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A tumult broke out, and Julie and I were forced to join the crowd.

“No...” I heard Harlow gasp from below. “No!” she yelled, and some students paused, led by Vivienna and the other Quatura.

However, the humans among them paid Harlow only a few seconds of attention before deciding to follow the other students out.

“Stay seated!” Harlow yelled loudly. “I said Stay seated!”

I held my breath as sweet-smelling air threatened to invade my nose.

“Stop! Where do you think you're going?!”

Harlow was literally raging, but Julie and I were already at the door, literally being pushed out, and I felt Julie's cold fingers clinging to my arm.

“There will be consequences! For all of you!”

The huge main corridor of the main wing looked even more chaotic.

No one was whispering anymore. Instead, loud laughter filled the crowded halls of Vanderwood and snippets of conversation reached my ears.

“Oh my God! What was that?!”

“Did you hear that?”

“Who the hell would dare do something like that?”

“A damn hacker?”

“The other lectures are canceled too.”

“Awesome! No lectures!” Cody shouted to our right, and slapped Nash Copeland on the shoulder.

Noah tried to pull his beanie, decorated with iron-on patches, over his face, but Cody managed to dodge.

As always, Nash was followed by a dozen muscle-bound guys, and I found myself looking for the new werewolf specimen. But he was probably taking completely different modules. After all, he was a master's student.

I was pushed aside. By Jenny Bexley who was dragging Penny behind her.

“We have to call Mom!” she exclaimed enthusiastically, as if she had just won the lottery, and I could already see the headline in my mind's eye.

“Dude, Cody, don't exaggerate,” I heard Noah laugh and looked back at the Copelands who were passing us, with other students between us. “But better than spending another second among all these freaks. Did you see that one Ruisangor staring at us the whole time?”

Nash muttered something I couldn't understand before the whole group was out of earshot.

“Oh my God. Did you guys get that announcement from that hacker too?”

I spun around, overwhelmed by all the sensory impressions – which, unfortunately, had become commonplace since my transformation – and spotted Bayla next to Julie.

Back then, loud noises didn't bother me. I still enjoyed loud parties, clubs, and the sound of engines. But since I was no longer human, everything seemed much more intense. Especially when I was hungry...

I knew that breathing now would be fatal. Because then I would even smell Bayla and Julie's blood.

“Alarik was laughing when that hacker indirectly threatened Harlow,” Bayla continued with a soft smirk. “And he asked us in all seriousness why we weren't outside yet.”

“I would have liked to see that,” I laughed.

“Who do you think it was?” Bayla asked, searching the corridor as if she was still afraid of being watched and disciplined by the distracted Copelands.

“Someone who knows the Vanderwood security network well,” Julie said with concentration, letting go of my arm at that moment, her gaze apologetic, so I smiled at her to let her know that everything was okay.