She smiles widely at me. “Good, that's my girl,” she insists, and I offer her a tight smile.
“How were they chosen?” I ask as we complete another lap around the field, my steps slowing again as I try to remember how many times we’ve completed the loop.
“Who, The Sanctum members?”
“Yeah,” I confirm with a nod, and she shrugs.
“I don't actually know.” She brushes her hair off her face, her nose crinkling with disappointment.
“And I bet there's unlikely to be anywhere I can read up on them too,” I grumble, and the knowing glint in her eyes confirms my suspicion.
“We could snoop,” she adds, and I consider the option for a moment.
“Maybe, but I need to let the dust settle before I do anything stupid and find myself detained again,” I surmise as another shudder takes over my body.
“That’s fair. So, what's your plan?”
That's a question that's been taking up far too much space in my brain. Currently, I have only one answer. It's the same answer I've had my entire life. “Survive.”
“So no more escaping?” she clarifies, and I nod.
“Not right now, at least. My gut is telling me to stay and strengthen myself, to understand what I’m actually facing instead of feeling like I’m completely out of my depth all of the time.” She hums in agreement again, offering me a soft smile that I reciprocate. “Do you think we will ascend?”
She grimaces. “I don't know.”
I hate the fact that it’s supposed to be our onlyway out of here, but she doesn't seem so sure of it. “What other options are there? I don't want to die, and that feels like the only other one,” I explain.
“If we’re being badass bitches, we have to figure it out,” she declares, and I nod.
“How long do we have?”
“Another eighteen months.”
I scowl, choking on my next breath. “I can't stay here that long,” I splutter, and she snickers, but there’s no humor to it. Before I can point it out, another thud at my back startles me, but this time, it's with a little more force, and I can't stop myself from toppling over.
I fall forward, managing to twist and flounder as I go down, miraculously landing flat on my back, only to find Willow towering over me. Her red curls frame her face as she glowers down at me.
“Back off, Willow,” Ocean snarls, but the bitch in question curls her lips as she points her finger in my face.
“My mother told me how worthless you are,” she says with a smirk, standing back just enough for me to scramble to my feet.
“Mother? I don't believe I've met the bride of Satan,” I rage, despite the fact that I'm supposed to be keeping my mouth shut and my head down.
She shoves at my chest, knocking me back twosteps, but I manage to keep my balance this time. When she does it for a third time, desperate for a reaction, I can't fight the frustration rising inside of me. I knock her back and she squeals in shock, the sound so shrill I want to claw my ears off as Professor Drayker appears at Willow’s side.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Elodie?” she calls out at the same time as Rion appears on the opposite side of me.
“What the fuck? She can't just keep pushing everybody around and not expect to receive consequences,” he blurts, pointing at Willow.
She tries to shove at my chest again, but Ocean throws her arm out, getting between us.
“Stay out of it, Rion,” Professor Drayker snarls, and he scoffs.
“Maybeyouneed to stay out of it,” he hisses back, and I rear back in surprise, my gaze ping ponging between the two of them as Drayker folds her arms over her chest.
“I’m controlling it,” she grunts, and I'm so distracted by their stare off that I miss the moment Willow manages to knock Ocean's arm out of the way, her hand swiftly coiling around my throat a second later. But it's not her fingertips that I feel flex against my skin, but the claws of her wolf.
“Let. Go. Of. Her,” Rion orders, and Willowsnickers, the sinister shimmer in her eyes burning brighter as she breathes obnoxiously in my face. “Aren't you gonna do something about this?” Rion snaps at Drayker, who huffs.
