Page 70 of A University of Betrayal

“Watch it, you bastard.”

Vivienna had shoved her, looked at her disdainfully, and turned to walk on along with her two bully sisters, followed by whispering female Quatura unknown to me. Anyway, they all wore traitorous – if barely noticeable – crystal necklaces.

Julie stared after her, perplexed.

“Shut your bloody mouth, Vivienna!” Grace shouted loudly after her, earning the middle finger from said person, who finally disappeared in her white luxury coat among the other students.

I helped Julie up, and we walked on, but the silence was getting too awkward for me. Larissa usually lightened up any conversation. Julie not talking was almost normal, but Grace? What washerreason? Was she still angry with her cousin for interrupting her first ceremony? Or was it because a DeLoughrey had signed up to campaign, along with Emely Copeland.

“What’s that weird woman doing here? I feel like she’s stalking me.” I started to turn the conversation to the red-haired Madam. Just this morning, she had strutted into the lecture hall without any warning, winked at me and caused all hell to break loose with her angelic smile. I had thought I had gotten rid of her.False alarm.

“You’re not the only reason Rebecca Harlow showed up here,” Grace said, and I could have sworn her eyes had wandered to Julie.

I couldn’t help but think about the animal attack. What if it hadn’t been an animal? What if Mady was in danger?

“Gloria must have noticed that there was some conflict between us and the pack,” Julie said without looking at us.

She seemed cooler, her words matter-of-fact, as if she was physically there but emotionally absent. Her voice didn’t tremble as much as usual, either. She hadn’t been there at lunchtime, and Grace had made a fuss about it. As if Julie needed a babysitter.

“Nonsense. Director Copeland has sorted it out and...”

“Director Copeland doesn’t seem to be very good at sorting things out,” Julie interrupted her cousin, and Grace and I looked at her in surprise.

She wasn’t usually like that. Well, she’d never frozen the temple before, either, as far as I had gathered now.

“Someone must have said something to Gloria. Someone who doesn’t belong to us or the Senseque.” Julie sounded absorbed in her thoughts.

We walked through the large entrance hall, down the stone stairs and finally out onto the campus where the sun was shining unexpectedly bright in my face.

Wasn’t it supposed to be fall? It was the beginning of November, but today it looked more like summer. Even if the wind was icy on the back of your neck and the leaves were whirring across the campus as if they were all birds gathering to fly south. And then there were the real birds. Fluffing themselves up, ravens hopped across the campus or shot low over our heads.

I was surprised that no one here had ever died from a bird attack.

“Someone who wants conflicts to arise between us in order to profit from them himself,” Julie finished her train of thought.

As far as I knew, it wasn’t just the Quatura and the Senseque who were at enmity with each other. There was a third party involved, with whom everyone seemed to be at war. One that I had already made the acquaintance of involuntarily.

“Julie, you’re not really saying that the...”

Slow Rock

FreshmanSound

“Ruisangors...” I interrupted Grace and looked straight ahead, where a shiny black Ferrari squeaked its tires as it parked next to the matte gray Lamborghini. Two young men whose sunglass-covered faces looked all too familiar opened the doors and got out at the same time in their tailored suits.

I felt like I was in a movie again. As usual, they enjoyed being the center of attention.

However, my attention wasn’t on them, but on Miles DeLoughrey – who had appeared out of nowhere – or rather on the person he opened the car door for: a girl with dark blonde waves who was also wearing sunglasses, a leather jacket and a skin-tight wine-red dress underneath.

“I don’t believe it,” Grace gasped, startled, and – like half the campus – stared at the men… and at the girl, who seemed to be looking at the DeLoughrey with the brown undercut man bun.

Strangely enough, I could see it through the sunglasses.

For a moment, she didn’t seem quite herself, then she walked around Miles, letting him close the door quickly and casually.

“Is that...” Vivienna appeared next to me, but I could only focus on the girl.

“Larissa,”Julie finished all our thoughts.