Fuck Landon and fuck Teddy.
I knew it!
I knew when they snuck off from the party, they were up to no good.
And of course the night that they chose to blow the entire academy full of the blackout dust is a night I’m out of the dorms.
Churning clouds of thick, dusty darkness roll over me.
The chalky taste floods my lungs and I choke against the intrusion.
Cringed against the banister, I bury my face into the crook of my elbow.
I wait it out, the rapid tumbling of dust clouds to fill the hallways, the corridors, the foyers, the staircases, the classrooms.
Every nook and cranny of this academy will be submerged.
The density of the blackout pushes down on me—pins me to the hard wooden step of the staircase, the dress bunched and cold against my ass.
I should move.
I should start feeling my way down the staircase, maybe slide down on my bottom, then flail my hands in the dark, feeling around for the corridor to the Living Quarter.
Nope.
Immediately, I don’t like that idea.
My bones cringe at the thought.
I could walk right into Mildred…
Not that she would know it’s me.
I can’t speak in the blackout dust.
Well, Ican, it’s just that no one will hear me, not even myself.
I could throw my head back right now and scream at the top of my lungs—and not hear a thing.
I would feel it. No one else would.
That should offer me a bit of comfort.
I’m invisible in the dark.
Can’t be heard, can’t be seen.
But if I bump into someone, I better pray to the gods it’s someone decent.
I can’t stick to the banister forever.
My bum is planted on the top step of the staircase, and someone could run into me any second now, crush me with their steps, tumble me down the stairs.
Someone could be rushing by me now, in the dark, and neither of us know the other is there.
The blindness of it all prickles my skin.
The darkness does something to people.
