep and you could easily find yourself standing outside the locked Rosewood Academy gates without a penny to your name.

"Okay," Caleb said, pocketing the cash. "I'll see what I can do."