Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,45

or one of her cronies to jump out and record Kimber dumping fake blood on me.

Something.

Anything but actually laugh like we’re friends.

Because we’re not, right?

“So, you’re okay?” Kimber asks.

“What?”

She pantomimes falling down the stairs with her hands.

“Oh, yeah. All good. Yep.” Why am I talking like this?

“Good.” She starts to open her book and then pauses. “I’m sorry, by the way. Whoever made you fall . . . they crossed a line. Just wanted you to know.”

I think we both know who whoever is.

“Thanks.” I bite my lip to keep from smiling like an idiot. Here I am, making allies like a boss. Maybe I should give all the Evermore candy.

Kimber gathers her books, stacking like ten in her thin arms. If not for the inhuman strength, or the fangs and pointed ears, she could be just another girl trying to ace her exams.

As she passes, her gaze slides to my notebook full of ideas and settles on the book in my lap. The page is open to foxglove, the illustration showing a slender plant with tubular shaped white blooms. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“What?”

“Your reading material. Is there a pop quiz in Potions and Poisons that I don’t know about?”

“No, at least, I hope not. This is for something else.” The Selection details are always kept secret to prevent anyone from cheating. “You wouldn’t, by chance, know what plants in this book grow on the island, would you?”

She gives me a conspiratorial look. Of course she has connected my question with the Selection. But even if she wanted to cheat, that knowledge isn’t enough to give her much of an edge. “I’ve helped collect plants for extra credit before. Only the safe ones, of course. Students aren’t allowed to collect toxic herbs. Want me to write you a list real quick?”

I hesitate, unused to kindness from an Evermore. But without her help, I’ll be in here all night. “Sure. Yeah, if you don’t mind?”

“No problem.”

Once she drops the note in my lap and leaves, Ruby says, “Tell me again why we’re making friends with a blood drinker?”

“It’s all about allies,” I say, somehow restraining from high-fiving myself. This is huge, a much needed win after my very public humiliation.

If I can entice powerful Evermore like Kimber to break with the Six, surely there’s others who will join our side.

18

It becomes apparent almost immediately that I was a tad optimistic on the ally front. First, no one will sit by me in my Fae classes after lunch. I’m radioactive, and no matter what I do, I can’t take off the invisible sign that has Outcast written in red caps. Even Kimber, who was so nice to me in the library, has gone back to pretending I don’t exist.

Which, honestly, stings a bit but isn’t really surprising. I shouldn't have assumed a few Sour Patch Kids and a joke would make her leave the Six.

She needs more than that. Like proof that I can go toe-to-toe with Inara.

Which leads me to the other part of the strategy. Taking down another Fae.

That will require more than candy.

I mean, sure, I could find some poor Evermore in the halls and start a fight, but that makes me look psycho, and not the cool Eclipsa psycho.

My takedown needs to be tactical. It needs to be brutal. And it needs to be one of the Six. They’re the most revered—and feared—on campus.

Unfortunately, they roam the school like a pack of hyenas, constantly scavenging for prey, the weaker the better.

On a good day I might be able to take down one of them, but all of them together?

I also underestimated how hard it would be to see Valerian. I knew at the beginning of school we would probably cross paths, and that we wouldn’t be able to publicly talk, but this is worse. It’s as if I’m not there. As if the bond between us doesn’t exist and my heart isn’t shattering into a million pieces every second we’re together.

I find myself simultaneously praying he walks through a door and hoping he doesn’t. It’s confusing and maddening and I honestly don’t know how long this can go on before I fall apart.

His sudden coldness stings the most during ninth period Combat Skills. And not just because of the skintight black training outfit showing off those double-wide shoulders and washboard abs, although that definitely sucks.

In this class, I’m forced to be in close proximity with him. Forced to suffer the pull of the bond—really more of