I put my new makeup in the bathroom, so after running my hands through my damp hair, I decide to let it dry naturally and spend what little time I have doing my makeup like Grace showed me. When I’m done, I can’t say it looks as good as yesterday, but it’s not bad for my first time solo.
As soon as I swing the door open, Mia rises from my desk chair and hikes her bag up on her shoulder. “Hurry. Nathan’s texting me every few minutes.”
I grab my own bag, and we both head out, traveling down the Daybreak and Lunar corridor until we hit the stairs. Once on the first floor, we make our way to the glassed-in cafeteria. The food choices have changed today. French Toast instead of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bagels, sausage, and more fruit. I scoop whatever looks good onto my plate and follow Mia to where Nathan is sitting with Nadia, who surprisingly, doesn’t have red-rimmed eyes this morning.
She holds a cup of orange juice in her hands and gestures with it. Immediately, I can tell that a smile does her justice better than a frown. It lights up her whole face.
I sit next to her while Mia takes her place next to Nathan. “Blame me,” I tell him. “I wasn’t up when Mia knocked on my door.”
“Late night?” Nathan inquires.
Mia acts as if she’s not paying attention, so I decide to keep what happened between me and Jonah private. Well, private between me, Jonah, and Mia. I don’t feel like getting into another big discussion. Especially after seeing Mia’s reaction to the kissing part. Whatever I say is going to make them think of their own mates, and we already do enough of that.
Instead, Mia and Nathan start discussing something about an upcoming project in one of their classes, and Nadia breaks out a notebook and begins to write in it. The date is written on the first line, and she begins to freehand, scribbling down sentences on the paper. I glance away in case it’s private and not something like a list of how to get revenge against her best friend who completely abandoned her. If it’s a revenge list, I’m on board with helping her.
Mia’s gaze travels over my shoulder. “Incoming,” she singsongs under her breath.
This time, I’m shocked to find Ms. Ebon towering above our table. I almost come to attention in front of her. It’s the aura she gives, making me want to obey her right away. “Miss Walker, I need to see you directly, please.”
I stare back at my plate. I was done a while ago and just moving food around to pass the time, so I stand. “Of course, Ms. Ebon.”
I grab my bag and start to follow her out of the room when I peer over my shoulder. Mia grimaces at me, and Nathan wears a furrowed brow as he watches us walk away. I shrug. At this point, I don’t know what’s going on, and I can think of like three things that I’ve done wrong and could possibly be getting in trouble for, so there’s no sense in worrying about it yet.
Her heels click ahead of me as we march down the corridor to her office. She stops at her room, gesturing for me to go inside first. I don’t know if this is a social meeting like our first or more of a school meeting, so I refrain from sitting until she moves around her huge desk after shutting the door behind us.
She sits, placing her forearms on the wood top in front of her. Leaning closer, she stares at me straight in the eye. “I was alerted to some unfortunate news this morning.”
My heart pings painfully in my chest. My first thoughts are of my parents. I forgot to look at my cell this morning to see if anything had been said since yesterday, but her next words erase all those worries. She swivels her monitor until it faces me and presses play. The clear image of a forest appears. Not three seconds into the video, a copper wolf barrels through the frame and exits it. It happens so fast, I’m pretty damn impressed with myself, but when I glance at Ms. Ebon, I can tell she’s not about to commend me for my superior speed.
“This is the video at the perimeter line. If you move out of the frame, you are no longer within Greystone Academy’s grounds.”
I close my eyes and