Chapter 18

Julian

I had just stepped through the open archway of the east wing when I heard her call my name.

"Julian! Wait!"

My steps quickened.

I had lost all desire for any social contact after today.

First, there had been Nash and his friends, and then, these DeLoughrey guys.

I knew them. I had never met them in this part of town, let alone anywhere else, but their reputation preceded them, as did their name.

Their sudden arrival here on campus had not only triggered an everlasting spiral of thoughts in my head but also caused quite a turmoil.

I wonder what must be going on at the Copelands, now?

I grinned gleefully, but then another shout snapped me out of my thoughts. I became even faster.

In general, I wasn't one to talk to anyone in this miserable small town. Just the thought of all the problems I had already avoided this way made me groan inside.

"Julian, I want to talk to you."

That was clearly Bay's voice, not Emely's.

How had I been able to confuse them?

Abruptly, I stopped on the sidewalk and turned to face her. As I did so, another girl bumped into me, giving an annoyed "Watch it!" before finally hurrying on.

"I'm sorry," Bay said, slightly out of breath. She had apparently run all the way just to catch me.

"Sorry for what?"

Now, I was curious.

Very briefly she seemed to hesitate, but then she looked at me with determination.

"I had been shitty to you the last few days...and...maybe that was because I had been biased."

I was beginning to understand. Somehow, she must have felt guilty.

"I'm not used to anything else from you guys," I said, trying to make it sound as casual as possible, when I remembered that she didn't know anything at all about the other Quatura, let alone that she was one of them herself.

To my luck, she didn't go into it any further. The scene in the seminar just a moment ago must have confused her quite a bit.

I turned around again so that I could walk to the parking lot, where I still had the rest of my things that I had left in the car yesterday. As I did, I caught sight of Emely sitting under the tree with a couple of Nash's guys, looking around campus like an eagle.

Nash was probably still stuck at his daddy's house, having a good cry just because a couple of Ruisangors had shown up on their territory. Like they didn't have any bigger problems...

Although I did understand that it had to mean something. The clan and the pack had a very long history. These two species on this campus... This could end badly.

I felt myself being watched and indeed Emely's gaze was on me. To be more specific, on Bay, who continued to follow me.

I wonder if Emely was able to smell her?

"Wait..."

"Is there anything else?" I turned back to her, only to bump into people again who looked at me with devastation. Bay had to laugh, which almost made me grin too, however I suppressed it in time.

"Yes."

I looked down at her expectantly.

She was a bit shorter, but I wasn't exactly the tallest on campus either. That meant she was pretty short, and I got the urge to pat her head.

I quickly pushed that strange thought aside.

"Thanks again for finding the necklace. It means a lot to me."

If I hadn't found it, would she have come to me at all? That was a good question. I didn't need her apology. But she was my neighbor, after all, and I didn't want to antagonize her further. For Ms. Adams' sake.

"You don't have to apologize. I was the idiot."

Okay, maybe that was too much on my part because something was searching in her different-colored eyes. Did she not believe me?

But then she said, "At least you admit it."

"What?"

Now, I had to grin. She was being cheeky.

"Yeah, you really were an ass. But I wanted you to figure it out for yourself."

Unbelievable , this girl.

"Oh, and don't you dare watch me through your window again. That's really creepy."

"I've never watched you," I laughed now, slightly amused, and ran my hand through my hair, which was now probably even more tousled than usual. "Why would I do something like that?"

Bay raised her eyebrows.

"I don't know... Maybe you like to stalk girls."

I couldn't help but laugh after all. She probably found it rather less funny, yet she tried not to let on.

Julian! Pull yourself together. This is about your neighbor, whose mother is good friends with your father. Don't screw it up again.

"No, honestly, I'm just sitting there and..."

"...playing the piano?"

It wasn't Bay who finished my sentence, but Emely.

"Was he bothering you?" she asked Bay, who looked at her in surprise.

"No, I actually wanted to talk to him."

"You know each other?" Emely looked from Bay to me and back again.

"Yeah, he's my neighbor.... unfortunately," Bay replied with a put-on smile.

Emely looked back at me and I immediately recognized the confusion in her eyes.

She must have remembered where I lived.

"Yes, unfortunately," I replied. At that, I tried to sound a little annoyed by the fact, just like she was. In reality, though, I didn't care where I lived or who my neighbors included, as long as they weren't the Ruisangors or, worse, the Copelands.

"Yeah, well... I'm off, then," Bay said, turning back to the main building and eventually disappearing behind the passing students.

Had she wanted to say something else?

I watched her go, perhaps to avoid the coming situation.

Emely was standing in front of me. With an even more serious face than a few days ago.

"You're stalking your neighbors?" she finally asked briskly. But it sounded more like a judgmental sigh.

"No, man. Our windows just face each other. That's it. I never stalked her."

Trying to talk my way out of it didn't fail, but Emely, for whatever reason, stuck to this irrelevant topic.

"But your window is on the other side, isn't it?" she asked.

Now I was the one with the puzzled look.

"No, she's my new neighbor. She lives in the run-down house across from my window."

Why was I explaining this to her, anyway?

"But that was the witches' house."

"Yeah?"

What was she implying?

"She's not one...of them..."

Ah, so she had smelled it, too. Better said, she hadn't smelled it any more than I had.

"She's one of them, though," I sighed.

"Are you sure about that?" Emely sounded like she didn't believe me.

"Her mother is one," was all I replied.

"And you just talk to them? Julian, where has your honor gone? These women are just taking advantage of your family."

"Stop always talking so snidely about others. That's not who you are."

Emely looked at me as if I had kicked her.

Not every witch was instantly sneaky. But in this town, if you were a Senseque, as our kind liked to call themselves solemnly, you stood alone with such a point of view.

"I just want you to be careful. They're powerful, and everything they do is just to get something that doesn't belong to them."

Again and again, the same old story. When would she finally stop seeing the Quatura as the problem? In reality, we were the dangerous monsters, after all.

"Is that it for now?"

Determined to keep going, I was about to turn away when she grabbed my arm.

"Emely," I grumbled annoyed, because I was getting tired of it. I didn't like being pushed around.

"It's about the Ruisangors."

I was surprised that she had come to me about that. After all, I had nothing to do with them.

At a slow pace, I looked around, but there was no sign of any of the three guys.

"What are they doing here?", I inquired.

"I don't know... I thought you'd have more of a clue."

I immediately regretted taking an interest. Because normally I stayed out of exactly this kind of trouble.

Of course, I should have known what to expect at Vanderwood, but I hadn't been able to afford other universities. Inwardly, I was annoyed by this.

"I have nothing to do with any of this stuff, remember?"

"But..." Emely wanted to start, but I interrupted her.

"No, no buts . I'm not part of your pack. When are you going to realize it?"

Anger rose in my chest, not at Emely, but at her father, Nickolas Copeland. He had set his own daughter up to get me into his pack, and now I had even ended up in a lodge with his arrogant son. At least I had my own room, even if I would have preferred the king suite I had been mistakenly promised.

I didn't know if it could have been worse, but the very thought of spending three whole years studying at a university with them was driving me nuts.

Determined not to waste any more time with even one of them, I turned around.

The only one I felt sorry for in all this chaos was Emely. Sure, it was annoying what she did every day. But we had been good friends.Back when my mother used to...

No . I didn't want to think about that. She wasn't alive anymore, for those very reasons. I had been weak and had turned, and I never wanted to show that weakness again.

Emely said nothing. And that was good. She had to know when to stop.

I went back to the modern student accommodation, hoping to find some peace in my solitude, but fate seemed to want to smack me in the face.