Chapter Twenty-Five
~ Shade ~
The students are quiet at lunch. After the attack during the hunt and now the sky attack, it’s getting harder to ignore the empty seats around the dining hall. Ian is the only one who laughs, spinning some tale about how his animali took down one of the Xalgrith, but no one pays him much attention. Satine, Paiton, and Izzy are all placated, and the three of them barely touch their food.
“I wonder if this will change the timing of the games,” Kenzie murmurs as we walk the twisted halls of the academy, moving from the dining hall and making our way to our next class.
“I doubt it,” I reply. “If anything, this will probably make the queen even more desperate for warriors.”
“But we all saw the students fall. We’re not ready. Everyone knows it,” Kenzie says.
I give her a thin smile. “I guess she’s hoping we’ll be better when we’re immortal?” Immortality would obviously help a lot. With faster reflexes and greater shadow abilities, we would atleast stand more of a chance against the Xalgrith. As long as we can keep the Xalgrith out of our minds. Another thought occurs to me then. “You know, they should change that name. Are we really immortal if the Xalgrith can kill us?”
She shrugs. “They call vampires immortals, and yet, they can be staked. I guess it just means we can only die under special circumstances.”
“Makes sense,” I muse.
When we turn the next corridor, Satine, Izzy, and Paiton are talking to another girl who’s half-hidden by a large statue. They all stop whispering as we draw closer, and Izzy glares at us. “Move along, rejects,” she warns, waving her hand like she’s attempting to shoo us away. When we continue to stare at her, she huffs, and they take the girl down another corridor until they’re out of sight again.
I frown, not really sure what we just witnessed. “What was that all about?”
“Beats me,” Kenzie answers. “At this point I’m convinced everyone in this academy is so high strung we’re all on the edge of a mental breakdown.”
“That tracks.” I stop and smack my palm to my forehead. “Oh crap, I have to quickly duck back to our dorm and grab something.”
Kenzie arches a brow. “Let me guess, a book?”
I grin. “Girl, you know me too well. But this one is non-fiction.”
She makes a face.
Professor Yevar gave me some reading homework after our last class, and I have to admit learning about the principles of war, and tactics versus strategy, has actually been interesting. Okay, I’m lying. I dozed off halfway through the book because it was so dry, and a lot of it didn’t make much sense to me, but hey, I tried.
We stop at our dorm and I dash inside, snatching the leather tome from my bedside table before meeting Kenzie outside. I notice she’s staring at our dorm door. It’s no longer bare, with a single creature mark on the wood, indicating her wild dog animali.
“Knew you’d get one,” I say, nudging her.
She gives me a small smile, but the curve of her lips doesn’t last. “Yeah, but what about you?” she says, her large doe eyes full of concern as she stares at me.
“Psshhh.” I wave a hand in the air. “I’ll be fine.”
Her smile starts to lift again, but it doesn’t quite make it. She just keeps staring at the door. “We still haven’t found her,” she eventually says softly.
I don’t need to ask to know she’s talking about Leira. Her past roommate.
“And more keep disappearing every day,” she goes on.
My brow creases, because she’s right. With every passing day there are more empty seats in the dining hall. It’s hard to know if some of the students are saying the words that get them sent back to the human realm, or if they’re perishing during classes, or if there’s another reason.
Stepping forward, Kenzie runs her hand over her animali’s mark before turning to me. “What if we never find Leira?” she asks, and there’s a vulnerable look in her eyes. “I figured I’d die during the games, especially without an animali. And that at least, I could live with myself knowing we’ve been trying to find her. But now that I have Nellie, for the first time, I feel like I might survive this. And that just…it feels worse somehow. I feel…I don’t know…guilty that I might live. Is that stupid?”
I rest my hand on her shoulder. “It’s not stupid. But Kenzie, you have to know it’s not your fault…”
“I do. I know that. But it’s just hard.” She sighs.
Sadness twists through me, and once again, I can’t help wondering if Knox has had anything to do with the disappearing students. I’m going to have to confront him soon, because Kenzie deserves the truth. And honestly, I can’t help wondering whether the missing students are linked to my past as well.
Wrapping my arm around Kenzie, I give her a squeeze. “We’ll figure it out. Someone has to know something.”
