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“Al?” I call out, but the music drowns out my voice. I look around, not noticing anything out of place. Cautiously, I walk across the room to turn the music off. My ears ring a little in the shock of the absolute silence. “Alice?” I say again, but there is no reply. Dread writhes inside me as I walk to her door, knocking and calling for her again. When there is no reply, I wrap my hand around the doorknob and slowly push the door open.

The first thing I see is her empty bed, but then… A scream rips through the air, fracturing the silence.

Everything stops.

114

Summer

The pain is unbearable.

Alice. Alice is… dead.

Alice lies in front of me. Red blooms from her, slowly seeping around the silver blade embedded in her back. I move forward, my feet moving of their own accord. I fall to my knees beside her, landing in the pool of her cooling blood. My heart feels like it is stuttering in my chest as I reach a shaking hand toward her. I can’t help my cry of despair at the stark cold of her body.

Alice.

Alice.

Alice.

I try to think, try to do something, but she’s gone. What do I do? What do I do? Fuck!

I sit up, unsure at what point I lay down. I scramble, my hands sliding through her blood as I try to find my phone. Suddenly, I’m lifted from the floor, and I look up to see the headmaster’s icy gaze locked on me. He’s saying something, but I can’t hear him. All I can hear is my heart breaking. All I canfeel is overwhelming grief. The headmaster says something else, but I can’t hear. I can’t even see with the tears blurring my eyes. Fuck, when did I start crying?

“Miss Tuatha De Daanan. Stop.”

I try to blink away the tears, but they won’t stop. The headmaster guides me to the bed and sits me down before he moves to Alice. I wipe my eyes, getting a moment’s reprieve from the blurriness, but it comes back tenfold when I watch him pull the blade from her back. I swipe impatiently at my tears again. It’s not a blade. It’s a stake made specifically for destroying a vampire. I slide off the bed, needing to be closer to Alice.

“There’s no need for hysterics,” the headmaster growls, and finally, I can hear him. I crawl closer to Alice and blink up at him, too afraid to hope.

“W-What?” I ask, my throat raw as if I’d been screaming for hours.

“Get up,” the headmaster snarls, and I look away before shakily getting to my feet.

The headmaster wipes off the stake, but my gaze remains on Alice, my perfect best friend, lying lifeless on the floor.

I whimper, looking down at my hands, coated inherblood. This is wrong. It should have been me.

Alice’s body jolts suddenly and violently. I yelp in surprise and fall back onto the bed. Her body spasms again, and then once more before her chest rises, and she releases a deep groan. “Fuck,” Alice moans, her fingers twitching a little. I watch with wide eyes, counting her breaths. “Motherfucker,” she growls, reaching behind her to touch the gruesome wound left on her back.

“A-Alice?” I whimper, sliding back down onto the floor. The rug squelches, saturated with her blood.

“Owwwwww,” Alice groans, shifting a little.

I sob loudly and pull her to me.

“Only twelve left, Miss Legosi. That was careless,” the headmaster admonishes.

Alice gently pushes at me, obviously in pain, and my tight hold on her isn’t helping. “What happened?” she asks, but I can’t stop kissing all over his face, the tears falling freely. “That fucking sucked.”

The headmaster leans against the wall, inspecting the stake. “Do you remember anything?”

Alice strokes my hair and hugs me back, finally realizing what a mess I am. “Summer, I’m okay. I have thirteen lives.”

I cling to her and sob.

“One benefit to being your father’s heir,” the headmaster adds.