Seeing the cafeteria now that it was mostly empty, I realized it resembled the one at my old school. The room was huge filled with tables in the center and the bains-marie lined the entire length of the opposite wall. I grabbed a plate. There wasn’t much left to choose from aside from left-overs. I opted for some Mexican rice. Christine grabbed a seat at a table on the opposite side of the room. As I passed the table of guys one of them wolf whistled.
Oh my God.
I felt as though everyone’s eye was on me as I walked to join Christine. I kept my head down, trying to hide my tinged cheeks. I quickly sat down, thankful to be away from those guys.
“Don’t worry about them. They are just happy to have some new meat on campus,” Christine explained.
“Meat? What a classy way of putting it.” I swallowed back the disgust. It didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t like being the center of attention. We ate in silence well apart from Rascal who sat on the table trying to eat my rice. I set a spoonful on the table for him to eat.
“So, what did you do to get yourself here?” I asked.
Christine was silent for a moment, averting her gaze.
“Sorry,” I said. “I know people don’t like to talk about it. I just thought… I thought maybe we could share.”
Finally she looked up at me. “Long story short, I got into some bad stuff with a shifter that I used to know. Which led me to getting caught, and here I am.” She picked away at the bread on her plate. I didn’t push her further. I was dying to know what had happened, but it obviously still hurt her to talk about it.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I, uh, turned my cousin into a… into ash.” Tears welled up in my eyes and fell gently down my cheeks. I’m a monster, a killer, and deserve my time here.
“I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose; you seem too sweet. You wouldn’t be here crying if you meant it.” Christine touched my arm, giving it a squeeze.
I wiped away the tears and gave her a tight smile. Christine may have been right, but I still killed someone—and nothing would bring Miranda back.
We spent the rest of our time eating in silence. I was thankful when the rowdy boys left the cafeteria.
“I better head off. It’s getting late.” Christine stood and took her plate to the tray station.
She gave Rascal a pat on his head when she came back by the table and went off to her dorm room.
After I cleared my plate away, I walked toward my room, thinking about how Ms. Marble seemed impressed with my volunteering this afternoon. I just hoped she’d put in a good word with Principal Grayson and gave me some extra points.
My door was slightly ajar when I reached it. I pushed it open and stepped inside. I made a mental note to have a word with Laurel about leaving the door open. That couldn’t be safe in a house full of magic-lawbreakers.
Once inside, I froze and almost ran straight back out. There Killian was, sitting on my bed talking to Laurel. What the hell? I looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to figure out the situation. They weren’t sitting on the same bed, but there was an intense look between them and they were speaking in hushed tones, stopping when I walked in. Were they a thing? Had I just walked in on something?
Killian’s black cat hissed at Rascal, who ran to my bed and burrowed beneath the sheets to hide.
Killian locked eyes with me for a moment. He tilted his head, looking me up and down as a smirk slowly formed on his lips. And then he pushed himself up off the bed. As he brushed past me, our arms touched. A tingle spread over my skin.
“See you later, girls,” he said, staring straight at me, and then he winked. My heart hammered against my chest. That sexy little wink had caused my body to stir. “Come on, Marshall.” His black cat pranced after him.
With that, Killian was gone, the click of the door as he shut it behind him sounding like a gunshot in my head.
Chapter Seven
As much as I wanted to ask Laurel what the two of them had been talking about, I bit my cheek and grabbed some clean clothes to change into. After showering off the smell of cookies, I walked back into the bedroom to find Laurel lounging on her bed with earbuds in her ears. One leg was crossed over the other, and she bounced it in beat with the music playing from her phone.
My hair was still damp, so I rubbed the strands in a towel and turned toward the window. Through the dark of night, pinpricks of light shone on the school grounds—lamps that lit the walkways near the woods. I stepped closer to the window. The land was actually quite pretty. I couldn’t see much at this late hour, so I made a note to go explore during the day between classes. I wondered if Rascal would enjoy a brisk walk. Hopefully, he wouldn’t run away. I was sure I would lose points if that happened. But for now, he looked pretty cozy sprawled out on my bed, tummy up and snoring.
Just as I was about to step away from the window, movement near the woods caught my eye. Thinking it might have been a figment of my imagination, I narrowed my eyes and leaned closer to the window. As I did, I knocked over Laurel’s notebook, which sat on the desk in front of the window.
“Hey, watch it,” she said.
I wanted to apologize, but I was concentrating too much on the spot in the woods. There was movement again, but my eyes couldn’t settle on a figure.
“What are you doing?” Laurel asked.
I sensed her beside me, and then her head was next to mine, trying to spot what I was looking at.
“I saw something move out there.”
“Where?”
“There—near the woods.” My fingertip settled on the cold window, and my eyes continued to search for the moving shadow.
“I don’t see anything.”
“I swear there’s something there.”
“Wait.” She was quiet for a moment.
I spared her a glance and could see that the glow of her eyes got a bit brighter. “You see something?”
