Isabel and Beth get along, much to my surprise. The younger girl plasters herself to Beth, finding excuses to stay by her side.It irritates me, but Beth is all smiles over it. She’s always been the nurturing sort, so it’s not like I don’t understand. But I don’t have to like it.It’s been a week since Isabel joined us. It’s obvious that she isn’t my biggest fan, but then again, I don’t like her much, either. She has this standoffish air about her. Aside from Beth, she gets along well with Susan, perhaps because of how close they are in age. However, she has this disdainful attitude towards Quill and I, and she just ignores Kathleen. We have our first trial today as Level Two students, and I’m feeling a bit tense. We’ve been working with locator orbs for a few days now. They are made of pure energy and have a core that makes them function. We’ve been learning to maintain them while carrying them, and I’ve not been doing so well.Isabel, on the other hand, is great at it. She’s e
Throughout dinner, Beth is talking about how awesome it was the way I threw everyone on their back with just a burst of energy. However, I don’t feel so good. I know nothing about my abilities as the Blood Moon Hybrid. Kathleen is eyeing me, but she doesn’t say anything.The fact is that normal vampires should not be able to do something like this. It’s only a matter of time until the people around me, my own friends, realize that I am different from them. And I’m worried about what is going to happen when that day comes. The idea of being abandoned terrifies me.Knowing that there is a possibility that my own friends might walk away from me, leaving me all alone, is making a tiny part of me shrivel in fear. This is the first time in my life that I have had friends, somebody to talk to, somebody to let my guard down around. I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to go back to being alone and bitter.As the conversation goes on, I abruptly get to my feet. “I’m going to head to
I knock on the door to Counselor Levi’s office.The sun has already risen. All the students are in their barracks, and classes are cancelled for the day.Levi looks tired when he looks up. “Oh, it’s you. Do you need something?”I’ve tried my hardest to keep it together after we were sent back to the barracks without any confirmation on who the missing student was. Deep in my heart, I know the answer. But I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t rest without being sure. “Did you find the missing student?”Levi’s expression goes blank and that gives me all the answer I needed to know. My heart sinks in cold fear.“Go back to your barrack.”“It’s Jesse, isn’t it?” I persist, my hands clammy. “Jesse is the one who’s missing.”Levi gets to his feet, his expression tense. “I told you to return to your barrack!”“He tried to save me!” I burst out. “He distracted them while I went to sound the alarm!”“Taylor—”“Is anyone even looking for him?!”“Of course, we are,” Levi gives me a sharp look.
Morrighan Yearwood is the Director of Mistfall Wilderness Camp. A tall, trim figure, with pale skin and perfectly coiffed silver hair, she cuts an authoritative figure. As always, she’s dressed flawlessly, and today, her gaze is grim when I walk in.“I had hoped, Miss Night, that you would have ceased this reckless behavior of yours,” her tone is chiding, disappointment lacing it. I don’t say anything, standing before her, my jaw clenched.When she just stares at me, I finally admit, “Jesse is in trouble. He sacrificed himself to save me. I have to help him.”“What exactly was your plan, might I ask?” she demands, her eyes cold. “Get across the lake and then what? You have no way of tracking your friend. If there had been a way, we would have gotten to Jesse almost immediately. There is no trail of him—”“I caught his scent near the pier!” I say tightly. “Maybe you didn’t look hard enough! You’re just focused on the island’s protection!”Director Yearwood’s eyes turn hard. “Ther
The water is freezing.I’m not the best swimmer out there, so to hold my head and swim in the murky water is a little hard when I can’t even make out the direction that I’m going in. I keep breaking past the surface to make sure that I’m going in the right direction.When I reach the jagged rock, I cling to a portion of it, my lungs burning, as I try to desperately draw in air. Shaking, I look at the distance between this rock and the other one. It’s going to be at least three whole minutes, and that’s even if I swim like I’m in the Olympics. There’s no way I can hold my breath for that long. Shivering from the cold water, I stare across the lake. I’m strong. I can make it. Can Blood Moon Hybrids even die from lack of air?I glance back at the shore, but the fog is too thick to see anything.“J-Just do it,” I mutter to myself, my teeth chattering from the cold, “For J-Jesse.”Taking another deep breath, I plunge down into the water. Moving fast, I kick my legs, trying to use my
“The islands are less creepy than this stretch of road,” Quill mutters, moving closer to me. “I keep expecting some ghost girl to show up.”“You’re a werewolf, Quill.” Beth rolls her eyes. “I’m sure you can take on a ghost.”“Are you kidding me?” Quill huddles closer to me. “I’m terrified of ghosts. The piece of land I lived on with my dad connected to this road with open fields on both sides. Do you know the number of accidents that happen yearly simply because of ghosts?”“Now, why would I know that?” I glance at him. “A lot!” Quill refuses to budge from his point. “Ghosts don’t exist, Quill,” Kathleen pipes up.“Yeah?” Quill glares at her. “Says who? ‘Till a couple of months ago, werewolves and vampires didn’t exist either. Now look at us.”“I don’t know about ghosts,” Isabel pipes up, looking at Beth, “but my home used to be haunted. My foster parents used to put this strange liquid on the walls of the house to keep whatever was haunting us at bay.”“Foster parents?” Beth
JesseMy head is throbbing as I roll over to my side.The iron chains around my wrists and ankles have me as weak as a baby. I can’t even lift my head without effort. Whatever curse is on these chains, it’s draining my abilities, suppressing my vampire strength.I shouldn’t have tried to play hero.Even now, I was still desperate to prove myself to Taylor.Closing my eyes in despair, I push myself against the tree into a sitting position. It’s been days since they’ve been dragging me around, but I don’t understand something. I’m still near the islands. They move for a bit, maybe an hour, changing direction at what seems like random. But there doesn’t seem to be any method or reason.I hear footsteps approaching me, and I quickly close my eyes, not wanting another interaction with this person. However, she’s smart enough not to buy into my act.“Open your eyes, Jesse,” the voice of my ex-girlfriend reaches my ears. “How long are you going to keep at this?”I open my eyes, st
After that initial scent of Jesse’s blood, no one has been able to follow his scent. It’s almost as if it’s disappeared. However, even if my entire group can’t catch his scent trail, that doesn’t mean I can’t. I’ve been catching hints and traces of Jesse’s scent as we move along. The only one who manages to catch the faintest whiff where the scent is strong is Quill. And that’s probably because he’s an alpha werewolf. It’s only when he catches a hint of the scent that the others relax. However, it’s only later that Quill confides in me that aside from the initial scent that he had caught, he hasn’t caught any more.He’s just trusting me. The people who took Jesse didn’t stick to the main road. They moved through the wilderness, which is why I couldn’t track him, but as we move farther, despite the rainfall that has happened two days after he was moved through here, I can still catch a whiff here and there, enough to tell me that I am on the right track. I have never been happi