Page 100

The girl in front of me had deep dark circles under her eyes, a greasy hairline, and was wearing a much too big black Vanderwood hoodie, on which the now-forbidden logo of Vanderwood Athletics was already fading. In her hand she held a warning note from the registrar's office, probably because she wasn't wearing her uniform.

I suppressed the intensely sweet smell of AB by continuing to hold my breath, just as Miles was doing next to me.

Frustration setting in, I snatched the note from her hand, pulled out my lighter, and set it on fire in front of Mady and a few other people who looked at me in shock, before letting it drift to the ground, where it turned to ash.

Mady blinked.

“You can't...”

“She already has,” Miles said with a proud grin. “That's my sister.”

He patted me on the shoulder.

Mady looked at us, obviously uncertain, but then pulled out her phone and looked at the time.

Her lock screen was a selfie of her and her brother, and that was the last straw for me.

“Oh, it's so late already,” she said in an exhausted voice. “I have to hurry. I don't want to get a warning for this too.”

She smiled sheepishly and, before Miles or I could say anything, turned around and hurried across campus toward the massive main entrance of the main building.

“Oh man,” Miles sighed beside me and grimaced, the inner corners of his eyebrows raised, his mouth slightly twisted, as he watched her go. “She really needs a drink.”

“The last thing she needs is a drink, Miles,” I muttered as my inner despair began to grow. “Her brother died. She has no one left.”

I knew what it was like to be alone and on your own, to learn that you didn’t need anyone and could get by just fine. But I had never had to lose someone I had grown attached to. If you left him out of it...

Mady had lost three family members. Three loved ones.

I turned to Miles with determination.

“She needs someone to take care of her.”

His mixed expression showed me what he thought of that, ever since I had literally thrown myself at her during my last attempt. But he didn't argue with me because he knew I was right.

Chapter 14

Kieran

3days

Mitchel Dae

The fucker stared at me as if it were his goddamn job to piss people off.

He stood there under the nearest oak tree with an icy expression, surrounded by other hostile-looking men, and scrutinized me.

There were three problems: First, he was a Senseque, I could smell it. Second, he didn't look like the other wimps on this campus, but was solidly built. Broad shoulders, like my own, taller than me, and well-trained arm muscles. And third, I didn't know him.

I hated not knowing people. Any information I could find out about someone was their weakness and my triumph.

“Emely,” I forced out, trying not to let my tension show too much. “Who is this guy and why is he staring at me like he’s planning my murder?”

Emely's head turned, but in a completely different direction, across the parking lot, and her cheeks flushed.

I didn't laugh often, but the rare moments when this girl was lost were a delight.

“What are you looking at?” I asked, laughing, and forgot about the unwanted observer for a moment.