It had gone quiet, so I looked around.
My heart finally stopped as I froze into a pillar of ice. I stared into the center of the courtyard and a heavy shiver ran down my spine that I wished for nothing more than to finally wake up.
“What in the world is going on here?!” a man’s voice rang out.
Professor Copeland had now entered the courtyard as well.
He looked first at the girls, then at Nash’s buddies, and then at the man-sized brown wolf in the middle of the courtyard, who bared his teeth greedily and turned with yellow-glowing eyes... toward me.
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.
