I’ll make sure she won’t stay at Skallagrim for long.
I swear it.
CHAPTER THIRTEENEDITH
Transforming is thelastthing I want to do. I have thirty minutes to get to my Transformation class, but I walk so slowly I’m almost late. All I can think of is the nightmare when my teeth were falling out, replaced by fangs. I came to Skallagrim so I could control the animal, not turn into one. Unfortunately, I may not have a choice.
A large group of boys is standing around and talking in the cloisters ahead. They’re all wearing simple linen tunics, looking less like a class and more like a cult. A cult I wantnothingto do with.
Bits of conversation echo through the cloisters.
“Hey, man, I’m telling you, she’s not into you.”
“That’s not what she said last night,” another replies with a laugh.
I cringe. They sound just like Jason and his friends. Maybe Skallagrim isn’tsodifferent after all. None of them are even talking about Emilía. If they knew she died, I doubt they’d all be standing around, laughing. At least I hope not.
Emilía’s dead body flashes before my eyes.
If I didn’t kill her, then someone else heredid.
My nails are getting more and more ragged from how much I’m gnawing on them.
Until I figure out who, Bea is in danger.
We all are.
Folding my arms across my chest, I walk over to the group. They turn toward me as one. I can feel their eyes drag over me, so I straighten my spine and force a smile. Even though they’re still human, they could turn any second. I know better than anyone how deadly berserkir can be.
“Did you get lost again, new girl?” Isaac calls out.
“A little.”
“Good thing you found us. Take this,” Tala says, handing me a linen tunic dress. “We wear these so we aren’t constantly ruining our clothes when we transform, and so we have something to change into when we turn back.”
I stare at the rough linen dress. My clothes weren’t ruined after Emilía died, which means itcouldn’thave been me, right? Then again, I didn’t see any scraps of clothing nearby either. I would’ve noticed that on my jog. So if her killer was transformed, it must not have been a spur-of-the-moment thing. They didn’t just lose their temper and go berserk.
They planned the attack.
Tala waves a hand in front of my face. “Edith?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
I take the clothes from her, even though I have no intention of actually transforming.
“There’s a changing room over there,” Tala says. “And some lockers for you to keep your clothes in. Generally, it’s always a good idea to carry extra clothes until you learn how to fully control going berserk.”
“Thanks.”
I change quickly in the other room, coarse linen scratching my skin as I pull the tunic on. Even if I didn’t kill Emilía, I have to learn how tocontrol myself, or I could still hurt someone else.Or worse.
Helly’s words still haunt me.
I rejoin the rest of the class, looking around at my classmates. One of them must be the killer, but I don’t even know who anyone is or where to begin. Unlike Tala, I just arrived at Skallagrim. Like it or not, I could use her help getting to know the others—and hopefully to figure out which of them might be capable of murdering Emilía.
“So, who is everyone?” I ask Tala while we’re waiting.
“See the guys around Isaac? Those are the wolves. They call themselves the pack. Half of them play football, the other half play handball. Basically, any team sport.”
