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“Rise and shine!” a chipper voice said, waking Alex the next morning.

“Eugh, what’s the time?” she mumbled into her pillow. “Six-thirty,” D.C. answered, sounding way too upbeat for that time of day. “We have to meet the boys in half an hour, so get up and get dressed.”

“Why’re you so happy?” Alex grumbled, sitting up.

D.C. smiled brightly. “Because we’re on holidays!”

Alex wasn’t sure what had gotten into her friend, but she’d take the overjoyed D.C. over the recently melancholic and exhausted D.C. any day.

“Come on, Alex,” her roommate urged. “Get ready so we can go have breakfast. And just think, in ninety minutes we’ll be in Woodhaven and we can put the last few weeks behind us!”

Ah. So that was it. D.C. must have presumed, like Alex, that Jordan would be back to normal once they were all away from the academy.

With a hopeful smile of her own, Alex jumped out of bed and dressed in record time. She and D.C. made sure they were packed and ready for the two-week break before they grabbed their bags and headed out the door.

“’Morning!” Bear greeted them when they arrived at the food court. Much like D.C., he also seemed perkier than he had been of late.

“Where’s Jordan?” Alex asked, searching for their friend.

“Finishing packing,” Bear said. “He’ll meet us here when he’s done.”

“Before eight, right?” Alex had informed her friends about everything Darrius had told her the previous night, but she was slightly nervous about the plan.

“Before eight,” Bear promised. “Don’t worry, he’ll be here.”

“How was he this morning?” D.C. asked.

Bear grinned widely, looking happier than Alex had seen for weeks. That was all the answer they needed, but his words confirmed what they’d hoped to be true. “He was Jordan. Finally back to normal.”

Alex laughed with relief. Maybe it wouldn’t take the entire holiday for him to let down his walls after all.

The three of them ate a quick breakfast and said goodbye to some of their classmates as they came and went from the food court. All the while Alex was acutely aware that it was now after seven o’clock, which meant the wards around the academy were deactivated. But the knots twisting her stomach couldn’t completely dissolve her excitement. All she wanted was for Jordan to hurry up and arrive so she could see for herself how back to normal he supposedly was.

The food court had emptied of people by seven-thirty, with everyone leaving early to start their holidays. Alex tapped her fingernails on the table as she anxiously waited for the time to tick by.

“He better get here soon,” D.C. muttered, shredding her napkin into pieces.

“Who?” Bear asked. “Jordan or Marselle?”

“Both,” Alex answered for her friend, thinking the same thing.

Another ten minutes passed with them all fidgeting restlessly.

“Jordan’s really cutting it down to the wire,” Alex said, trying to keep her voice light. “What do you think is taking him so—”

She was interrupted by a sudden noise as a hulking figure burst into the food court. She leapt to her feet, fearing imminent attack, but relaxed slightly when she recognised the new arrival.

“Zain!” she cried as the Meyarin approached. “Where have you been?”

“Alex, I need you to listen very carefully,” he said, grasping her upper arms and giving her a small, urgent shake.

Alex felt her stomach clench with dread. “What’s wrong?”

He stared into her eyes and said, “Aven has the headmaster.”

She drew in a sharp breath, and it was only the Meyarin’s strong grip that kept her from swaying on her feet.

“He was patrolling with the other teachers when Aven captured him,” Zain said. “Never before has Aven had such unrestricted access to Marselle, and now he’s going to try to use him to open the doorway into Meya.”