Page 22 of A University of Betrayal

I tried to free myself from myterriblenessas elegantly as possible so that theMadamewould hopefully be satisfied while I repressed what was about to happen to me.

It was strange that my clothes suddenly fit again. And another thing: all my bras were... too small?

Luckily, Mum came home at some point and threw her arms around my neck, sobbing. I hadn’t seen her this upset for a long time. She’d looked at me for a moment as if I was a different person before she’d almost taken my breath away again.

Madamehad then asked us to get into her expensive-looking convertible, and I had realized straight away that Mum didn’t like her. This woman stank of trouble, just like her car stank of some kind of spice, which made me sick to my stomach, and I almost threw up in the unfriendly Quatura’s car, but my stomach was probably too empty because I’d barely been able to swallow anything.

Larghetto -Piano, Celestra, Strings

“Kendall’s Return”

Nicholas Britell

As I entered the Blairs’ living room – or rather, the spacious and sunlit drawing room – I immediately remembered the last time I had sat here. Shortly after, I had almost died.

I never thought that fate would bestow this honor on me again.

Why hadn’t I just fled a month ago? Why had I listened to Julian?

“Bayla, hey!”

I caught sight of Grace, had to smile, but eventually saw what she was wearing. It was the robe her mother had worn last time. Elegantly decorated with shimmering golden ornaments, a little more extravagant than those of the other participants in the ritual. Julie, who was sitting next to her, was wearing simple everyday clothes, with a light gray robe on her lap.

“Is it true that the bite has healed?” Grace asked, stepping closer. She seemed a little agitated because her hands were shaking, which made me even more nervous.

“Are you okay?” I whispered as she brushed my hair aside, making sure that it wasn’t just rumors that had apparently been floating around within this satanic coven.

She looked around at my question, and then I realized that we were alone. Mum had disappeared into the next room with Amara and the annoyingly meticulous Madame. The strange thing was that at the moment I was concentrating on it, I heard them communicating quietly.

“She really is very inexperienced when it comes to performing such complicated procedures.”

“We don’t care about that. She’s your daughter and should be able to do it by now. Or should there be any reason here to question her future position as Domini?”

Silence.Whatever it was about, the conversation seemed tense. And I had understood everything as if they were standing right next to me.

What on earth was wrong with my ears?

“I don’t know if you’ve been told, and I don’t want to scare you, but today I‘m going to lead the temple ceremony.”

I stared at Grace for a long time. Then I looked at Julie, who seemed to be preoccupied with herself. She also seemed very nervous. And from that moment on, I started to feel anxious.

“You...” I began hesitantly, hoping that my panic wouldn’t be obvious.

“I tried to convince Amara to do it, but...”

“Grace!” Amara’s voice rang out loud and clear from the next room, as if we were all deaf.

Grace looked at the source of the shout, then at me again, and said, “I’ll make it work, don’t worry.” And then she made her way to her mother. The black robe billowed behind her until she finally disappeared behind the door, which was pulled shut.

I tried to hear something, but the voices were gone, almost as if they had never been there. Only the sound of cracking branches crashing against the façade of the house in the approaching autumn storm was almost ear-splitting. The howling wind, like a warning. The cry of ravens in the distance. The atmosphere seemed to want to communicate with me discreetly. I had never believed in signs as much as I did here in Blairville.

Chapter 7

Larissa

Alan Wake

Petri Alanko