The glow diminished. “I thought I did, but no, I don’t think anything is there. Maybe it was just a tree branch swinging. Or an animal?”
“It’s not windy. And it looked bigger than an animal. Unless it was a bear or something.”
She backed away, but her eyes were still focused outside. “I don’t know. Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”
I held my towel close to my body, an uneasy feeling coming over me.
“Don’t worry about it,” Laurel said, finally looking away from the window and heading back to her bed. “We’re safe here. Don’t you know Grayson has a protection spell guarding this place?”
I shrugged. “Makes sense, I guess.”
“Just get some sleep. We’ve got an early class tomorrow.”
It took a minute for me to stop staring out the window, but eventually, when no other movements of shadows caught my eye, I gave in to reason and headed to bed.
It was thunder that woke me. Glancing at my phone, I saw that I’d only been asleep for a couple of hours. The muted moonlight that shone through the window rested upon Laurel’s sleeping form. The thunder hadn’t woken her. In fact, she didn’t stir at all. Part of me was jealous that she could block out the disturbing noise. I wasn’t sure if her owl even slept. It seemed to permanently have its eyes open. My focus turned back to the window. It wasn’t raining, but I could just make out the slow movement of clouds in the night sky. A storm brewed nearby.
I kicked my feet over the side of the bed, drawn to look outside. Rascal let out a tiny growl in his sleep, obviously not happy with me moving the sheets around. I needed to inspect the window. Maybe there were shutters on the outside I hadn’t noticed. If so, I could close them and block out some of the noise. But when I reached the window I found that there were no such shutters.
I narrowed my eyes and focused on the slow movements of the trees, their branches swaying in the wind. And then I saw it. Not only was there a shadowed movement exactly where I had spotted it before, but I could have sworn I saw eyes.<
br />
I covered my mouth to hold back a gasp, ducking closer to the glass to see if I could make out whatever person or creature might be out there. But it was too dark. The only way I’d be able to figure out what might be staring back at me from the woods would be to…
Don’t be stupid, Reagan. You can’t go out there. It’s the middle of the night. And it’s probably not safe.
As logical as I wanted to be, my curiosity would not let go of its grasp on me. I had to go out there. I had to find out if there was someone—or something—lurking near the school.
To hell with it.
I turned on my heel and grabbed my jeans. Quickly shuffling into them, I threw on my sweat jacket and snatched up my shoes, heading for the door. Glancing over my shoulder before I left the room, I saw that Laurel was still fast asleep. After gently shutting the door behind me, I quietly made my way toward the stairs. As I reached them, a dark figure to my left made my heart skip a beat. My hand slammed to my chest in shock, and then I almost let out a laugh when I realized it was Christine standing in the hall. She wore pink sweatpants and a Wonder Woman t-shirt. Her brows were drawn in confusion, and there was a glass of milk in her hand.
“Christine, you scared me half to death,” I whispered.
“Sorry,” she whispered back. “I didn’t know anyone else would be up.”
“What are you doing?”
“Couldn’t sleep, so I decided to grab some warm milk. It’s something my mom always gave me when I had trouble sleeping. What are you doing?”
“I… I thought I saw something. Outside.”
She eyed the shoes in my hands. “You’re not going out there, are you?”
I swallowed hard, barely believing I was actually doing it. “I know this sounds crazy, but I swear something was out there staring at me through my window. And earlier—when we went to make cookies—I felt like someone or some… thing… was watching me.”
“You don’t need me to tell you how utterly stupid it is to go out there, do you?”
I grimaced. “Deep down, I know it is, but I just have to find out. If I don’t go out there to check, I will literally lose my mind.”
She pressed her lips together in thought. “Give me a minute.”
“What?”
“I’m going with you.” She didn’t look pleased with this decision.
“No. What? Why?”
She set the glass of milk on a small table in the hall. “You know this building is protected, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that protection doesn’t include the school grounds. Or at least, not as far out as the surrounding woods. So I’m going with you.”
“I can’t ask you to risk it.”
“Well, you’re not. This is my decision—albeit a reluctant one. Do you know how shitty I’d feel if something happened to you out there? Safety in numbers. Plus, two witches is better than one, right?”
I bit back a smile. “Okay.”
“I’ll just grab my shoes and my jacket.” She grabbed her milk and left me alone in the hall.
In a matter of minutes, she was back from her room and joined me in descending the stairs. We snuck through the old, creepy house together toward the front door. Luckily, Grayson wasn’t crazy enough to lock the students in and hide the key; a simple turn of the lock was all we needed to get the door open.
The wind of the oncoming storm was icy, but it still hadn’t begun to rain. I stuck my hands in the pockets of my sweat jacket and tried to stop shivering. Or maybe it was fear that was making me shake.
“Where did you see it?” Christine asked.
“Over there.” I gestured with my head, and then we headed in the direction of the mysterious shadows.
