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“Sorry to be antisocial, but I’m wiped,” he said, covering an almost believable yawn with his hand. “I should try to sleep before my stomach eats my kidneys and keeps me awake all night.”

No one seemed to know what to say to that.

“Um, sure,” Alex agreed, slowly standing to her feet. “I guess we’ll, uh, leave you to it. See you both in the morning.”

“’Night,” Jordan said, stretching out his legs and cupping his hands behind his head.

Alex looked pointedly at Bear as she and D.C. headed to the door, and her dark-haired friend nodded, understanding her silent request to press Jordan for more information after they were gone.

The moment D.C. and Alex were in their dorm room, they turned to each other.

“Was it just me or—”

“It definitely wasn’t just you,” D.C. interrupted as she folded onto her bed, holding her head in her hands.

“Hey, are you all right?” Alex asked, sitting beside her friend.

“I’m worried,” D.C. admitted after a quiet moment. “I can’t help but wonder…”

When D.C. didn’t finish, Alex asked, “What is it, Dix?”

The other girl shuddered slightly and raised her head, her expression scarily blank. “Nothing, Alex. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Alex was about to protest, but D.C. said she was tired and escaped to their bathroom to get ready for bed. When she came back out, she barely whispered a quick, “Sweet dreams, Alex,” before she slid under the covers and rolled over to face the wall.

When Alex settled into bed a few minutes later, she couldn’t shake off a sense of foreboding. Jordan was back, safe and sound, so why wasn’t she more relieved? Sure, his behaviour seemed a little off, but he’d just spent the weekend with his parents who demanded too much from him and gave nothing in return. That would mess with anyone’s head. He just needed time, she figured, and then he would be back to normal.

But as Alex drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t get the image of his tortured blue eyes out of her head, and she wasn’t the least bit surprised when D.C.’s terror-filled screams woke her up later in the night.

? 1D;

Twenty-Three

“I just wish he’d tell us whathappened, you know?” D.C. complained as she and Alex walked away from the Stable Complex, struggling to make a path through the snow that had blanketed the academy grounds during an early season snowstorm the previous weekend. “I don’t like that he won’t talk to us about it.”

Two-and-a-half weeks had passed since Jordan’s visit to his parents and he hadn’t given them any details about his time away. In fact, Alex had barely seen him outside of classes since his return to the academy, and she was more than a little worried about his continued absence during social hours. She couldn’t help wondering if his parents had done or said something to him and, being a typical guy, he’d built up walls to keep everyone else from realising how upset he was.

If Jordan would open up to them rather than avoid them, they could talk about it and try to help him. Or at least remind him that his real family wasn’t necessarily related by blood.

“I know, Dix,” Alex agreed. “But we can’t force him to talk to us.”

Unfortunately.

“I wish we could,” D.C. said, sounding weary. Her nightmares had returned with a vengeance over the last two weeks, and while they didn’t wake both girls every night, her screams interrupted their sleep at least every second day. Bothof them had dark circles under their eyes, and D.C. looked constantly ill.

“Maybe you should skip PE and go take a nap?” Alex suggested, worried about her friend.

“You know, I think I might,” D.C. agreed, surprising Alex. Normally the red-head wouldn’t have given in so easily. She must have been exhausted.

“I’ll try to find Bear and see if he’ll have a word with Finn for you,” Alex offered. Bear’s gift sometimes came in handy, that was for sure. While it might not be ethical for him to ‘charm’ their PE teacher into letting D.C. skip her lesson, his…influence… would at least keep her out of trouble for missing the class.

“Thanks, Alex,” D.C. said, smiling gratefully.

Alex nodded and took off to find Bear. He and Jordan both had Delta Archery for their final class of the day, so she hurried over to the Archery fields, hoping her friends would be early. Much to her relief, she spotted them quickly and asked for Bear’s help just in time for him to run off and ‘speak’ with Finn. That left Alex and Jordan standing alone together for the first time in weeks.

“How are you doing?” she asked, trying to subtly examine his appearance. Lately everything about him was just… drawn.

“I’m good,” he said, smiling at her. Despite his words, the usually carefree expression didn’t quite reach his eyes, and he failed to keep his gaze locked on her. He looked around as if searching for a distraction. “How ’bout you?”