Chapter 22

Julie

I had intended to check my study schedule for tomorrow, but I had accidentally downloaded it into the folder with the patient reports from Blairville's psychiatric facility. A folder I had wanted to delete for two years now, but I had not been able to do so, even though I had not been there in ten years.

Grace's mother had taken me to a psychologist without warning when I was just eight. ASD was the diagnosis I wished had never been made, especially not by Amber Smith's mother , to whom doctor-patient confidentiality were foreign words.

Since then, all the girls in the Circle treated me like I had a mental disorder that needed to be cured, either staring at me strangely or ignoring me like I was air.

Grace was the only real-life friend I had, even though it was complicated with her sometimes.

I often wished that Amara hadn't taken me to a psychologist. Maybe my life would be different today. But maybe I was just telling myself that because deep inside me, a shattered fragment knew that my diagnosis wasn't the cause of my problems.

"Hello?" Grace waved her hand in front of my face. "Earth to Julie?"

I looked up, confused.

"Someone tried to call you."

My eyes widened, and I immediately unlocked my display. But to my relief, it was only my pill alarm clock.

How had I not heard that one?

"By the way. About last night. You have to stop giving such hints all the time," my cousin admonished me anxiously.

I didn't know what she was talking about.

"When it comes to the Copelands."

I looked at her questioningly, feeling like an idiot stuck on the tube.

" Jesus , Julie. Just stick to the drug story and don't answer Bayla's questions."

I was beginning to understand what she was getting at.

"How do you want me to do better? Tell them, like we tell all these clueless people in town, fake horror stories about the woods?" Horror stories or the drug story. Both of those things were absurd. How did they come up with something like that? "And after all, Bay is the one asking all the weird questions all the time."

My voice didn't sound like it should have, and I was beginning to fear that Grace wouldn't take me seriously, but finally, she took off her black headphones and looked at me blankly.

Sighing, unfortunately, without answering me in a proper sentence, Grace put on her headphones to turn to her laptop covered with colorful women's rights and new Vanderwood University stickers.

She had made herself comfortable on my bed for the past hour. Vivienna, Amber, and Kelly hadn't sent her out, but judging by the loud music, being their roommate wasn't particularly pleasant.

I leaned into the many pastel light blue pillows I had brought with me.

Ever since I was a kid, I've needed pillows without end, where I could not only be safe from my neck pain but also just sink into them.

With a quick flick of my wrist, I closed the door, and the following breeze brushed through my thin platinum-blonde hair. The light energy noticeably made my round white crystal, framed by a silver setting, which I wore on the thin silver necklace, glow.

Grace, who must have noticed, put down her headphones and looked at me in an examining way before raising a single eyebrow. Always these people who could do this...

She must have seen my gray-white glowing irises, even though that feature was very weak on me, as was my air magic.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked. But when I was about to answer, she immediately continued talking. "We're not allowed to work magic here. You know that!"

And there she was again – the Grace who couldn't take a joke when it came to our powers and their use, the Grace who reminded me daily of where I was born into and what my duties were.

On one hand, she was right. The Senseque reacted negatively to our magic because they could sense any spell instantly. And the Ruisangors, who had made it to Vanderwood for whatever reason, could have sensed it as well. On the other hand, it was only a small basic trick that Air Quatura learned right from the beginning. So, I doubted a wolf would show up at the door and tear us apart.

I simply ignored Grace and reached for the white smartphone again. My heart began to beat faster with every second. Hoping he had texted me again, I ran my finger across the bottom of the screen.

The screen immediately lit up, and a selfie of Grace and I could be seen, which she had taken. She stuck her tongue out while rolling her eyes. If there was one thing my cousin was, it was lively. And yet she remained the dutiful one of the two of us.

A smile spread across my lips as I read that I had a notification. I quickly opened our chat.

To my surprise, he was online.

I typed quickly and pressed send, starting a new chat.

I had to grin at the god comparison. Erik and his obsession with Greek legends. Then I remembered that I still wanted to send him the book to Vancouver.

I replied, still grinning, because I also knew about Greek gods by now. Erik had triggered this obsession in me, and I also owned books that he had sent me.

I had to grin and sent him a laugh emoji. With him, I somehow managed not to feel weird or insecure. We just texted, debated philosophical approaches from the antique, and exchanged books.

A year ago, I had landed on his blog purely by accident. I had been supposed to be doing philosophy homework, but his posts had kept me busy for an incredible 27 hours, during which I had browsed his entire blog.

