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Lost in thought, I looked out at the winter landscape that had arrived overnight, as if winter wasn't ready to leave Blairville yet.

Roni

Chikita Violenta

“That girl is up to something.” I flinched and turned to Emely, who was coming down the stairs almost noiselessly. “Believe me, her nomination votes are already twice as high as mine, and the elections haven’t even started yet. That’s just the goddamn nomination.”

She sounded frustrated.

Buddy pranced around her and followed her into the kitchen, where she threw Vivienna's leftover salad into the refrigerator with a disgusted look, as if it were poisoned.

“Harlow supports her,” I told her, which I only knew because I was regularly confronted with Vivienna and Grace preparing their campaign programs together.

I wondered if Emely had already prepared one. It seemed to be something serious for her.

“Of course she does,” Emely huffed, rolling her eyes, before returning to the stairs and knocking on the wall. “Hey! Freaks! You can come out now!” I thought I saw the right corner of her mouth turn up. “The drama queens are gone.”

She strode to the kitchen table, followed by Buddy, who dropped a chew bone at her feet and sat down in front of her, wagging his tail.

Emely stared at the dog, not as cheerful as usual.

I smiled, which made her look up and give me a raised eyebrow and index finger.

“Not a word, Julie.” She looked back at Buddy. “And get it out of your head that I'm going to throw that stupid bone for you every time.”

She sighed and finally picked up the bone, holding it playfully in the air, and her smile returned.

My gaze lingered on Emely.

She hadn't changed outwardly like Grace, but I had the feeling she was opening up more and more. As if there were many other facets to her personality that she kept well hidden from the outside world.

“Is it true that Amber wants to hit on your hot professor?” came the euphoric question from the stairs, and Larissa appeared on the ground floor with wide, sparkling eyes and unusual speed.

Bayla came down the stairs behind her.

The pleasant tingling in my stomach returned, followed by a slight, uncomfortable pulling sensation.

Emely threw the bone toward the couch, as usual, probably because she wanted to spare the floor of the house, and my half-grown dog slid across the ground floor, moving two rugs and dragging a third with him.

“Who is this professor everyone's talking about?” Emely finally asked, looking at Larissa.

Larissa grinned at me. “Julie's hot molecular biology professor. The one who saved her from the football the other day.”

Thanks, Larissa. Did you really have to bring him up?

“The one who writes rather strange books about occultism,” Bay added, crossing the ground floor with five tomes on Umbra from the Dragonfly Society’s secret room in her arms.

“Wait…” Emely said, turning to me. “But that guy is human, right?”

Shit. Why was everyone staring at me now?

I clasped my hands behind my back, interlacing my cool, tingling fingertips.

Avoiding Larissa's gaze, I looked at Emely, who was the most clueless of everyone present, but I couldn't hold her gaze either.

What should I say? Should I keep lying? Was there any reason to do so? Would Emely report Quentin to Alarik?

“Why are you hesitating?” Larissa asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest with a piercing look.