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‘Right?’ Tilly’s voice rose excitedly.

To be fair, she found most of the people in her class attractive, but she’d been too focused on Aiden to really notice.

Maybe Tilly was right. Maybe it was time to put herself out there. That was what everybody else did at uni, wasn’t it?

‘Wait!’ Tilly halted suddenly, putting her hand out to make sure Juniper did the same. With a shush, she motioned to her ear,which was as decorated as the rest of her. ‘That’s the noise I heard last night!’

Uh oh.Juniper tried to school her features into something resembling confusion, but her cheeks began to flame. ‘I don’t hear anything.’

‘That whir!’ Tilly tilted her head, following it towards the end of the corridor, where their rooms faced one another.

Please, stop there, Juniper begged silently.

She had no such luck. Tilly pressed her ear to Juniper’s door and gasped. ‘It’s coming from your room!’

‘No. No, it can’t be.’ Shaking her head, Juniper nudged Tilly out of the way to shield her door, and hopefully drown out some of the noise.

But it was too late. Tilly narrowed her eyes, hands falling to her hips. ‘You’re hiding something in there. What is it? A motorbike? A really powerful vibrator?’ She gasped. ‘A time machine?’

Juniper wished. She would go back in time and redo this entire day to set things right. The powerful vibrator wouldn’t have been unwelcome, either. ‘No! I’m not Doctor Who!’

‘Then what is it?’ Tilly grabbed her hand, shaking it like a kid begging for sweets. ‘Tell me! I love secrets!’

Defeated, Juniper checked the hall was quiet, and then said, ‘Promise you won’t tell anyone?’

Excitement gleamed in Tilly’s round eyes. ‘Promise!’

Juniper unlocked her door to let Tilly in first and hoped she wasn’t judging all the mess. Yesterday’s clothes hadn’t made it to her laundry hamper, instead spilling over her desk chair. A dozen wires were already tangled up by the bed made for devices that were probably out of battery regardless.The books she’d checked out of the library in preparation for her studies were all over the floor instead of the bare shelves. But the thing that would really get her in trouble lay on the desk: a cage housing a tiny, tan little Chinese striped hamster who was enjoying a run on his wheel.

Tilly squealed. ‘No way! I thought pets weren’t allowed in halls!’

‘They’re not, which is why you can’t tell anyone.’

‘Well, shite.’ Tilly planted herself down on Juniper’s desk chair to get a closer look at Cerberus and his beady black eyes. ‘He’s so cute.’ A frown. ‘But you know they could kick you out if they found him?’

‘I know.’ Juniper winced. ‘But I couldn’t leave him at home. My parents would absolutely forget to feed him.’

‘Fair.’ She shrugged as though that was that, poking her finger through the wires of the cage. ‘What’s his name?’

‘Cerberus. After—’

‘The hound of Hades! I love it.’ Tilly grinned, and so did Juniper. She was soon finding that she didn’t have to explain herself to Tilly, not like she did with other people, and it grounded her in a way she hadn’t felt for a while. Even at home, her parents didn’t really understand her. Mum had wanted to name the hamster Bob. Dad had wanted to name him Hamster.

Maybe this place could be her home if she just gave it another chance. So what if it was dark and Aiden-filled? There were things she could love about it, too.

Starting with this.

7

By Friday, Aiden had become almost as excellent at ignoring Juniper as he was at throwing. Sort of. Her jabs had been replaced with the silent treatment, which was just fine with him, or so he told himself. Besides, he didn’t need a familiar face from back home. All of the faces that greeted him as he walked into the workshop that morning were friendly.

He cast Amir and Timmy – or was it Tommy? – a wave, which turned into fist bumps, on his way to his seat, stifling a groan when Amir said, ‘Morning, Whittaker.’

Everybody now knew his last name, and he’d already received a few questions about his dad. As much as he wanted to believe these people wanted to be his friend, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been used for the sake of his connections. Most of the students he’d befriended at Elmington had been shallow, difficult to talk to unless it was about the industry and his father’s career.

But what did it matter? Luc was genuine enough, and a few of the girls had enjoyed a bit of flirting here and there. He was just glad to be on the course, glad to be out of the cage his dad had created for him – even if it felt like he’d just hopped from one set of bars to another sometimes.He clearly enjoyed torturing himself, because the sight of Juniper’s empty stool pressed into his periphery even when he tried to focus on the conversation happening in front of him.

‘Are you going to Tom’s party tomorrow night?’ Luc shuddered as though the thought alone was enough to break their spirit. Okay, so it was neither TimmynorTommy.