Not going to lie. I’m a little shell-shocked when I finally make it back to my room. It’s nearly five a.m., and the last thing I want to do is crawl back into bed and stare at the ceiling until Macy wakes up. But it’s not like I feel safe wandering the school anymore, either, considering I could be dead by now if Jaxon hadn’t shown up when he did.
And since the last thing I can do—and the last thing I want to do—is count on him to save me if I end up in another bizarre situation like that, I think my best bet is to hang in my room until Macy wakes up and I can get her opinion on what just happened. Although, if her opinion is anything other than OMG, WTF?!?! I’m taking my unpacked suitcases and heading back to San Diego. Freeloading off Heather’s family for the next eight months is better than dying. Or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Especially since I don’t get altitude sickness in San Diego.
The nausea hits me as I’m tiptoeing across the room, and I barely make it back to my bed with a soft groan.
Macy must have heard me because she tells me, “I promise the altitude sickness won’t last forever.”
“It’s not just the altitude sickness. It’s everything.”
“I bet,” is all she says, and silence stretches between us. I’m pretty sure it’s because she’s giving me the space to
sort through my thoughts and decide if I want to share any.
I stare at the gray stone ceiling above my bed pressing down on me, then take a deep breath. “It’s just… Alaska’s like a foreign planet, you know? Like everything about this place is so different than home that it’s hard to get used to it.” Normally I don’t dump my stuff on people I don’t know really well—it’s easier to just keep everything inside—but Macy is the closest friend I have here. And there’s a part of me that feels like I’ll explode if I don’t talk to someone.
“I totally get that. I’ve lived here my whole life, and some days it feels bizarre to me, too. But you’ve only been in the state about twelve hours, and you’ve been feeling gross for most of those. Why don’t you give it a few days, wait till the altitude sickness wears off and you’ve gone to a couple classes? Maybe things won’t seem as strange once you get into a routine.”
“I know you’re right. And I wasn’t even feeling that terrible about things when I woke up, until—” I break off, trying to think of the best way to tell her about what just happened.
“Until what?” She throws back her covers and climbs out of bed.
“I know it’s a pretty big school, but do you know two guys named Marc and Quinn?” I ask.
“That depends. Does one of them have a septum piercing?”
“Yes. It’s a big black ring.” I hold my fingers to my nose to demonstrate.
“Then yeah, I know them. They’re juniors like me. And good guys, really funny. In fact, there was this one time—” I must not have a poker face, because she stops abruptly.
Narrows her eyes. “Then again, I’m beginning to think the question I should be asking is how do you know them?”
“Maybe they were just fooling around, but…I’m pretty sure they tried to kill me tonight. Or at least scare me to death.”
“They tried to what?” she squawks, nearly dropping the bottle of water she had gotten out of the fridge for me. “Tell me what happened right now. And don’t leave anything out.”
She seems adamant, so I faithfully recite the events until I get to the point where Jaxon saved me. I’m not sure how I feel about that—or how I feel about him—and I’m not quite ready to talk about it yet. And I’m certainly not ready to listen to Macy talk about it. Plus, I’d sort of silently agreed to keep something about the interaction a secret, although admittedly now, back in my room, I wonder if I’d imagined that silent exchange or not.
“So what happened?” she asks when I don’t say anything else. “How did you get away from them?”
“Someone heard the fight and came to investigate. Once the boys realized there was a witness, they chilled out pretty quickly.”
“I bet they did, the jerks. The last thing they’d want is to be reported to my dad. But they should have thought of that before they put their hands on you. I swear, I’m going to murder them myself.”
She looks, and sounds, mad enough to do just that even before she continues. “What were they thinking? They don’t even know you, so why do this?” She gets up, starts pacing. “You totally could have gotten hypothermia if they’d left you outside for too long, let alone what could have happened if
they’d kept you out there more than ten minutes. You seriously could have died. Which makes no sense. They’re always a little wild, super high energy. But I’ve never seen them be malicious before.”
“The whole thing doesn’t make sense. I’m beginning to think they were high or something, because there’s no other explanation as to why they would have been outside in only jeans and T-shirts. I mean, how did they avoid getting hypothermia?”
“I don’t know,” Macy says. But she looks uncomfortable, like maybe she knows for a fact that they do drugs. Or like she thinks I’m delusional for even suggesting that they were outside without any protective clothing on. But I know what I saw. Those two guys were definitely not wearing any kind of cold-weather gear.
