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  He looked past her and at me. “Why are the two of you in my room?”

  “Sophia is missing, and we thought that she might be with you.” I took the letter from Gilly’s hand and handed it to him. “We found this in her room.”

  He glanced at it before handing it back. “That hasn’t got anything to do with me.”

  “I already told them that,” Mags said with an almost audible huff. “Why weren’t you in class?”

  He gestured at his bed. “I slept in, it isn’t a crime.” He slowly got to his feet and started rooting around on the floor. After a moment he finally sound what he was looking for because he straightens and put a black t-shirt on. “You can look at me now, Red.”

  Gilly finally made eye contact with him, as soon as I saw her face I couldn’t tell if he’d bestowed the nickname on her because of her hair or her face. I’d never seen her tongue tied before. Now that I thought about it she’d never mentioned anyone she liked before. Caine smiled at her, and I didn’t like how cocky it looked, like he knew that he had affected her. I coughed and brought his attention back to me. “When was the last time you saw Sophia?”

  “The last time we had class together.”

  “And would she have known what trees you, I mean, whoever wrote the note, meant?”

  He frowned. “I guess, it would be the ones near the fence. Left side of the Academy. Do you think she’s okay?”

  “We hope so. Jack and Arturo are searching for her now.”

  “It makes her the sixth Bitten to go missing,” Gilly blurted out.

  The Alphas shared a look. “What do you mean, the sixth?” Caine asked.

  It only confirmed what Gilly said earlier. The Alphas didn’t even know what was happening with their fellow students and if they did, they didn’t care if it wasn’t happening to them. How was that even possible?

  “We really don’t have time to get you up to speed.” I looked at Gilly. “We better go have a look. It’s possible that they’ve already checked it out but better safe than sorry.” I turned around, only vaguely aware that Gilly followed me as I got to the door, Mags slammed a hand on it. I didn’t have to the strength to stop her, so I didn’t bother. I glanced around to see her smiling at me.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I was really hoping that it would take a while for your brain to catch up.” I yelped as she grabbed my hair, tears sprung to my eyes at the sudden explosion of pain. “I guess not.”

  She snarled at me, her teeth close enough to my neck that I could smell what she had for breakfast, peanut butter on toast, lovely. Gilly looked too shocked to move, but she glanced at Caine.

  “Let her go, Mags.” He spoke up from somewhere behind us.

  “She humiliated me, stupid little unturned Alpha, who thinks that she’s better than me.”

  “I didn’t know about Henry and you.” I managed to squeeze out. Her grip tightened. “Look you can’t really hate me for something that I didn’t know. If anything, I have every right to hate you.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I saw you kissing him.”

  As sudden as it was having her grab my hair, she let me go. I leaned against the doorframe.

  “What is she talking about Mags?”

  The pink haired Alpha looked worried. Was there something going on between her and Caine to warrant that look? “I don’t know.”

  I spun on my heels. All I wanted to do was to escape through the door, but common sense wasn’t my strong suit. “You know perfectly what I’m talking about. I saw you kissing him Mags, you’re the only pink haired girl in the school who also has a history with him. He chose me, and I know that you hate that, but it’s the truth. Put it down to the mistake it was and move past it.”

  “You kissed him?” He sat on the bed, hurt in a way that was much deeper than a punch or kick. “What the hell?”

  “Caine.” She raised her hands, but I didn’t stop to watch the fallout. I opened the door and made my escape, Gilly close on my heels.

  When we got to the end of the hall I stopped, leaning against the wall. They had started shouting at each other. “You do know that all that talk about putting the past when it belongs and for her moving past her hatred of you, was all for nothing? That girl is going to hate you till the end of time.”

  “How the hell was I supposed to know that she was involved with Caine?”

  “I didn’t know either. Though it doesn’t surprise me. They’re always together. Even if it’s obvious he still has a thing for Sophia.”

