Chapter 32

Julie

Just a moment ago, I had expected that this day could not become worse, because the Senseque had been on the verge of tearing us into pieces. Now, Bayla Adams, a human with eyes wide open, was standing in front of us. And worst of all, in front of Emely .

I didn't know how much she had witnessed, which of course complicated the situation even more.

We all knew theoretically what to do, but no one moved.

The first person to get moving was Emely Copeland. Or rather, it was the majestic wolf with the thick brown fur in the middle of the overgrown courtyard.

Until today, I had never witnessed such a transformation, but the sight of Emely a few seconds ago had made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Her body had deformed strangely, and she had fallen to her knees, her eyes still glowing. Grace had reflexively pulled me even further back, partially blocking my view of her transformation.

But for once, the Copelands were not the main problem, even though they had once again caused quite a bit of trouble and their behavior would not only have consequences on our kinds' part, I recognized that in Professor Copeland's eyes. Their Alpha would confront them all for it. More than that...

My eyes fell on the main problem: Bayla.

The professor, who had just joined all the others, stood motionless and stared at her. Then he turned to the wolf in the center of the courtyard.

"Emely..." he began quietly, standing wide-legged and now focused entirely on his niece.

"Emely?!" Bayla gasped in a shaky voice.

She sounded like me in seventh grade, when I'd had to sing that stupid weather song on stage in front of the whole school, which Vivienna had forced me to do because otherwise, she would have told Aunt Amara how I'd gotten a scared white cat out of a tree with my powers. Powers I should not have had back then.

The difference was that Bayla was a non-knowing , a human . And what she had just witnessed was pure poison to her existence.

Emely had been distracted by Professor Copeland, but now she turned her head alarmingly slowly, and then her entire wolf form, to Bay.

This was definitely too much, as Bayla turned and ran at speed toward the small passageway, almost into Nash, who dodged to the side instead of getting in her way, and finally disappeared from our field of vision.

The giant wolf, or rather Emely, wanted to go after her, but she had not made that calculation with Professor Copeland, nor with Julian.

Both were supernaturally fast in front of her. They completely blocked her way out of the courtyard and received an aggressive growl in return. Emely's eyes blazed, and she bared her fangs.

"Emely..." the professor tried again.

I wasn't exactly comfortable being here because at any second, we could have become food for the wolves. Suddenly, I realized that we were studying right on the wolves' platter.

A buzz sounded from the middle of the courtyard and my heart stopped. My cell phone. I had to have lost it somehow.

Another buzz sounded.

Erik . The guy I had actually been expecting to see in the biochemistry seminar this morning. To my disappointment, this Erik was really just a boring guy whose parents spent their afternoons on the golf field near the harbor, and when I had gathered up all my courage and asked him about his hobbies, he had spent the whole lecture raving about his chess tournaments and the world debating championship , thereby robbing me of any chance of hope.

That definitely hadn't been Erik. No one here was Erik, and yet he could be anywhere. What I knew now, at least, was that he was using a pseudonym, just like me.

I could ask him, of course, but then, sooner or later, he would squeeze all the information out of me, too, and he would certainly find me faster than I would find him. So, I stood there with nothing except a false name and information about his hobbies. Slowly, I realized that in the whole attempt to remain a mystery, I had stumbled upon a real mystery.

Again, it buzzed and brought me back to the uncomfortable present. And as if Emely had been waiting for everyone present to be distracted, she set to leaping, knocking the professor to the ground, only to disappear through the same passageway as Bay.

"Emely!" Professor Copeland yelled in a tense voice this time, with those same yellow glowing eyes, and got back to his feet.

"I'll take care of it!" Julian replied quickly and was the next to disappear.

No doubt he would get Emely. But would Bay get away from Emely?

"What do you guys think you're doing?!"

Professor Copeland was now beside himself with anger. He looked at each of us, then turned to the guys, who were still standing where they had come from, and finally to Nash, who was just not as relaxed as usual, leaning against a pillar near my phone, rolling his eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that? The problem is over there." He pointed in our direction, although he only meant Vivienna, who had placed herself with her friends a little further behind me.

Of course she would use her powers without thinking about the consequences. But to take responsibility for it?

To my surprise, she stepped forward again, glaring angrily at Emely's brother, almost as if she hadn't had enough, more so as if the thrill had just gotten to her.

