Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,22

from finishing that dirty message.

Unshed tears prickle the back of my eyes, and I shove the phone into her hands, afraid otherwise I’ll stay up all night rereading his words just so I can hear his voice replay in my head.

“Thank you.” I wrap my arms around Mack’s neck. “If I haven’t told you lately, you, Mackenzie Fairchild, are a goddess.”

She kisses my forehead before scooting off the bed. “A goddess who needs sleep.” Her focus drifts to Ruby. “Fair warning—if I’m awakened by a certain naked sprite flying above my bed on her stuffed giraffe, someone is eating cat food for a week.”

“That only happened once,” I protest, “and she apologized.”

“Uh-huh,” Mack says through a yawn. “Goodnight.”

As soon as the door clicks shut, I fall back onto my pillow and shut my eyes, but I can’t get the Winter Prince’s words out of my head.

I will make this right. I will fucking destroy everything in my path until she’s free.

Even if it costs me everything.

Valerian Sylverfrost. What are you up to?

My Fae senses are ringing again, and this time the feeling of danger permeates every cell of my being.

10

It feels as if I’ve just fallen into a restless sleep before something wakes me. A light brush on my cheeks. Slapping the feeling away, I turn into my pillow. “Sleepy.”

The tug of magic finally rouses me. Flipping over, I blink at the sparkling sprite hovering a few inches from my face. By her pink wings and iridescent hair she’s a gemstone sprite.

Without a word, she drops a piece of paper onto my covers and flits out the open window into the night.

The night. What time is it? My phone says 7:00 AM, way too early.

I squint one eye and use my phone flashlight to read the note.

Princess Summer Solstice, you are cordially invited to the secret third year Evermore breakfast in Starlight Hall. Doors close at sunrise. Don’t be late.

Sunrise?

I blink wearily at the soft glow outside my window. My foggy brain takes way too long to determine how long I have before dawn. Ten minutes? Five?

“Crap on a stick!”

I careen out of bed. Outside my balcony doors, moonlight glimmers off the heavy mist shrouding the forest. I stumble around my bedroom, cursing everything in my path. The two house brownies my mother left here have already laid out my first outfit, a sheer moss green blouse with bell sleeves and high-waisted cream pants. Four-inch silver slingback heels with what I assume are real emeralds lining the straps sit beside the ensemble.

A part of me rebels at being dressed by tiny, magical beings. Of course my mother chose the outfit. She’s another world away and still pulling the strings.

Even more reason to hate it.

Except . . . the colors look amazing with my skin tone and hair, the heels feel like walking on clouds, and I’m running on borrowed time.

Tomorrow I’ll be an adult who chooses her own clothes.

Ruby doesn’t stop snoring as I pack her into the front pouch of my backpack, along with Tall Goat. Fresh coffee awaits me on the kitchen counter downstairs. Steam curls from the mug.

Tomorrow I’ll be an adult who makes her own coffee.

I down half in three gulps, cursing each time the scalding liquid meets my tongue.

My backpack vibrates against my spine, a squeaky voice whispering, “Late. Late. Late.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” I have to be at the Evermore welcome breakfast in seven minutes. No, five, tops.

Questions ricochet around my sleep-drunk brain.

Why so damn early? Why me? Why didn’t Eclipsa warn me about this tradition?

Or maybe it’s an invitation only thing, like a secret society. I hate the way my chest swells with pride. How I’m suddenly hyper aware that I’ve never been invited to anything of note. I was the last chosen for teams in P.E. The last anyone picked for group projects in high school. The last hand called on in class.

I never cared much then. The rejection only stung for a moment before I remembered Zinnia’s daily words of encouragement. Summer, you are a wonderful human being and nothing will change that.

But now being a wonderful human being isn’t enough. In fact, wonderful and mortal are like the two biggest sins in this cruel new world.

Being accepted as an Evermore strengthens my bid to oust Hellebore and stop the Darken.

Plus, after last night’s welcome party on our porch, being accepted, being wanted, is . . . nice.

Mack is still in bed when I leave. Clutching the invitation inside