“It wasn’t your fault, Sophia. It’s not like you cursed me to be terrible at being a fae.” I sighed and looked around me. Compared to hers, my room would be brutally empty. No clothes. No signs of life. “And I could really use a shower and a fresh change ofclothes.”
“Maybe if I’d been worse, it’d be me keeping watch tonight instead of you.” She pulled a black t-shirt from the depths of her bag. “Want to wear this? It’s sufficiently guard-like, and we’re about the samesize.”
I lifted my eyes from the floor. “Really? You wouldn’tmind?”
“Nope, not at all.” She tossed me the shirt with a smile. “Until the fae manage to round up some clothes for you, feel free to wear anything of mine. We’ve got to stick together,right?”
I let out a relived sigh and nodded. “We’ve got to stick totogether.”
* * *
When I returnedto the gym an hour later, I expected Liam to be waiting to greet me with that egotistic smile of his. He’d been the one who had assigned me Watch Duty, after all. Instead, it was Rourke, the Autumn fae. The weird one who, I had to admit, made me feel a little nervous. There was something so unnerving about him. He was quiet and cool, his lips pressed together in a firm line. Next to Finn’s boisterous nature and Liam’s fiery flirting, Rourke justseemed…
Chilling.
“This may be your first evening at Otherworld Academy, but we don’t ease recruits in slowly here.” Rourke strode to the wall and took four binoculars off a wooden shelf before passing them out to each of us. “Each night, recruits assist with Watch Duty, an essential task for ensuring the safety of this Academy. And while you may feel this is a punishment for losing your challenge, it’s an integral part of your training. You should consider it a privilege to guard thisplace.”
A guy with fair reddish hair next to me scoffed and crossed his arms across the kind of chest that could only be built from hours spent in a gym. “Right. A privilege. Then, why didn’t you give it to the so-called ‘winners’ of today’schallenge?”
Rourke turned to the guy and stared, his eyes glittering with a ferocity that almost made me gasp. I was certainly glad he wasn’t looking at me likethat.
“Griff, is it? From Wales?” Rourke said quietly. “Their time will come. You need to focus on your own training. Be appreciative of thisopportunity.”
“Well, we should at least get some kind of weapon,” said Griff. “What good are we going to do just wandering around with somebinoculars?”
“No weapons yet,” Rourke said. “You aren’t ready. If you see anything out of the ordinary, you’ll sound the alarm, and the instructors will take care of theissue.”
Griff snorted, and I frowned. I knew I should keep my mouth shut. Rourke was more than a little intimidating, but I also had questions that he needed toanswer.
“So, all we’re doing is standing around keeping watch with these?” I lifted thebinoculars.
His glittering eyes turned my way. “Yes, Norah. That’s why it’s called WatchDuty.”
My cheeks flamed. I was glad I wasn’t an Autumn Court fae. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with this guy by my side, his eerie unnerving way of speaking, those golden eyes that I swore felt as though could see past my skin and into mysoul.
Not that I could imagine spending the rest of my life with any of them. I mean, we’d just met. Yeah, they were all insanely gorgeous in their otherworldly way they had, and I had a feeling they looked amazing with their shirts off, too. But it was just too bizarre, imagining that one of them would end up my lifelongmate.
And that I would somehow end upthrilledaboutit.
“So, what are we watching out for anyway?” another one of the changelings asked, a girl with dark wavy hair that curled around her pixie face. “Are there actually things out there we need to be worriedabout?”
Rourke’s lips curled into a devious smile. “Oh yes. Why do you think it’s a requirement for all changelings to be trained once they return to Otherworld? You’re in the land of the fae now, and not all creatures of this realm are like us.” He waved at himself, and his words sent a chill down my spine. I couldn’t help but think of the wolf monsters who had killed Bree. Was he talking about those? Or were there more things out there? Things that were evenworse?
As if reading my mind, he flicked his eyes my way and nodded. “There are many types of dangerous creatures in Otherworld, Norah. You’ll begin to learn more about them tomorrow when classes begin. For now, all you need to know is to keep an eye out for anything with fangs and fur. If you spot one, sound thealarm.”
* * *
At first,my palms were almost too sweaty for me to keep my grip on the binoculars, but after two uneventful hours where there was nothing but buzzing crickets and endless dark, glittering skies, I began torelax.
Rourke had given each of us a small squat watch tower in the corners of the Academy grounds, so I didn’t even have anyone to keep me company for the six hours that darkness would permeate the skies. Once Watch Duty was over, we’d have just enough time to go back inside for an hour’s nap and a shower before classes began for theday.
A privilege, myass.
A soft cool breeze whispered across the back of my neck, and my body stiffened instinctively. Not because of anything I saw or heard but because I felt something nearby me. Something dark and dangerous andcold.
“Norah,” came a shiver of ice from behind me. “All quiet on the northwesternside?”
It was just Rourke, though that knowledge did little to calm my nerves. My pulse began to throb in my veins, bouncing dangerously quick in myneck.