  “But it wasn’t him who left the note. Who was it?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The trip to the edge of the Academy had been a bust so we spent the rest of the day hashing out a plan as we waited for Jack to make a reappearance. It got to the end of the day and we decided to head to bed. I kept glancing at my phone hoping that Henry or my brother would get in contact with me, but nothing. I didn’t want to be the one to get to call. Henry said that they were on assignment and I didn’t want to call at a bad time. No, it was best to wait. I didn’t like the fact the day ended with us not being any closer in finding Sophia. I’d gotten a sheet of paper and we tried to write down a list of enemies, but besides Mags, we couldn’t come with any names.

  I leaned back in my bed. The Academy was supposed to be safe. I’d gone from being the person who brought the trouble with her to more kids going missing. It couldn’t have anything to do with me. I didn’t know any of them besides Sophia. A mystery to solve. At least that was vaguely normal. I glanced at my phone. My dad would have answers or at least would be able to point me in the right direction to start figuring this out. I doubted he wanted to hear from me. And I didn’t have the heart to lie to him about anything. I couldn’t tell him the truth about where I was. Plus, if I got a hold of Mum, she would want to bring me home, where it was safe.

  I wouldn’t be any use there.

  This was a puzzle that needed to be solved. How many more Bitten would have to go missing before the teachers finally took notice? Before they realised that something else was behind it besides kids who just didn’t want to stay? I rubbed the palm of my hand against my forehead. It was much simpler to believe that they’d just left. It was better than the alternative. Something I didn’t know.

  I sat up, dragged my duvet and sat down near the window, pulling the curtains closed, and opening the window, letting cold night air in. “Where are you?”

  The wind didn’t answer me. I closed my eyes again and rested the back of my head against the wall behind me. Tomorrow was a new day. I just hoped that it wasn’t too late.

  ***

  I didn’t know the precise moment that I feel asleep, but I heard the moment my dorm room opened. I was still on the windowsill. Keeping myself perfectly still I listened to whoever it was, walked to my bed. My sheets were ruffled. But whoever was looking for me, didn’t say anything. I held myself completely still. My heart in my throat. There was no way I could get out of the room without whoever it was seeing me. I looked out of the window. It was partially open, but it had squeaked the last time I’d opened it. Maybe if I was rarely careful? All I needed to do was get outside, loop back and get help, report it to someone.

  Who was it? Mags, maybe? No, that didn’t make any sense, unless she thought ambushing me in my sleep because I’d told her boyfriend, or whatever Caine was to her, about the kiss, was a good idea?

  The noises stopped. The sound of soft footprints barely reached me as the person seemed to be heading further away from me. The door handled rattled, No, not the front door. The cupboard. It opened, and clothes were moved from side to side. Whoever it was, wasn’t happy with just noticing that my bed was empty. Did they think I was hiding? It was just luck that I ended up on the windowsill. I touched the handle and very carefully pushed. Maybe if I did it slowly, they wouldn’t hear it? The frame squeaked, and I froze.

  I waited for a few seconds, which felt like forever, and for a second, I thou
ght that I’d gotten away with it. Maybe they hadn’t heard it? Maybe whatever god watched over me was finally on my side? I reached for the handle again and the curtain was torn aside.

  I dove to the floor, out of the grasp of whoever was trying to grab me. I hit the ground hard, my legs tangled up in the duvet. It was dark in my room and I couldn’t see who was in it. It wasn’t the first time I cursed the fact I was still human. I was probably the only person in the entire Academy who couldn’t see in the dark. I scrambled to untangle my legs as I dragged myself to the door. Focus on one task, Rachel. The more you panic, the worse it’ll be. Dad’s voice echoed in my ear. The large shadow turned around and loomed over me. I didn’t look at him. There was nothing feminine about the shape. I managed to free one of my legs and I kicked out, catching his leg. He yelped in pain and I got both my legs free. I got on my feet and darted for the door. The guy recovered quickly and as I opened the door, he slammed in shut. The noise sounded impossibly loud. What’s the chances anyone heard that? I ducked and twisted out of the guys grasp.

