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“Your guard dog is making this the world’s longest game of twenty questions,” Ayden groans loudly when Isaac bangs on the door like clockwork. We only have a couple more questions until we hit our goal, but he’s very dramatic. “Come in!”

“Silla,” Isaac says calmly, but his gray eyes are stormy with emotion.

“Is something wrong?” I ask, standing quickly. The new uniforms that the Warden ordered two weeks ago came in today, and they’re so comfortable. It’s a light blue long-sleeved shirt that’s not see-through, and breathable blue pants.

I’ve noticed that none of my classmates need to keep warm now by rubbing their arms and legs anymore.

“Not necessarily, but I need to see you,” Isaac murmurs.

“Okay,” I say, confused, but walking toward him anyways. I trust him, and there isn’t a reason for me not to.

“You’re acting oddly,” Ayden says, sitting up from where he’s sprawled on the sofa.

Isaac’s hand wraps gently around my wrist, squeezing it in warning. My arms have finally healed fully, which is great because I was so tired of changing the bandages.

“You’re taking up all of her time lately, and I’m claiming Silla now,” he shrugs. I don’t feel like that’s the reason, but this is the time that Isaac usually comes to find me for a lesson or because he misses me.

And then I spend the night in his room, with the welcome addition of the Warden.

“It’s fine,” I tell Ayden with a small smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

His hazel eyes look as if he’s warring with himself before he stands up. Ayden’s hand cradles the back of my head, and he whispers, “I’ve been wanting to do this for over a week,” before claiming my lips.

A startled moan escapes me as I kiss him back. “I plan to do that more often. My sister may be confused and filled with regret, but I don’t suffer from that affliction. I’ll see you around, Silla.”

Letting me go, he lets Isaac pull me from the room.

“Holy hell,” I sigh. Ayden has rubbed my feet, or taken care of me in small ways while we’re in his room, but I still wasn’t sure what he wanted.

If I’m being honest, I’m still not. I don’t do human connection well, and I’ve never really had friends either. Even my younger sister dragged me to parties because it was expected that I would be there.

“I’ve been wondering when that would happen,” Isaac confesses as we walk. “The way he looks at you has changed. Before you were this interesting bug that he didn’t know if he wanted to torture and pull off your wings, or eat you.”

Shuddering, I nod, because he’s right. The cold, calculating look has slowly been changing, and his cohorts have been less callous during class.

It doesn’t mean that we haven’t had a few accidents recently, or that they’re any less scary when they pull up a student to the front of the room for an exercise.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” I ask as I notice it’s slightly later than I thought.

“There’s another audit happening, and they want to go through and toss everyone’s room. It makes zero sense, except to unsettle the inmates. I want to make sure you’re in your room before—”

An alarm sounds over the intercom system, and Isaac curses.

“All staff has to be at the front of the building right now, and you need to run to your room right now, Silla. Don’t stop,” he growls.

I have no idea what’s going on, but I run around the corner and don’t stop until I’m in my room. Leaning against the door, chest heaving, I check the time.

Seeing that it’s almost time for “lights out”, I change quickly. There’s no time to brush my teeth, because I don’t want to be caught in the hallways right now. Dropping to the bed, I wait.

Yelling soon fills the prison, and a banging on my door has me rising.

“Step outside of the room, face the wall, and stay silent!” barks the man as he pushes open the door so hard it hits the wall.

Nodding, I scurry to follow instructions. He’s not going to find anything in my room, mostly because I’m not here enough to keep much in it. Even my text books are sitting on Isaac’s bookshelf.

This is a fact I’m quickly glad about as I face the wall, and my fucking mattress is thrown into the middle of the hallway. This is seriously overkill. I don’t look away from the wall in front of me, but I hear a few people muttering to themselves.

An inmate is punched for no reason, and the Warden roars in protest as he stalks the facility, overseeing the proceedings.