But my thought was cut short as suddenly every book on the shelf followed behind the first one, whizzing through the air and knocking me off my feet. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, buried in a pile of leather and musty paper.
“Oh, Becca!” Mr Reid called, digging me out, while Mr Anderson roared with laughter. “Are you hurt?”
“Just my pride,” I assured him, crawling out of the dusty pile.
“You see!” Mr Reid rounded on the still laughing Mr Anderson. “If I’d have given her further instruction, that wouldn’t have happened!”
“It’s fine,” I told him, brushing off my shirt. “I wasn’t paying enough attention.”
With a bang, the door to the Inner Chamber burst open, making us all jump. Min came running in, full of all-out panic.
“Jocelyn? Where is Jocelyn?”
“Office, why? What’s wrong?” Mr Reid asked, as she ran to the door in the back of the Chamber that led to Jocelyn’s office.
She threw it open without even bothering to knock. “Jocelyn, where are you?” she yelled.
“Here,” he called, running in with Taron following right behind. “What’s wrong?”
“Ryland’s dorm has been attacked! The guard has been breached, I felt it.”
My stomach gave a heave as her words rang in my ears. They’d finally gotten through. And because they didn’t realize that I was actually the one they wanted, they’d gone after Ry instead.
“When?” Jocelyn asked, for the first time making me envious of his stony-calm, ever in control, demeanor.
“Only a moment ago, I came right away.” I’d never seen Min so worked up, which wasn’t doing much to ease the barbed wire wrapping around my lungs.
“Where’s Alex?” Jocelyn asked looking around the room.
“Gone to get Cormac, he’ll be here in a moment,” Min answered again.
“How did it happen?” Mr Anderson asked.
“Didn’t you feel them come through the guard around the school?” Mr Reid added.
“No, there have been no other breaches in any of my other charms or guards, not even around the campus as a whole. Someone had to have let them in.”
“One of us?!” Mr Anderson cried, outraged. “No, it can’t be!”
“Is that even possible?” Reid asked.
“No, that is what I do not understand! The only way is to create a bridge in the charm, and to do that you would need…” Min’s voice died off, her eyes widening. “It can’t be…”
As if on cue, Alex ran in panting. “Cormac’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” Jocelyn asked.
“Gone,” Alex repeated, “his stuff too.”
“Cormac,” Min gasped, covering her mouth. “I… I gave him one of my books. He asked to see it last night, but I never thought…”
“Damn bloody traitor!” Mr Anderson spat.
“But why send someone after Ryland?” Alex asked.
“Maybe he lied about the boy’s reading after his Awakening,” Reid suggested.
“He’s probably been lying from the start!” Anderson fumed.
“I should have kept a closer watch on him!” Min said.
“Never mind Cormac,” Jocelyn cut in. “We’ll worry about him later. Right now, Ryland’s safety comes first,” he said, leading everyone to the door. Pulling it open, he turned back and pointed directly at me. “You are not to leave this room until we come back. Everyone else, with me.”
“No!” I screamed, my panic and my anger twisting inside me like a windup toy about to spring. “No way! I’m coming!”
“You will stay here until we return! That is not a request!” he bellowed.
Before I could argue, two hands gently but firmly grabbed either side of my face and turned me around. “Becca, listen to me,” Alex pleaded, forcing me to look him in the eye. “We can focus all our attention on Ryland if we don’t also have to worry about you. It’s imperative that they don’t find out about you.”
“If Cormac is working with them, then they already know!”
“Not necessarily,” he said. “Please, Becca, you have to trust us. We’ll take care of Ryland.” He must have seen the terror and reluctance in my eyes, because he quietly added, “Trust me.”
I did trust him, more than anything, but I couldn’t fight my nature. Everything in me was screaming to run to Ryland as fast as my legs would carry me, and now everyone expected me to just sit here on my hands and wait?
“Taron,” Jocelyn ordered, not willing to wait for my answer, “stay here and watch her. She is not to leave this room.”
Taron was outraged. “But you might need me! Alex can babysit her.”
“We need Alex to conceal us. You will stay here, and do not let her out of your sight.”