  I stamped down, hoping to catch his foot again, but hit the ground instead. Pain shot up my leg. I pushed out with both hands, which he caught and pinned above my head.

  “Let go of me.” I yelled.

  The guy let one of my hands go and suddenly pain exploded against the side of my face. I would have fell to the floor if he hadn’t been holding me up. I couldn’t think straight. All I could see was stars as pain overrode every other sense.

  He dropped me to the floor as I held my cheek. I looked up to see that he was still looming over me. The shadow. The stranger in my room. Someone who might have been involved in the disappearance of the other kids and all I could do was look up at it, hoping that my eyes would adjust to the dark. Instead I reached out, grabbed his leg and pulled. For a split second he hopped trying to keep his balance, but then he fell backwards. He landed with an almighty thud and I climbed on top of him. I knew that I only had one shot at knocking him out, so I poured all my rage and fury into my fist. The light from the moon outside chose that moment to shine through the window and I noticed who I had beneath me.

  “Henry?”

  I hadn’t seen him for a couple of days and as far as I was aware from what I told him, he shouldn’t have even been there. But there he was, dark hair and blue eyes, attacking me in my room. My eyes had to be deceiving me. It didn’t make any sense. What the hell was going on? He looked up at me blankly, grabbed me by the shoulders, tugged me down and instead of a kiss and an explaining, which would have been greatly welcomed, he head-butted me. Darkness ate up my vision as all I could feel was pain, I fell off him, rolled onto my back. It didn’t take long until I couldn’t feel anything at all.

  It had to be a nightmare.

  It had to be.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The ground was cold underneath me. I rolled onto my back, but it didn’t make it any better. If anything, it made it worse. Sharp stone dug into my back. Wait a minute. I wasn’t in my bed. I opened my eyes and sat up. The simple motion made my head throb. I rubbed my forehead as I took in my surroundings and groaned.

  This was starting to get into a habit.

  “Rachel, is that you?” a girl’s voice, one I instantly recognize, came from one of the cages. “Are you okay?”

  “Sophia?” I tried to get to my feet and thought better of it as a wave of sickness hit me. “Where are you?” As I glanced around I spotted a hand reaching out between some bars, a second before I saw her. There was a cut across her eyebrow, mud on her face. Her long blonde hair, which she usually kept neat and tidy hung loose around her shoulders. And she wasn’t the only kid I could see. More of them stood up to look at me. I didn’t know any of them, but I would bet they were the other Bitten who’d gone missing. Two young girls, three boys, all in a state of distress. A boy with torn clothes, mud on his face and an arm which hung uselessly by his side, appeared like he’d been there the longest.

  “Do you know where we are?”

  “I wasn’t awake when they took me. But Poppy was.”

  The littlest girl, who couldn’t have been more than ten, spoke up. “We’re underneath the Academy.”

  “They must be masking our presence somehow,” Sophia suggested and as soon as she said it, it triggered something in my mind. I knew that spells like that were possible because someone had cast it when they ransacked my room.

  “Rachel.” She paused. “Why did Henry bring you in here?”

  I didn’t answer her immediately since my mind was racing. All the things that my dad taught me. The lessons he probably didn’t want me to learn. Look at the whole situation. As soon as you added people to the mix, it’s never simple.

  Something was wrong with him. The blank stare like he didn’t recognize me. The fact he attacked me to begin with. The last time I saw him, he told me that he was going away on a mission with my brother. So why was he still in the Academy? “Something’s controlling him.” I turned on my heels and started to pace in the tiny cell. “That’s the only thing that makes sense.” The world of the shifters and the Academy wasn’t simple, it wasn’t even close. Witches and Fey. There had to be a way that it was possible. I smiled at the other kids. “At least you’re all alright. We thought that something terrible happened to you.”

  “You mean, besides being captured and kept prisoner by someone who’s clearly lacking some marbles?”

  She had a point. “Have you seen anyone else but Henry?”

