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“He’s not back yet. He said he’d be back tonight. Whereishe?”

“Calm down,” Bear said, reaching for the pacing Dix and pulling her onto the bed beside him.

It was Sunday night and Alex, Bear and D.C. were in the boys’ dorm room, waiting for Jordan to return. They had all managed to keep busy enough over the weekend to keep their fears at bay, but none of them had heard from him since he’d left the previous morning and they were now growing increasingly concerned.

“It’s not curfew yet,” Bear reminded them. “Don’t worry, he’ll be here soon.”

Despite his comforting words, from her position on Jordan’s bed, Alex could see the strain in Bear’s features. He was as worried as they were.

As the seconds ticked by, the three friends tried to stay occupied by talking about their upcoming Kaldoras break. But it was hard to remain on the topic for long, especially when every few minutes one of them would glance at the time displayed on their ComTCDs, which only served to increase their anxiety.

At last, the door clicked open. Alex sat bolt upright and felt relief wash over her at the sight of Jordan stepping into the room.

He closed the door behind him, sending them a cocky smile. “I should go away more often if this is the welcoming committee I’ll get every time I return.”

As if his words broke a spell, the three of them leapt up to greet him.

“Don’t even think about it, Jordan Sparker,” D.C. said, wrapping her arms around him.

Jordan closed his eyes as he returned her embrace, which gave Alex the chance to look at him properly. His face was paler than usual, but that could easily have been because the temperature outside was turning bitter with the arrival of winter only days away. His rugged-up appearance supported her theory, since he was covered from head to toe—beanie and gloves included.

“Cold back at the Chateau?” Bear asked, noticing as much as Alex.

“Freezing,” Jordan said as he released D.C. and grabbed his friend in a one-armed, back-slapping hug. “It’s barely been two days, but it feels like I’ve been gone forever. Yeesh. I need to get a life.”

“We’ve missed you,” Alex told him quietly, and Jordan stepped over to her and hugged her last.

“Missed you, too,” he whispered in her ear.

Alex’s body jerked in reaction to the broken-sounding words that neither D.C. nor Bear would have heard. She pulled backto look at his face and her breath hitched at the tormented shadows lurking in his eyes. But then he blinked and the emotion was gone, making her question if she’d really seen it in the first place.

Jordan released her and grinned widely as he looked around the room. “What did I miss while I was gone?” he asked, sprawling onto his bed.

Alex was stunned by his one-eighty change of emotion. She sat tentatively beside him and D.C. and Bear resumed their positions on the other bed.

“No way,” D.C. said. “You tell us about your weekend first. What happened? What did you parents want?”

Jordan shrugged. “They just wanted to see me.”

Alex raised her eyebrows at him—and she wasn’t the only one—but it seemed like he was ignoring them in favour of digging through his backpack. Whatever he was looking for eluded him, and he gave up his search and noticed their waiting expressions.

“What?”

“Your parents called you back to their place just to say ‘hi’?” Bear asked dubiously.

“Seems like it,” Jordan answered. “Weird, huh?”

“Did they saywhythey wanted to see you?” D.C. pressed. “Or why it was so urgent?”

“Nope.” Jordan stood and walked over to his desk. He shuffled some books around before huffing quietly and turning back to them. “I’m starving. Does anyone have any food? I thought I had something in my bag, but I must’ve left it back home.”

Home?Had he just referred to Chateau Shondelle as ‘home’? As far as Alex knew, Jordan hated the place where he’d grown up. His home was Akarnae, and his second home was the Ronnigans’ house in Woodhaven. Chateau Shondelle was just acold reminder of a lonely childhood. The only person who had ever actually cared for him had been his brother Luka, but he’d killed himself when Jordan was eleven. All in all, the chateau was hardly a place of happy memories for Jordan.

“Home?” Bear asked, picking up on the word as well.

Jordan froze for a split second before his posture relaxed and he corrected, “My parents’ home. Old habits die hard.”

Alex was looking at Jordan with concern as he searched for something edible on his desk. When he realised that his search was fruitless, he walked back to his bed and sat down again.