If there was one thing he was good at, it was writing, inspiring others with his fascination through his written word. Not for nothing, he had driven me to become a specialist in the field of Greek mythology.

At that time, I had overcome myself to anonymously contact him under the pseudonym J and so our friendship had begun.

He had hit the right nerve, because automatically I had to smile again.

I had to be careful that Grace didn't see what his words were doing to me because what I had been doing here for a good five months was nobody's business—not even hers. These conversations Erik and I were having were too intimate, and the fact that I had a best friend besides her was something Grace didn't need to know.

My smile weakened slightly and pity spread through me.

And immediately the smirk returned.

In Greek mythology, the Charites embodied harmony and were positive and friendly god beings who enriched the lives of others with their presence and filled the world around them with their joy.

Inwardly, I knew that if he really knew me, he would take that compliment back.

I had to swallow because that was the only catch to the whole thing. We knew each other because we texted almost every day, but Erik didn't know who or what was behind the pseudonym J .

I knew his texts and messages. I knew he lived in Canada, and even his soft male voice I had heard from voice memos. But we had never really been interested in each other's looks. I had decided without further ado to leave it at that and keep my appearance a secret. He did the same. It was better because we could not judge each other and stayed with the important things – the conversations.

I was sure he wasn't some kind of perverted weirdo who went after young girls. He was probably only eighteen or nineteen years old himself.

He typed again.

We didn't talk much about our personal lives, so I didn't know much about him. On the other hand, he didn't know about me either, about what I was, about what I was able to block out when we texted.

"What are you grinning at?" Grace asked with an amused expression.

In shock, I dropped my phone, which skidded along the floor and came to rest in front of the door.

To make matters worse, the door opened, kicking the phone halfway across the room. The scratching sound it made didn't sound good at all.

Standing in the doorway was Bay, who must have just been in the campus bar with Larissa and Mady.

"Oh, shit," she gasped as she looked at my cell phone, which had stopped in front of Larissa's bed.

She rushed across the room, picked up my demolished phone, and looked at it before coming over and shoving it into my hand. I, meanwhile, was blushing.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't see it and..."

"It's okay," I stammered sheepishly, looking at the black glass, which was covered in a few scratches. Grace would fix that with her half-life magic.

"You sure?" she asked again, a little unsure, and I just nodded.

I had liked Bay from the beginning, as she was not only friendly but also a bit calmer than Grace or Larissa. She also owned some very interesting books that I planned to check out. Someday, if I dared.

Now, she looked at me unsettled, and I couldn't help but tell her again that everything was fine.

"It's not your fault. I just...threw it there first..."

I hated it. Every time I wanted to say something, I held myself back.

Grace made a dismissive hand gesture. "Yeah, Bay, don't worry about that. Things break on her all the time."

A loud screech interrupted us. It came from downstairs.

All three of us looked at each other, startled, as at least two of us were expecting the worst. When another scream rang out, I instinctively jumped up and headed down the hall to the stairs. Bayla and Grace followed me. I ran quickly but had to be careful not to fall, as the varnished wooden staircase was so slippery that I had already been having trouble even getting up here with my luggage.

Gripping the damaged cell phone tightly, I almost slid down the stairs, because not only curiosity but also adrenaline had gripped me.

What was going on down there? Had the Ruisangors broken in to get an evening snack?

An icy chill ran down my spine.

The Senseque had made their rules clear, yet no one knew how intent the DeLoughreys were on sticking to them.

"Shut the fuck up! I'm not going to eat you," rang out a feminine voice I recognized immediately.

Good . No Ruisangors.

Reaching the bottom, I stopped abruptly because my brain didn't want to decide whether the image that presented itself to me should be frightening or more ridiculous.

Emely Copeland and Kelly Hepburn.

While one was sitting calmly on the couch, playing with her finger with her dark brown hair, the other, once again dressed like a pink slut, was standing in the middle of the apartment, staring open-mouthed at the other. In front of her, a plastic bowl lay upside down on the light wooden laminate. Around it were scattered lettuce leaves and other greens that I could identify as shreds of broccoli.

Grace stopped behind me because she was just as confused as I was. Only Bay walked a little further into the room.

What had Emely done?

"Are you guys okay?" a voice rang out, coming from the front door.

There stood Larissa, dressed in sexy clothes like she had been yesterday, and unlike Kelly, she could handle makeup. She had the self-confidence that you could look for in vain in me, and she also had every reason to be self-confident. She was incredibly pretty. Her light brown, almost dark blonde hair she had thrown over her open leather jacket. In addition, there were the catchy doe eyes. Still dangling around her neck was the camera she'd already had with her this morning. I wondered if it wasn't giving her neck problems in the long run.