  “Someone comes in with food. They don’t say anything, and they keep themselves hidden. It’s a woman though. She didn’t mask that,” one of the boys said, he looked like a more recent addition, less covered in mud and his clothes looked worn in, but they weren’t in a bad state like the other kids. The only one who appeared relatively untouched was Sophia.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Peter.”

  “How do you know that it was a woman?”

  He tapped his nose. “Is that a trick question? I’m wolf.” He breathed in deeply and his gaze narrowed slightly. “But you’re not. Why would you be here?”

  “I guess I’m just lucky that way.” It was a question that I hadn’t been able to answer. I didn’t have anything in common with the other kids. Still human. I hadn’t been at the Academy very long. There were a few people that didn’t like me, Jonas’s pack from London for one, but why would they come here and why would they go after a group of kids? No, it had to something else.

  “She’s an Alpha, an unturned one,” a voice I wasn’t expecting come from a doorway. “Which works out perfectly for what I need.”

  It was like I was on autopilot, I turned and looked at the woman. It shouldn’t have been possible, but there were more wrinkles on her face. The woman was so old that I was surprised that she didn’t create a dust cloud when her bones grinded together. She wore a long black cloak, the hood pulled back. The glasses perched on the end of her nose were large and made her watery blue eyes appear magnified.

  “Rose.”

  “Hello, Rachel.” She looked smug and just behind her stood another figure, Henry. He still had the blank look on his face. She turned to the kids and smiled. In that moment she looked like someone’s grandmother. Like at any moment she was about to offer cookies and knowing her it would be swiftly followed with a knife in the back. “I don’t have any intention of hurting any of you, but I do need something.”

  “And what’s that?”

  She glared at me. For a second, I didn’t think that she would answer me. I helped to stop her son. So, what was stopping her from hurting me now? Nobody knew where I was, and Henry wasn’t going to be any help. “I need to do a spell and I need a specific ingredient for it to work. The six of you have it and I want it. You give it to me and you get to leave.”

  Peter knocked on his bars and Rose shifted her gaze over to him. “What do you want?”

  A smile crossed her face and it was terrifying, that woman shouldn’t smile. “I want the t
hing that makes you wolves. It’s a rather simple and old spell, it would have been lost in time if I hadn’t gotten my hands on the Grimoire. I never planned to use it, but I also never planned on having to raise my son.” There was no mistaking the hatred in her eyes as she glared at me.

  “It’s not exactly a moment I’m proud of, but maybe if he hadn’t tried to start a war and kill my brother.” Suddenly panic swept through me. “Wait a minute. Where’s Michael?”

  Rose waved her hand. “He’s on assignment in London. I didn’t really need him when I have Henry on my side.”

  “I thought that Henry was supposed to go with him? It doesn’t look like he has much choice in following you. What did you do to him?”

  Rose walked back to him and touched his arm. He was still wearing the same clothes that I saw him in last, jeans and a t-shirt. Shifters bodies ran hotter than normal which was probably why the others didn’t look like they were that bothered by the temperature. I rubbed my arms. My goose bumps had goose bumps. “I managed to slip him one of my teas. It hasn’t been easy to navigate this place, especially when you’re public enemy number one.”

  “He’s been helping you from the start?”

  “More or less.”

  “I didn’t think that it was possible to take the wolf out of us?” The girl, who had told me where we were, said. Her eyes were impossibly wide. It looked like she was tempted by the idea.

  “The spell is old. I doubt anyone knows that it exists but me now. I also can’t do it with Alphas, just Bitten.”

  “Then why do you need me?”

  “I said that the six of them would be able to leave. You’re not going to be so lucky. I need the blood of an Alpha to seal the spell. You’re not going to be walking away from this.”

  “I’m not an Alpha.” I already knew her plan, but I needed to hear her say it. If Rose could hide us from the rest of the Academy, it meant she was a powerful witch. If she wanted something badly enough she would find a way to make it work. I didn’t have any weapons. If Henry came in here to get me, I doubt I would be able to fight him off.