Try as I might, I couldn’t slow my heart rate. The pounding was so hard, I thought my heart would burst through my chest. The closer we got to the woods, the more my brain felt it was buzzing. Probably my common sense on high alert trying to tell me how stupid this was. But still, I couldn’t turn back. I just had to know what was out here.
The wall of trees seemed to grow in front of us as we neared the edge of the school grounds. An owl hooted, and a few bats flew over our heads. Lightning struck somewhere in the distance, followed not to long after by a heavy roar of thunder. I shivered, wondering if Christine was as creeped out as I was. My eyes darted left and right, searching for any sign of moving shadows.
“I don’t see anything,” Christine said. “Are you sure—”
“Shh, wait!”
We were both silent. I thought I’d heard the rustling of leaves, like someone walking near us. We stood there, not moving, not speaking, barely breathing, waiting for the sound to come again. Christine looked at me with questioning eyes. I bit my lip.
“I don’t hear it anymore.” My shoulders drooped, and I couldn’t help the feeling of foolishness that flooded through me. “Maybe it really was nothing.”
Christine put a hand on my shoulder. “No, I believe you. But whatever it was, it seems like it’s gone now. We should head back.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I let out a sigh. “Let’s go.”
When we both turned around to face the school, I let out a quick yelp of surprise. Christine slapped a hand over her own mouth, muffling her scream, her other hand grabbing me hard on the arm.
Before us stood Principal Grayson in a long, black coat.
“What do you two think you are doing out here?” she asked. “It is way past curfew, and you are not allowed this far away from the school.”
Christine let go of my arm.
It took a second before I could find my voice. “I’m sorry, Principal Grayson. I just thought I—”
“There is absolutely no excuse for breaking any of the rules, Miss Dakana. You and Miss Lawson have just been penalized fifty points each. You must return immediately to your rooms before I deduct fifty more.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Christine said. She ducked her head down and started to make her way toward the school.
“Is there a problem, Miss Dakana?” Principal Grayson asked.
“No. Sorry.”
She pursed her lips, turning to walk back to the school. I followed, feeling stupid and disappointed in myself for breaking rules and losing points.
After taking a couple of steps, a strange sound reached my ears. It was the faint sound of a music box melody floating out from the woods. I froze in place, curious, but the sound stopped almost as quickly as it had started. I waited, searching the woods with my eyes and wondering if I had imagined it.
“Miss Dakana?”
I swung back around to find Principal Grayson glaring at me.
“Sorry.” I swallowed hard.
“Do I have to repeat myself?” she asked.
“No, no. I’m coming.”
I trudged along behind her, fighting off the shiver that crept down my spine and forcing myself not to look over my shoulder.
Chapter Eight
I tightened my laces, my feet snug in my running shoes. The familiar feel of them brought me comfort. I stood on the path that bordered the woods and stretched out my legs, warming up my tired muscles and getting my blood flowing. The air was crisp and clean, and I breathed it in as if I had been denied air all week.
The school was quiet. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought it was abandoned. There were no movements in any of the windows and no staff out in the gardens. But it was early yet, the sun barely peeking above the horizon—my favorite time to go for a run.
I studied the path ahead of me, setting my goal. I hadn’t yet followed the path around the school, and I was unsure of its exact course, but I aimed to run its circumference once before classes started.
I took off, minding my pace and my breathing. I knew not to push myself too hard at the start of my run, otherwise I’d run out of steam quickly. I found a comfortable stride while taking in the scenery around me.
The path wound
around the front of the school, past the entrance and the stone statues of witches I didn’t’ recognize. Low, brick divider wall sectioned off each statue, and I had a feeling it was more than the walls keeping the statues safe. Christine had said the school was protected, but not the woods, and I wondered if the statues situated around the school marked the border of where that magical protection ended.
I followed the curve of the path toward the west side of the school, where taller and denser trees loomed in the forest. The path deviated through a patch of trees, and as my surroundings grew darker, I wondered if I had missed a turn somewhere and was headed in the wrong direction. Glancing over my shoulder, the sky seemed to darken. What happened to the sunrise?
I slowed my pace, my breath catching as a cold wind whipped around me. The tree branches pitched as a whistle carried on the wind. Birds escaping the thrashing branches took off, their beating wings sounding like loud claps echoing in the air. I continued forward, but the path turned to pebbles and eventually died out. Now I knew I’d made a wrong turn. Dammit!
Turning swiftly, I made my way back in the direction I’d come, wondering why the sky was getting darker instead of lighter. I shivered, the air hitting me like ice. Up ahead, a figure moved between the trees. I stopped, holding my breath.
I wanted to call out to ask who was there, but my voice stuck in my throat.
I watched for the moving figure but couldn’t spot it. Slowly, I moved one foot in front of the other, feeling the urgency to get back to the school.
And then I heard it. That faint melody from a music box. It was only a few notes, but there was something oddly familiar about it. Not only from last night. Something about it triggered an emotion inside of me. I thought it was fear, but there was something more.
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