In shock, I dropped my phone, which skidded along the floor and came to rest in front of the door.
To make matters worse, the door opened, kicking the phone halfway across the room. The scratching sound it made didn’t sound good at all.
Standing in the doorway was Bay, who must have just been in the campus bar with Larissa and Mady.
“Oh, shit,” she gasped as she looked at my cell phone, which had stopped in front of Larissa’s bed.
She rushed across the room, picked up my demolished phone, and looked at it before coming over and shoving it into my hand. I, meanwhile, was blushing.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t see it and...”
“It’s okay,” I stammered sheepishly, looking at the black glass, which was covered in a few scratches. Grace would fix that with her half-life magic.
“You sure?” she asked again, a little unsure, and I just nodded.
I had liked Bay from the beginning, as she was not only friendly but also a bit calmer than Grace or Larissa. She also owned some very interesting books that I planned to check out. Someday, if I dared.
Now, she looked at me unsettled, and I couldn’t help but tell her again that everything was fine.
“It’s not your fault. I just...threw it there first...”
I hated it. Every time I wanted to say something, I held myself back.
Grace made a dismissive hand gesture. “Yeah, Bay, don’t worry about that. Things break on her all the time.”
A loud screech interrupted us. It came from downstairs.
All three of us looked at each other, startled, as at least two of us were expecting the worst. When another scream rang out, I instinctively jumped up and headed down the hall to the stairs. Bayla and Grace followed me. I ran quickly but had to be careful not to fall, as the varnished wooden staircase was so slippery that I had already been having trouble even getting up here with my luggage.
Gripping the damaged cell phone tightly, I almost slid down the stairs, because not only curiosity but also adrenaline had gripped me.
What was going on down there? Had the Ruisangors broken in to get an evening snack?
An icy chill ran down my spine.
The Senseque had made their rules clear, yet no one knew how intent the DeLoughreys were on sticking to them.
“Shut the fuck up! I’m not going to eat you,” rang out a feminine voice I recognized immediately.
Good. No Ruisangors.
Reaching the bottom, I stopped abruptly because my brain didn’t want to decide whether the image that presented itself to me should be frightening or more ridiculous.
Emely Copeland and Kelly Hepburn.
While one was sitting calmly on the couch, playing with her finger with her dark brown hair, the other, once again dressed like a pink slut, was standing in the middle of the apartment, staring open-mouthed at the other. In front of her, a plastic bowl lay upside down on the light wooden laminate. Around it were scattered lettuce leaves and other greens that I could identify as shreds of broccoli.
Grace stopped behind me because she was just as confused as I was. Only Bay walked a little further into the room.
What had Emely done?
“Are you guys okay?” a voice rang out, coming from the front door.
There stood Larissa, dressed in sexy clothes like she had been yesterday, and unlike Kelly, she could handle makeup. She had the self-confidence that you could look for in vain in me, and she also had every reason to be self-confident. She was incredibly pretty. Her light brown, almost dark blonde hair she had thrown over her open leather jacket. In addition, there were the catchy doe eyes. Still dangling around her neck was the camera she’d already had with her this morning. I wondered if it wasn’t giving her neck problems in the long run.
“Nothing is okay with you idiots! Don’t you realize what’s sitting on the couch?!”
Kelly’s voice resembled a squeak, which didn’t exactly indicate that she was a singer in a band at the Dark Lion Club.
Bay’s gaze expressed pure confusion, and she looked at Larissa, who also just shrugged. If this went on, they would find out something, and that would be fatal.
“And what are you going to do now? Like, wag your little finger and make me...”
“Emely!” Grace warned loudly from behind me, and I startled. “Don’t forget, there are other people in this room.”
Emely must have realized, because she looked briefly at Larissa.
More footsteps came from the stairs. Vivienna and Amber.
“What has that feral beast done now?!” Vivienna shouted angrily across the room. Amber, meanwhile, rushed over to Kelly and pulled her aside.
Emely Copeland, who had been sitting on the couch the whole time, now rose up and slowly walked toward Vivienna.
My pulse quickened.
“What do you want from us?!” Kelly screamed hysterically.
Amber pulled her a little further to the side.
