I washedmy face and straightened my clothes before seeing Mandy. My stomach quivered from Theo’s attack—and the knowledge of his disgusting intention. I would have jabbed that pin into his throat. Would have killed him. He wouldn’t have succeeded. Still, it took a few minutes for the horror of what could have happened to leave me.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been attacked, and it wouldn’t be the last, but the kind of violation Theo had intended might have broken me. Tamina had saved me.
I guess the crazy Phage had boundaries. I had to respect that, which left me feeling all kinds of conflicted. I left the bathroom and hurried to my session with Mandy, determined to put the incident out of my mind because I didn’t want it to dominate my session. An hour and a half already felt too short.
I rapped on the door then slipped into the room. “Morning.”
Mandy looked up from her desk with a smile that dropped when her eagle eyes zeroed in on the bruise on my jaw.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Tamina and her cronies happened, but I’m fine.”
Her eyes flashed. “This is unacceptable.”
“I can handle her. Don’t worry. Now, please, can we eat? I’m starving.”
She looked ready to argue, then sighed and nodded. “Fine. But wewilltalk about it.”
I groaned. “Fine.”
I filled her in on Tamina and her empty threats while we ate, leaving out the part about Theo. The blood spray from Tamina’s attack was proof enough that he’d gotten his comeuppance, and honestly, I didn’t want to dwell on it. Best to shove it into the box in the back of my mind with all my personal horrors.
I quickly moved on to Sterling and his assholery. “And he’s moved the grading up to punish me.” I toyed with one of the crystals on her desk. Mandy knew about my history with the Damascus family. Facts that had been in my file. The Academy was nothing but thorough.
“That doesn’t sound ethical at all,” she said.
“Tell me about it.” I set the crystal down and flopped back into my chair.
“And how is the sleepwalking?”
“I had an episode a couple of nights ago. But yesterday, I remembered a little bit about my dream.”
“That’s good,” she said. “It might help us figure out why it’s happening.” She poured more tea into my cup then topped up her own.
I filled her in on the library incident. “Selina Evergreen is the name of the girl in my dream. She hid her journal.”
Mandy frowned. “That name doesn’t ring a bell. Meetings with me are mandatory for all students under eighteen, and all new students for at least six months. But then, I’ve only been here for three years, she must be an older student.”
“Yeah, we figured that.”
“And this journal…what was in it?”
“I think she was being bullied. I think something happened to her.”
Mandy sat forward in her seat. “Could I see it?”
“Sure.” I reached into my bag for the journal, rooting around for the book. Where was it? Shit. “It’s not in here.”
“Are you sure you packed it?”
“Positive. But it’s gone.”
And there was only one person who could have taken it.
Tamina.
* * *
