Page 97 of A University of Betrayal

Tony Morales

A whirring sound rumbled through the diner. Bayla’s head jerked around as if she’d heard it too. And suddenly, the lights flickered.

Out of nowhere, Bay squeezed her eyes shut and held her head with her hands.

I immediately felt a slight headache coming on.

“Bayla?” I asked with panic in my stomach. Then there was a loud burst of glass.

I jumped up and stood in front of Bay, leaning over her just in time before the glass came crashing down on me.

“Oh my God!” Bay gasped from beneath me. “What was that?”

People had jumped up around us. The lights were out... because the light bulbs had exploded.

What the hell had just happened?

“Julian?” Bay asked from below me, looking up at me in confusion.

I gritted my teeth. “I don’t know. Probably too much voltage.”

I pulled her out of the booth and reached for her book.

“Are you all right?” I asked, looking at her scrutinizingly.

She reached out with a nod and wiped shards off my shoulder. Not a good idea with her delicate hands, so I brushed the last of the glass from my T-shirt myself.

I left money for the food on the table, put a hand on Bay’s back and pushed her past the angry diner customers, out into the parking lot.

“Let me take you back to campus.”

Tranquil Breezy Early Morning Forest

Nature Sounds

When I entered the Copelands’ property, goosebumps immediately spread up my arms.

Not much had changed since the last time I’d been here.

I cautiously touched the moss-covered walls that surrounded the huge garden, as if I could burn myself on them. And my body reacted by threatening to start my transformation.

I could deal with that. Until I reached a certain limit.

I pulled my hand back and looked straight ahead, through the garden gate, through which I walked a few seconds later.

Suddenly it occurred to me that I should have stayed with Bayla on campus. Because as strange as that thought felt, with her, it was easiernotto think about all the crap I was about to face. By now, she didn’t hate me anymore, if she ever really did. I had to smile.That girl...

Something else was bothering me. Her words... On the drive back from the diner, while I had been trying to explain this strange lamp explosion to myself, she had kept bringing up Emely. I must have really been a fool, because I hadn’t noticed Emely’s behavior, and I still couldn’t believe that she wanted more than just a place in the pack for me.

With two goals in mind, I set myself in motion. I had to find her, but first I had to take care of the person I was here for.Mia.

After long hesitation, Dad had brought her here this morning and now she lived here.God,I didn’t want to know how she was feeling right now. That was exactly why I couldn’t just leave her alone with these people.

Stepping through the many trees and not stopping when the huge meadow with the big trees came into view took willpower, because unfortunately I wasn’t alone.

Nash’s guys and a few younger ones, including Emely’s little brother, who had just been playing football, stopped and stared at me. But I didn’t let myself get distracted and kept walking with an unyielding face, even when one of the men whispered, “Is that Bardot?”.

“Are you blind?Of course,it’s Bardot.”