“I almost didn’t find it,” I admitted, thanking the Old Ones that I had.
Dr. Sherman made a dismissive sound deep in her throat. “I never doubted you for a second.” Her eyes flashed with what looked strangely like pride before she turned to touch Katherine’s arm. Once again, they seemed to communicate without words.
“Well, it seems my attention is needed elsewhere.” Katherine turned to me again. “I look forward to seeing you both at the next meeting.” She locked her gaze on mine for a long moment as if looking straight into my soul.
Then she was gone, striding away on incredibly long legs to where a group of women waited to speak with her. My breath whooshed out as I reached for Rory’s hand without looking. I found it waiting.
“I can die happy now,” she whispered, squeezing lightly.
“Can’t die,” I said in a shaky voice. “We’ve got too much to do.” I shook my head in disbelief. “We’re sisters now.”
Daniella’s sharp laugh just inches behind us cut my joy off at the knees. I turned slowly, wishing I could ignore her, but knowing civility would go further here than outright bitchiness. I was already on thin ice. Her emerald eyes glinted with disgust and a fine sheen of jealousy that I should have been able to enjoy, but there was something deadly in those eyes that chilled my blood.
She arched a perfect brow and pitched her voice just high enough for everyone around us to hear. “And exactly how long do you expect to remain a member of The Sisterhood once I have you expelled from Alpha Wolf Academy for assault?”
A multitude of eyes shifted to look directly at me.
Heat spread quickly from my stomach, where a million determined butterflies were trying to kill me, up my neck to set my cheeks on fire. It felt as if everyone was waiting for an answer that I was physically incapable of giving right now. My mouth opened and closed but no words came out. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know how to when every shred of hope I’d scraped together to make my life at AWA tolerable was in jeopardy of being torn from my hands.
Chapter 11
I reread the same paragraph I’d been on for the last ten minutes then closed my copy of The Cruel Prince. It was too good a book to ruin with nerves and butterflies. I checked the time again.
After lunch, that’s what I’d told Bash in the text. No specific time, just after lunch. I chided myself for being so foolish now but, at the time, I’d been torn between The Sisterhood and meeting him. Patience was not my strong suit, but I was going to have to suck it up and wait until he got here.
It would help if I could stop sweating.
I stood up and twisted, reveling in the satisfying crack of my spine. I’d been curled up in my favorite chair for almost an hour, basking in the sunlight filtering through the solarium windows and pretending to read the newest Holly Black book. On the surface I’m sure I looked totally casual, that was my plan after all. Inside, though, I was a ball of nerves. What if Bash wanted to tell me face to face that we were over or that his parents were having me kicked out of AWA?
Hope and anxiety warred inside my stomach, making it churn furiously. I tasted copper and realized I’d been chewing my cheek again, a bad habit I’d never been able to break. Sometimes I didn’t realize I was stressed out until I tasted blood. This time, I was well aware of my stress.
For someone who’d never wanted to attend a fancy university, I sure was concerned about getting kicked out. Things had changed since my first day here. I’d met a guy that made my blood sing, forged a friendship that felt as solid as family, and became part of a world-wide sisterhood.
There was nowhere in the world I wanted to be more than right here at Alpha Wolf Academy.
A yawn snuck free before I could stifle it completely, making me wish I’d grabbed a cup of coffee before leaving the cafeteria. I’d been pleasantly surprised to discover the vast assortment of coffees available on what had been dubbed the Go-Juice Bar by students and faculty alike. I guess the academy could afford the best with the prices they charged for tuition.
I looked out the window at the quad where students milled about, enjoying the sun, and my thoughts turned to my parents. They were the hardest working people I knew but we’d never been able to do the things other families had. There’d just been no extra money for vacations or big houses. Not that I’d ever minded. Our little three-bedroom house on the ocean had always been a haven to me.
I opened my phone and starting flicking through the images until I got to one of me looking out over the water from our backyard. Mom had snapped it in secret while I’d been daydreaming and had it framed for the living room. Looking at it now, my heart ached for the simplicity of home and the love I’d always felt there. My fingers flew over the keyboard.
Hey mom. Missing you guys today. Got lots to fill you in on. You’ll never guess in a million years who I met last night! Skype you later. Love you. Xoxo
I pressed send and frowned when my phone beeped to alert me that it didn’t send. Unconcerned, I resent the text and grumbled to myself when it still refused to work. Back home the internet had a habit of being spotty but I’d become accustomed to seamless access here. I was getting spoiled, I thought with a quirk of my lips. Superior coffee and internet were making me soft.
A wave of grumbling met my ears and I glanced up to see frowns on a multitude of faces as they stared at their screens.
“Is your internet gone?” a guy nearby asked aloud, pulling earbuds from his ears.
“Yeah,” someone confirmed with a sigh.
I slipped my phone into my pocket, figuring it would take a while for the IT crowd to fix whatever had gone wrong with the servers. I’d just have to find another way to occupy my mind while I waited for Bash.
A flash of black chrome from below caught my attention and I focused in on one of the guards approaching a group of guys who’d been tossing a football around like every guy in every university movie ever made.
Such a cliché, I thought.
Another guard appeared a moment later and, this time, I realized they were wearing something over their faces, like balaclavas. I leaned close enough to the glass to fog it with my breath.
In the second it took me to wipe my hand over the fog, the quad erupted in chaos. I gasped and jerked back from the window as I watched one of the guys, a big jock with a cocky grin, fall to the ground at his friends’ feet with a bullet hole through his forehead.
Chapter 12
Screams echoed from the quad and through the windows of the solarium. All around me, students who’d just been lounging or chatting quietly with friends, jumped up and raced to the windows to see what was happening.
They didn’t notice me fall back on unsteady legs with ragged breaths wheezing from my throat. They were too busy realizing that all Hell had just broken loose.
Hands reached for cell phones to take videos or call for help. Curses peppered the air as frustration and panic swept through the room. Then came the pop of gunfire.
A scream burst from a girl I’d seen around campus as she stood, frozen to the spot in front of the windows. Her eyes were wide with shock and her skin a sickly shade of gray as she lifted a finger to point.
I dared a glance. More guards had swarmed the quad, now, all with weapons drawn, corralling students towards the front doors of the administration building. And there, on the grass below us, two more students lay still and lifeless, their eyes wide with horror and fear.
My stomach threatened to rebel. I pressed a hand against my abdomen and jerked my head around, looking for somewhere, anywhere, to hide. While students clung to one another and cried, I raced into the stacks, searching for a room, a corner, anything.