"Nothing is okay with you idiots! Don't you realize what's sitting on the couch?!"

Kelly's voice resembled a squeak, which didn't exactly indicate that she was a singer in a band at the Dark Lion Club.

Bay's gaze expressed pure confusion, and she looked at Larissa, who also just shrugged. If this went on, they would find out something, and that would be fatal.

"And what are you going to do now? Like, wag your little finger and make me..."

"Emely!" Grace warned loudly from behind me, and I startled. "Don't forget, there are other people in this room."

Emely must have realized, because she looked briefly at Larissa.

More footsteps came from the stairs. Vivienna and Amber.

"What has that feral beast done now?!" Vivienna shouted angrily across the room. Amber, meanwhile, rushed over to Kelly and pulled her aside.

Emely Copeland, who had been sitting on the couch the whole time, now rose up and slowly walked toward Vivienna.

My pulse quickened.

"What do you want from us?!" Kelly screamed hysterically.

Amber pulled her a little further to the side.

Senseque and Quatura in one house. A mistake by the university director.

Emely stepped closer to Vivienna until there were only three feet between them.

"I was just sitting here on the couch.... Nothing more," she said sharply and at the same time as if Vivienna's opinion didn't interest her in the slightest, which was certainly the case.

"You guys are completely disturbed creatures ," Vivienna hissed snappishly, taking a step back.

"If I were you, I'd watch what you say. This is not your territory!" Emely sounded more tense now, and slowly all good feelings had faded from me.

Emely looked at Grace and me, then at the other Quatura.

"And don't you get any stupid ideas. My brother, unlike me, has no qualms about tearing you apart."

Kelly swallowed, and a slight shiver went down my spine as well.

Nash was the kind of guy you didn't want to mess with. He'd been like that in high school. A good-looking blonde with blue eyes and muscles he dared to use when it came to everything.

In my opinion, he was an asshole who pushed weaker people around, liked to provoke fights, and was candidate number one when it came to showing off.

He had always called me "Julie the carrier pigeon" because I had been the involuntary class president and therefore also the personal message bearer for our class teacher at that time. Alone he had been harmless, almost quiet, but as soon as his guys had kept him company, he had chosen Grace and me as the victims of his verbal attacks.

"Keep your arrogant brother in check, or I'll talk to the student council of this institution," Vivienna hissed, snapping me out of my unpleasant high school memories.

Emely glared back angrily, then turned and walked past us to the front door, only to disappear with a loud crash.

That the door hadn't fallen out of its nails yet was nothing short of a miracle.

"Come we go. We don't have to put up with this any longer," Vivienna pressed out, visibly annoyed, turned around and marched up the stairs with her vain escort, without even giving us another glance.

Silence reigned until Larissa started laughing.

"What was that about?" She grinned broadly at all of us.

Then Grace laughed, too.

Bay's smile, on the other hand, faded from her face again as she headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Larissa asked.

"To talk to Emely."

Abruptly, we fell silent.

"Why?" Grace laughed nervously, apparently realizing this wasn't a good idea either. Not with what Emely was. She would rip Bayla to shreds, as in a rage as she must be at the moment....

"Because she didn't deserve that."

And with those words, she went on her way, leaving us speechless.

Deep down, I knew she was right, however that didn't change the fact that Bayla didn't know the whole truth.

"To each his own," was all Grace said, and she went to the kitchen corner to heave a large pot out of the sink and then fill it with water.

Grace wouldn't go out there and stop Bayla, because if anyone followed the rules even more strictly than I did, it was her. I didn't know anyone who was more honorable to the contracts than Grace was.

Larissa disappeared upstairs because she had something to prepare for a seminar. Surely it had something to do with the pictures on her camera that she had been taking non-stop today. I had been envious when she had demonstrated her talent to us this morning. Everyone was good at something. Just everyone was creative. And then there was me.

Good grades in school, especially in programming and science, which had been with me since I could remember, had been my plus points in my application for my field of study. But what mattered in my cold life was elemental magic, and in that I was a pure disappointment to the Circle and the Councils.

Thoughtfully, I turned to the cell phone in my hand. I would have to get it fixed. Preferably by my aunt. She controlled the element earth and could therefore also influence any material without it returning to its broken original form in half-life, as with Grace's earth magic.

To see if it at least still worked, I touched the display.

A new message.

I had forgotten all about Erik.

I quickly opened our chat history again, and his last message stood out to me. It gave me goosebumps.