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All she could manage was to wheeze out a choked-sounding, “What?”

But at that moment, the headmaster’s door opened, drawing Kaiden’s attention. Alex, however, remained speechless and gaping up at him.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Hunter said, sounding anything but sorry. In fact, he sounded downright amused, which prompted Alex to tear her eyes from Kaiden. In doing so, she realised she was still wrapped in his arms, their contact misleading given the circumstances—and easy enough for Hunter to mistake as an intimate embrace.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Alex blurted, pushing Kaiden’s chest until he released her and took a step back. She chose to ignore the laughter in his eyes as she added, perhaps a little too desperately, “Really, Hunter. I fell.”

“Uh-huh.” Hunter’s tone made it clear he didn’t believe her. And also that he didn’t care. “We were about done waiting for you to come to us, so if you don’t mind…”

He left the sentence hanging and Alex knew that was her cue to skedaddle into the room where presumably Darrius, Fletcher and Caspar Lennox were all waiting.

Despite knowing she had a lot of explaining to do, Alex was torn about entering the room. And that was because of the bombshell Kaiden had just dropped on her. How could he possibly know about her travelling through time? No one knew, other than Niyx and Lady Mystique, and now Jordan, D.C. and Bear. Not even Kyia and Zain knew, since their memories of Alex—or ‘Aeylia’, as she had been known to them—had been altered by Lady Mystique to preserve the timeline. Heck, not evenAvenremembered that Alex was the main reason he now hated mortals—and humans in particular.

So… how on Earth did Kaiden know?

“Anytime you’re ready, Alex,” Hunter drawled pointedly.

Kaiden caught her eye and said, “I’ll catch you later.”

“But—”

“Later, Alex,” he repeated, a promise in his tone. He turned to Hunter and said, “Don’t let her walk back to the dorm alone.”

If Hunter had any objections to the command in Kaiden’s voice, he didn’t say anything. All he did was raise an eyebrow and nod, before gesturing for Alex to advance through the doorway.

Short of demanding answers from Kaiden—answers that would lead to questions she didn’t want Hunter and the other teachers to wonder about—there was nothing Alex could do. So she walked into Darrius’s office, bracing herself to share the tragic news regarding the fall of Meya.

Two

Alex didn’t see Kaiden the next day.

Or the next.

… Or the next.

In fact, she didn’t see him at all for the rest of the week. Not in the classes they shared, Combat and SAS, nor when she attempted to hunt him down, going so far as to ambush his roommate and closest friend, Declan, demanding he reveal Kaiden’s whereabouts. But all Declan knew was that Kaiden had been called away from the academy urgently, and he had no other details for her.

Perhaps it was for the best, since even without the paranoia of wondering what Kaiden knew—andhowhe knew it—Alex already had enough to deal with. Her meeting with the headmaster hadn’t gone very well, mostly because it wasn’tjustDarrius, Hunter, Fletcher and Caspar Lennox who had been there. The entire academy’s teaching staff had been called to attend, many of whom point blank refused to accept Alex’s dire warnings. Most notably outspoken against her claims was the crotchety old librarian, who believed she was overdramatising the situation and it couldn’t possibly be as bad as she’d inferred. Professor Marmaduke had nodded emphatically along with him, but her pale features had indicated her solidarity was driven by fear and the hope that Alex might be wrong.

On the opposite end of the scale were those who believed immediate—and impulsive—action should be taken. Finn thought they should gather the human army and storm the city of Meya, arguing that a surprise attack would cripple Aven and his forces before he could rally his own defences. Varin was all for that plan, if only because it meant action, and the heavily armoured Species Distinction instructor wasn’t one to sit around waiting for disaster to appear on his doorstep.

There were also a number of teachers who were on the fence, accepting what Alex had to say but remaining unconvinced that Aven was an urgent threat. Professor Luranda, Fitzy, Doc, Tayla and Administrator Jarvis all believed more evidence was required before taking any action.

Alex had wanted to hit them over the head.

The only people who seemed to understand the gravity of the news were Darrius, Hunter, Caspar Lennox and Fletcher, as well as Karter and, surprisingly, Maggie.

Or… perhaps that wasn’t so surprising, given what Alex discovered about her Archery instructor the moment she’d stepped into the headmaster’s office.

Magdelina Llohilas was a Meyarin.

The teacher had always looked like an actress straight out of a fantasy movie, but Alex’s enhanced senses now allowed her to see that Maggie’s appearance was of the otherworldly, immortal kind, and not just blessed human genes.

Other than a swift inhale, Alex hadn’t outwardly revealed her shock. As for Maggie, aside from a slight widening of her eyes, the instructor had given no indication she’d noticed anything different about Alex—namely, her golden skin. For the entirety of the meeting, both were careful not to expose the other, but Alex had mentally scribbled Maggie’s name to the top of her follow-up list, knowing they would need to have a conversation—andsoon.

“… know you have reasons, Alex, but I still think we should all come with you.”

Jolted from thinking about her teachers, Alex turned her attention to her friends. They’d been back from holidays for almost a week—a week where the academy staff continued to debate the pros and cons of various plans amongst themselves while Alex followed their order to attend classes as if there wasn’t a war brewing; a week where she spent every frustrated minute painfully aware of the time passing and what Aven might be doing while they sat around twiddling their thumbs; a week where she failed to find Kaiden and learn how he knew about her trip to the past; and a week where Alex didn’t hear anything from Niyx through their mental bond or in any other way. Despite her Meyarin friend having warned her that he was surrounded by mind readers and other gifted humans and he couldn’t risk discovery, his continued silence still put Alex on edge. But she wouldn’t endanger him by reaching out just to ease her anxiety—not when he was in such a perilous position.