“Maybe they were only outside for a minute or two,” she suggests eventually, handing me two Advil. “Either way, whatever’s going on with them, I’m sure my father will figure it out.”
There’s a part of me that wants to ask her not to tell Uncle Finn, because it’s hard enough being the new girl without also being a snitch. But every time I think about what might have happened—what would have happened if Jaxon hadn’t come along—I know Uncle Finn has to be told. Otherwise, what’s to stop them from doing it again to somebody else?
“In the meantime, you probably need to get some more sleep. Unless you’re hungry?”
Since just the thought of food has my stomach spinning in protest, I tell her, “I think I’m going to pass on that. But I’m not sure I can sleep, either. Maybe I should unpack my
suitcases, get stuff ready for tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about your suitcases. I already did them.” “You did? When?”
“After you fell asleep last night. I figured if you didn’t like where I put things, you could change it. But at least this way, all your stuff is within easy reach.”
“You didn’t have to do that, Macy.”
“I know I didn’t have to. But you’re not feeling great, so I figured a little help couldn’t hurt. Besides, we have a party to go to this evening and you need to be able to find your makeup and hair stuff.”
I’m not sure what amuses me more, the way Macy just casually drops in the fact that she expects me to attend a party with her today or the fact that she actually expects me to wear makeup to it, when mascara and a couple of tubes of lip gloss are pretty much all I own.
Considering she had a full face of makeup on yesterday when she was riding a snowmobile through the Alaskan wilderness, I can only imagine what her party look will be.
“So what kind of party is this exactly?” I ask as I curl up under the hot-pink comforter that is rapidly growing on me
—maybe because it’s the softest, most comfortable one I’ve ever owned.
“It’s a welcome to Katmere Academy party—for you.”
“What?” I sit up so fast that my head starts to throb all over again. “A welcome party? For me? Are you serious?”
“Well, to be fair, the school hosts a kind of high tea one afternoon a month to promote student unity. We just decided to make today’s tea a little more festive in your honor.”
“Oh, yes. Because the students have all been so
welcoming so far.” I bury my face in my pillow and groan.
“I swear we’re not all bad. Look at Flint. He’s great, right?” “He really was.” I can’t help smiling as I think of the way
he teased me, called me New Girl.
“Most of the people you meet here are going to be like him, not like Marc and Quinn. I promise.” She sighs. “But I can cancel if you want. Tell everybody that your altitude sickness is too bad. Which, at the rate you’re going, might not even be a lie.”
She’s trying so hard not to sound disappointed, but I can hear it, even with a pillow over my face.
“No, don’t cancel,” I tell her. “As long as I’m not puking, I’ll go.”
I’ve got to face these prep school kids en masse sooner or later. Might as well get it over with today when they’re all under adult supervision and presumably on their best behavior. So much less chance of me being tossed into the snow or out a window that way… I shiver. Too soon for that joke.
“Awesome!” She plops down on the bed beside me, holds out the water bottle she’d given me earlier. “Don’t forget, water is your friend right now,” she says with a wink.
“I don’t want to,” I whine playfully.
“Yeah, well, I’d do it anyway. Altitude sickness requires lots and lots of hydration. I mean, if you don’t want to get pulmonary or cerebral edema, which, you know, could kill you almost as fast as hypothermia.”
“Seriously?” I roll my eyes at her, but I take the bottle of water and drink half of it in one go. “Has anyone ever told
you you’re a lot tougher than you look?”
“My boyfriend. But I think he secretly likes it.”
“Good for him.” I take another long swallow of water. “Do you have Netflix?”
“Are you kidding?” She gives me a look. “I live on a mountain in the middle of Alaska. I’d die without Netflix.”
“Point taken. How about Legacies? My BFF Heather and I just started watching it last week.”
Macy’s eyes go huge. “Legacies?”
“Yeah. It’s this really cool show about a bunch of teenage vampires, witches, and werewolves all living together at a boarding school. I know it sounds a little silly, but it’s fun to imagine.”
“It doesn’t sound silly at all,” Macy says with a cough. “And count me in. I mean, who can resist a hot vampire?”
“My sentiments exactly.”
We start the show from the beginning so Macy can catch up. As we watch the main character’s foster brother turn into a werewolf, I can’t help but think about what Marc and Quinn said about the moon. I understand that they needed its light to brighten the dark wilderness around here.
Or at least, I keep telling myself that.
But after two confrontations with Jaxon—both ending with him warning me away—it’s hard not to question exactly what I’ve gotten myself into.
