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Alice shrugs. “I like the smell, don’t hate. Plus, you eat, and I need to feed my wife.”

I laugh softly and squeeze her before going to the bathroom to shower. I set the water temperature to scalding, trying to rid myself of the violation I’ve felt since I realized someone had been in my room, rifling through my things. It feels like an oily patina over my skin. It isn’t an unfamiliar sensation, just another layer. I am so tired of constantly looking over my shoulder, feeling as if I am being watched and hunted. After all these years, I should be used to it by now, but this feels like a whole other level. I scrub my skin until it’s bright pink and sore and desperately try to push the feelings away, containing them deep in the recesses of my mind.

51

Summer

My alarm goes off, early morning light streaming in through the window. Beside me, Alice growls softly and tugs the blankets up. I snatch my phone up and turn it off before I become a vampire’s breakfast. I slept fitfully, and for the few moments I was able to drift off, I was back in the forest, the feeling of being watched making my skin crawl. Gia’s lifeless corpse lay on the forest floor, her head turned so she was looking at me, the fear in her eyes present even in death.

I climb out of her bed and pad through the living room to my room. It doesn’t feel like mine anymore. Whoever had done this had meant to take from me, and they had succeeded. Some malevolent being had been in here yesterday. They had touched my things and destroyed some of them, but worse, they had taken what sense of home and security I had managed to carve out for myself here.

I push through the unease and walk through the room, going straight to the closet. As quickly as possible, I change into my running clothes and then hurry from my room. I burst through the door and nearly sprint down the stairs, shoving my earbudsin place. The first song of my running playlist blasts in my ears, and I already feel more relaxed. As soon as I shove through the dorm door, I push into a run, somehow feeling safer outside in the open than in my own home.

The air is cooler now. The afternoons warm up a little, but the crisp nip of the fall is creeping in. My cheeks and nose go a little numb, my lungs burning slightly from the cold air invading them as I push myself on the run.

An image from my nightmare flashes in front of me, and I shake my head, trying to clear it, but they are persistent. Another one flashes across my mind’s eye, and this one is worse. Instead of Gia’s dead body just lying on the ground, she has me pinned against a tree and is choking me. I clench my fists, trying to lose myself to the music, to the beat of my feet against the ground. I am so caught up in my thoughts, in trying to push myself to distraction, that I completely miss a large body moving into my path until I collide with hard muscle.

“You should not be here.”

I blink, looking up and meeting the steely eyes of the headmaster. His hands are braced on my upper arms, steadying me after the collision. I frown and pull my earphones out.

“You should not be here, Miss Tuatha De Daanan,” he repeats, his gaze hard and angry as it so often is in my presence. He releases me and crosses his arms over his chest.

I stare up at him, but I am having trouble focusing on him. Now that I am paying attention, something is pulling at me, my instincts telling me to look past him. Something is calling to me, chanting my name over and over. I crane my neck, trying to look over his shoulder, but he moves with me, his enormous frame easily blocking my view.

Whatever it is behind him, it wants me to see, and it pulls at me again. When I move this time, something in me rises to help. The magic behind him calls to my own, and the compulsion toknow what is there overshadows my fear of my powers. I take the headmaster by surprise and use my fae speed, blurring as I duck around him. I freeze, my breath catching in my throat. A message is messily drawn onto a large boulder in red, gooey liquid. It’s thick and dark, and the early morning sun shines off it in a grim way. It is unmistakably blood.

YOU CAN ONLY PROTECT HER FOR SO LONG, SON OF MERLIN.

The headmaster growls and shoves in front of me, blocking my view again. I look up at him, my eyes wide. “Sir…”

He lifts his chin, holding my gaze steadily. “The message is for me. They are aware I am protecting you.”

I try to swallow the lump of fear clogging my throat. “Why are they doing this?”

He regards me with his usual coldness. “They want you scared.”

“Why?” I ask uselessly. My power coils in on itself inside of me, that taste surging into a deep desire to use it, to dive into it and never resurface, to hide there.

“They seem to enjoy playing with you. They want your fear. The question is, are you going to give it to them?”

I lose myself in his gaze for a moment, grateful for the chill in it, the icy unfeelingness. I straighten my spine. “No, sir,” I reply, my words strong and sure, not reflecting the fact that my organs have turned to mulch inside me.

He nods once. “I would suggest using the school gym from now on.” Without waiting for my response, the headmaster turns back around and resumes studying the message on the boulder.

I have obviously been dismissed, and I turn, sprinting home, running on pure adrenaline. Who is this person? Why do they hate me? What have I ever done to deserve this?

Could it possibly be Torin? No. There’s no way. He’s not clever enough to pose any sort of challenge to the headmaster. Not patient enough to toy with me.

Alice steps out of her room, wrapped in a blood-red towel. She frowns at me. “You’re back early.”

I don’t even pause on my way to my room. “Wasn’t feeling it,” I lie. The truth is not even a consideration at the moment. What the fuck even is the truth?

“The real question is how you ever feel like running,” Alice quips, returning to her room to change. In a daze, I shower and dress in my uniform. Alice is waiting for me in the kitchen and looks at me expectantly when I come out of my room.

“Let’s go. I need coffee.”

“Absolutely,” Alice agrees. We leave the dorm, walking toward the coffee cart. I am sure it is just a phantom pull, but I can’t keep from looking in the direction of the boulder. I can’t stop thinking about how it called to my magic so potently. No doubt the headmaster has already had it removed. It would create a massive spectacle on campus, plus the Arcane Intelligence Bureau would no doubt want to analyze it and interview every single person on campus.