to avoid having to see the stares of the other students, ignoring the whistles and pick-up lines.
Why did everyone have to…?
“That hairnet is super sexy,” Noble said.
I looked up at his familiar voice and grinned.
“I’ll be teased forever for this, won’t I?” I grabbed some pizza and a burger and loaded up a plate for him.
He nodded, his lips squished together like a duck. “I need a picture”—he turned and held his phone out for a selfie—“Smile!”
I flipped him off but mimicked his duck face. After he took the pic, he looked at the image and laughed.
Noble was my homie, BFF spot #2.
“Hurry up! Hungry back here!” Rage called out from where he stood with Justice and Honor.
I ignored him but started fixing the three boys’ plates while I continued my convo with Noble. “Hey, when you have time later, can we chat about the party last night? I want to ask you something about your friends.”
His face fell, body going rigid as he turned somber. “Sure, but—”
Whatever he’d been about to say was drowned out by the sound of high-pitched screaming.
What the—?
Everyone in the entire cafeteria slapped their hands over their ears, myself included. The pressure in my head swelled like my eardrums were going to explode and bleed. Then, the screaming waned in volume, becoming a hissing sound like a teapot about to boil.
“Shit!” Rage burst out from the lunch line, diving under a nearby table. He reached underneath and pulled out a long, sleek sword as he shoved something into one ear. He switched the sword into the other hand and put his other hand up to his ear…
I was still processing why he was touching his ears when Rage said a word that made my blood run cold.
“Selkies!” he hissed. “Call the palace. We’re under attack.”
Selkies. Seal-shifters, who mortals mistakenly called mermaids or sirens, had once guarded this island. Why were they here, and why were we under attack from them?
Rage turned to Justice and cocked his head toward the kitchen. Justice nodded.
As the doors of the cafeteria blasted open, Justice leapt over the counter and reached for me.
“Nai, come on!”
I followed his lead, ducking to the ground, my heart pounding against my chest.
Why were the selkies attacking?
“Let’s go. There’s an exit behind the kitchens,” Justice whispered, tugging me forward in an army crawl.
“Huh?” I scrunched my face and stared at him. Did he think I couldn’t hold my own in a fight? “The school is under attack. Why would we run?”
More importantly, was this an alpha test I’d fail if I was a coward?
Justice gripped my underarm tightly. “You don’t understand. The selkies’ call—”
Just then, a beautiful melody picked up and carried throughout the air.
Chapter 9
The complex melody dipped and then soared, the beautiful singing nearly spellbinding—
“Nai!” Justice bellowed, pulling on my arm.
I shook my head, wanting to hear the music, but my attention caught on the other shifters. Every single one of them stood rigidly, staring at the air in front of them. Nell, Honor, Kaja, evil Barbie, they all stood… frozen. Everyone except for Rage.
“What’s wrong with them?”
Pivoting to face Justice, I frowned. He held a squished piece of foam between his thumb and forefinger, but he—like most of the other students—gaped slack-jawed at the doorway, from where the song flowed.
Frozen.
“Justice!” Rage sprinted forward as a stunning woman stepped into the room.
Her arms outstretched as she sang, water ran in rivulets down her legs, leaving small puddles where she walked. Clothed in a gauzy white dress that left little to the imagination as it clung to her soaking wet form, the woman wore her pale green hair down, hanging in loose clumps, resembling seaweed. Without breaking her song, she pounded a fist on the wall.
A dozen men entered dressed in slick black sealskin armor. With their swords drawn, they split into teams of two and advanced on the alpha heirs.
Selkies were a proud race of shifters. The females had spellbinding voices with the ability to sing in high frequencies—like mind-numbing, ear-bleeding noise. The males were fierce warriors. Why were they attacking us? We were just innocent kids at a school.
I grabbed the foam earplug from Justice’s hand and stuck it in his ear as Rage skidded to a halt beside me.
“What are you still doing here?” he growled. I could see the yellow bit of a balled-up earplug sticking out of his ears. Then, he looked down at me, gaze zeroing in on my ears. “The song doesn’t affect you?”
I had no idea