Vivienna had always been like that – a proud Quatura, following traditions and gaining new power every day, yet one who often let her feelings control her powers. She prided herself on being the granddaughter of the Head of the Councils and blessed with strong powers that far surpassed mine or even Grace's in its intensity.

Both Vivienna and I were Quatura of the air, which allowed us to break the law of weightlessness and use telekinesis, as well as a few other things that could be quite useful if it weren't for that one prohibition, which became a problem right at that moment.

But Vivi, as usual, didn't care.

"Don't talk about us like that! You have no right to do that!"

"Watch your tongue, witch!" Noah growled.

He was one of the muscular guys, the one who already had a big mouth and had gotten into way too many fights in high school. I remembered that, after all, we sat in the same molecular biology seminar.

"That's right. Get the hell off these grounds while we're giving you the choice!" Caleb laughed with an angry smile.

What were they, ten ?

Nash just grinned cockily, and his gaze dropped to the ground... straight to my phone .

I tried to suppress the rising inner tension.

"You better leave now, and if I hear one more stupid word from any of you here, I'm talking to Nickolas!"

Professor Copeland, despite the recognizable anger in his voice, sounded very collected for the fact that his brother's pack had just gotten into a fight in a public place he was responsible for.

"So, you're not going to tell Father about this?"

Suspiciously, Nash looked at his uncle, and turned away from my phone again.

"I'll leave it at this, Nash, on the condition that you get your shit together!"

"You should have seen the witches provo..."

"Then they provoked you!" For a very brief moment, the professor looked at us. "However, it is your duty , and most importantly your duty as a future Alpha , to know the limits and control your anger. If you ever want to take responsibility for a damn pack , then you should slowly start thinking about the consequences of your actions!"

Nash looked intently at my phone again, as if he needed it to calm himself down inside.

The professor's words had silenced the normally loud young man. But you could tell it was working inside him.

"And you..." The professor turned to us and ran his hands through his disheveled hair, messing up his slightly curly hairstyle even more. "Please take care of that girl ."

Everyone immediately looked at Grace.

She and Amara were the only ones in our Circle with the strongest command of the most common element, earth . The power to change chemical substances in their action and form, which allowed them to intervene in natural environmental processes.

Although there were many Earth Quatura, their powers were very difficult to train and required a very high level of concentration, years of practice, and a certain bond with nature. Grace's achievements since her Quatura maturity were impressive. She was a natural talent among all of us, had climbed from a Novice to a Servus faster than Vivienna, and it was rumored that she could be the future mother of the chosen one from the prophecy.

No one knew exactly who it came from, only that it had shown up at the doors of the founding families of Blairville one morning a few decades ago, in the 80s, which in my opinion made it untrustworthy, if not null and void. Still, the Quatura sanctified it, while the Ruisangors and the Senseque feared her.

"She must forget what she has just seen as quickly as possible," Professor Copeland sighed, with a very insistent look directed at Grace. To my surprise, she nodded in obedience and then looked at me.

The young university director gestured with a hand gesture to the guys, who followed him just as obediently – though not without hesitation – out through the outside portico and into the inside of the building.

That was it for today with the English course.

I went to check my cell phone, but to my despair, it was no longer where it had been.

Instead, I bumped into a strong upper body and when I looked up in confusion, it was the deep blue eyes of Nash Copeland that I was exposed to without mercy.

My heart slipped out of its grip.

He was still the strongest of all present here and the one with the most hatred for the Quatura...for my kind.

I certainly looked scared, but he just eyed me briefly, insistently, and wordlessly held out my cell phone to me.

Just as I was about to take it hesitantly, the sound of a notification rang out again and the display lit up.

Larissa.

But it wasn't her messages that kept my eyes on the display.

It was Erik's .

Curiosity rose in me, and I was about to pull the phone out of Nash's hands, but he didn't let go of it. Startled, I looked up at him.

He was still staring at me and didn't seem to be distracted by the sounds of my phone.

"Make sure your friends know to stay away from me and the pack, and especially to keep my sister out of their shit."

I couldn't say anything. As always, when he addressed me. Because, as always, he threatened me. "Understood?"

"Leave her alone, Copeland!" Grace hissed.

And then she pulled me away from him.