Page 131 of Fractured Fates

Pip squeaks and covers his head with his trotters.

“Are you sure he’s okay?”

I stroke my hand over Pip’s head, scratching at his ears.

“He was here, hiding,” I whisper, meeting the beady eyes of my pet. I know what it’s like to hide. How frightening it is. How lonely. “I think whoever it was gave him a scare.”

“You need to tell York.”

“No, I’m not letting them win, Winnie. I don’t want them to think they can rattle me this way.”

“But it’s sick,” Winnie says, “really sick. And next time they might hurt Pip for real.”

I gather Pip up into my arms and hold him close. “I know they might. But I won’t let them do that. From now on he goes wherever I go.”

Winnie looks at me skeptically. “They aren’t going to let you take Pip to class.”

“I don’t care. I won’t go.”

“And York will expel you.”

I shrug.

Winnie drops off her chair and comes to sit next to me and Pip on the floor, eyeing the blood stain with revulsion. “Rhi I love you and,” she tickles Pip’s ears, “I’m even beginning to like Pip here too. I don’t want you to leave. You’re my only real friend.”

I sigh, feeling guilty for never having considered Winnie’s feelings in all this. I rest my head against her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” And it’s the truth. Winnie’s friendship means more than I could ever express. The price on my head, the ability to learn more magic, are not the only things keeping me tethered to this school. Her friendship is too. Without her, this experience would have been a million times worse.

“But I’m serious about Pip, Winnie.” I chew on my lip. “I had this feeling that someone was in our room the other night. And it’s happened before.”

Winnie lifts her hands to her mouth. “In our room? At night? Rhi, you need to tell York.”

I shake my head a second time and Winnie hugs me close.

“Then if not York, how about Stone?”

“Stone?” I almost laugh. “Why would he care?”

“He was looking into who took Pip last time.”

“And he found nothing. It was all bullshit. He doesn’t care.”

“I still think you should tell him.”

“No, Winnie. I don’t want him involved.” He’s already in my head more often than I’d like him to be. I don’t want him knowing everything. “Besides, it could be him who did this.”

“Stone?” Winnie says, drawing away from me and peering down into my face to see if I’m being serious. “He’s a teacher.”

“A teacher who hates me.”

“Stone doesn’t hate you.”

I laugh, thinking of the way he chained me to the bike when they brought me to the city, the way he’d thrown that ham sandwich at me in the motel, the way he’d dumped a load of manure over my head in the gardens. “Oh, he hates me all right.”

“Hmmm,” Winnie says, “I don’t think he does. The way he looks at you sometimes …”

I laugh again. “Oh God, you are way too invested in my crush, Winnie.”

She smiles, although it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Maybe ... Anyway, I don’t like the idea of people entering our room and leaving these … surprises. They shouldn’t be able to unlock our door. They must be using some kind of magic to do it.”