Crescent Wolves - G. Bailey Page 0,29
I guess.” I turn to Hunter. “It was nice to meet you,” I say hurriedly, and turn to go.
Amelia’s voice stops me in my tracks. “Are you really doing this in front of me?” I turn back to her, and her mouth twists like she’s just tasted something sour. She shakes her head, laughing a little. “You know, I’m not sure if you’re incredibly brave or incredibly stupid,” she tells me, eyes narrowing.
“I…” I look to Hunter as I stand up, hoping he’ll step in and intervene, but he’s just watching the exchange, his brow furrowed. So much for that. “I’m sorry,” I begin, wanting to be anywhere else in the world right now. “I didn’t realize--I, I mean, I didn’t mean to offend you or something--”
“Offend me?” She snorts. “How adorably naive. I’m not worried about you offending me, Millie Brix,” she says, leaning forward and punctuating the last two words for emphasis. How does she know my name? Come to think of it, why did she call me a freak when she saw me.
Come on, I think to myself. The cat’s out of the bag, that’s how. Briefly, I wonder if Hazel or Landon might have let something slip, but I push the idea away. They wouldn’t have.
“My brother, though,” Amelia says, nodding at Hunter, “that’s a different story. I would recommend not dragging him any further into your shit.” I open my mouth to reply, but she doesn’t stop. “I heard about you,” she says, eyes flashing. “You’re the hybrid everyone’s been talking about. They’re being generous, I think. ‘Mistake’ might be more appropriate. Stay away from my brother if you know what’s good for you.” That’s all she has to say. The conversation apparently over, Amelia turns, tossing her scarlet hair over one shoulder and dropping into my desk, crossing her legs like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
“Still no progress, huh?” I overhear her asking Hunter, but I don’t wait to listen to his response. I’m already shuffling over to the free desk on the other side of the room. A few other students are staring at me, having watched the exchange, but Professor Huxley is still blissfully distracted, now at the podium desperately trying to sort out a pile of documents. Maybe it’s for the best that he didn’t witness that. The last thing I need is a teacher rescuing me from bullying on my first day here. That’s a guaranteed way to ruin one’s reputation at a new school, if experience has taught me anything.
So much for making new friends, I think, awkwardly inviting myself into another group and returning to my efforts to make my fangs appear.
No such luck on that front, either.
The rest of my vampire shifting class goes by in a blur, but at least there are no further incidents after the Amelia Ash debacle. Occasionally I look over at her and Hunter, seeing her making animated gestures in her attempts to show him how to make his fangs appear, something she seems to be able to do effortlessly. Eventually we stop the practical drill and do a guided meditation, something I never would have imagined them teaching in school, before a brief overview of the way shifting magic moves through the body. The information is interesting, but I’m too rattled from the confrontation to do much more than take notes and bite my nails.
After that is siren shifting, and I’m blessed to have Hazel and Landon in my class. Once again, I don’t manage to change during any of the transformations, but at least I don’t get chewed out by a stranger this time, so I suppose I’ll take it. At the end of the class, the lunch bell rings and the academy students disperse, heading for the quad or the cafeteria. The others invite me to eat outside with them, and I eagerly accept, grabbing some food from the dining hall before following the two sirens out onto the grass. Around us, students sit in groups, talking and eating, and Landon leads us to the shade of an enormous oak tree, its branches casting a shadow almost all the way to the road.
There’s a guy already sitting under the tree, sprawled out with an open book in his lap, and Landon waves to him as we approach. “Hey, Silas!” he calls.
The boy looks up, and I realize with a start that he’s the same tall guy I met yesterday, when I ended up in the boys’