Page 20

I pushed the door to the dorm and found Brandon sprawled out on the sofa, his eyes glued to the screen. I raised an eyebrow as the flicker of blue light from the TV illuminated the familiar glow of lightsabers battling on screen.

I cleared my throat, and Brandon shot up, attempting to turn the TV off and failing. “I wasn’t watching anything—I wasn’t—oh, it’s you.”

I chuckled, closing the door behind me. “You sound like someone who got caught watching porn.”

Brandon flashed me a lazy grin before dropping onto the sofa again. “I thought you were Silas. He made a bet that I couldn’t go through an entire week watching Star Wars. Obviously, I’m failing, but he doesn’t need to know that.”

I shook my head, amused, and my gaze naturally drifted to Grace’s room on the right. “Is she in?” I asked, jerking my head toward her door.

Is she in so that I can annoy her and see how flustered she gets around me? Is more so the question I wanted to ask.

Brandon frowned, leaning forward. “Dunno. Haven’t seen her since she left this morning.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Silas practically chased her out the door when he asked her if she could shave his chest.”

I grunted in response. I thought irritating her during the Ecliptic hunt challenge and training sessions would work in my favor. Instead, I came out of it all feeling shit and annoyed at myself. All I seemed to do instead was search for her even when I didn’t mean to.

The door swung open behind me, and Silas came in, looking like he’d been through hell. His hair was a mess, his face slightly flushed, and his usual carefree expression was nowhere to be found.

“Azrael?” Brandon suggested, quickly turning the TV off.

Silas shook his head, his gaze flicking between me and Brandon. He seemed on edge, which immediately made my mind drift to Grace, and I hated that.

“What happened?” I asked, way too eager to know when, usually, I didn’t care much about what went on.

Silas ran a hand through his messy hair and leaned against the back of the door, letting out a harsh breath. “Something happened in Sariel’s class.”

Brandon sat up at that. “What do you care? You’re not a Guardian.”

Silas rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. “Veronica... she freaked out. She had a vision or something.”

I narrowed my eyes, watching Silas carefully. He was never one to care, especially when it came to someone who wasn’t him, Brandon, or me. But Veronica... he’d known her since they were six years old, and whatever it was, he always seemed at his most vulnerable whenever she was brought up.

“Veronica?” Brandon repeated, cocking an eyebrow as he looked at me. He knew little about Veronica and Silas’s strange relationship.

“Yeah, she—she was paired with Grace—”

I felt a sharp twist in my gut at the mention of Grace’s name. Shit.

“Started screaming about her brother and went off on Grace. Like, really went off. Saying it was all her fault. I don’t know much else other than Veronica was taken to the Healers, and they wouldn’t let anyone other than Lucas see her.”

The room went quiet, and I forced myself to stay still. Horrible visions from the Guardians were typical, but anything that involved Grace wasn’t.

“So, where is Grace now?” Brandon asked, sitting forward with a concerned look.

“I don’t know. Sariel sent her out of the classroom, and no one’s seen her since.”

“I’ll go look for her.”

At that, Brandon and Silas turned their heads in my direction.

I swore I heard the sound of crickets chirping.

“What?”

Silas narrowed his eyes. ‘Since when do you care where Grace is or not?’

I shrugged. “I don’t. Couldn’t care less, in fact.” Now where the fuck was she?

Both my idiotic friends looked less than convinced but I ignored them, feeling suddenly frustrated as I headed toward the door without saying a word.

I wasn’t sure why I felt the sudden need to find Grace, but the urge was there, telling me to do it. Maybe it was because I wanted to know more about why Veronica lashed out at her, or perhaps I just wanted to see how she felt. I shook my head at that last ridiculous thought.

The academy halls were almost empty, except for some younger kids heading to their next class. I walked and walked, making sure to investigate every empty room, including the canteen.

She wasn’t in any of them.

My last resort was the library on the fifth floor of the main building at Celestia.

I pushed open the heavy doors and stepped inside.

My eyes immediately scanned the rows of shelves for any sign of her.

The place was practically deserted as I made my way through the book aisles.

Right there, beneath the soft glow of a lamp, I saw her petite figure as she held onto a book, her eyes engrossed in whatever was inside of it.

She hadn’t noticed me yet, and for a moment, I hesitated. I watched her flip each page. Her curls were up in a bun, and she was still wearing the Warriors uniform.

I took a deep breath, pushing down the unfamiliar tightness in my chest, and walked over to her. She didn’t look up until I was standing right in front of her, my shadow falling across the pages of the book.