Page 53 of House of Ydril

The students all snap their heads in my direction as I scramble out of my chair. I turn to Sarya to see her standing to the side of the table and raising her fingers to her mouth.

I can’t speak. And I’m already panicking because, well, she’s trying to fucking choke me, the bitch. But she gives a strange whistle and I feel even more terrified when Zelda appears, as if out of thin air, closely followed by Harry.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sarya asks with a sly smile as she walks up to me.

She releases her grip enough for me to squeeze out, “I was just trying to get something to eat.”

As the other two glance at each other, she lets out a laugh. “Yeah, right. And what were you doing when you were accidentally bumping into Harry and Zelda?”

Goddamn it, I curse at myself. Can’t believe I underestimated them like that. So stupid, Quinn, so fucking stupid. I decide the best course of action would be to tell the truth. Part of it, at least.

“To be honest,” I wheeze out, “I want to become one of you.”

Now they all laugh. Perfect. Sarya takes a step closer, making me flinch a little. “Sure,” she says with another one of her sly smiles. “As soon as you get the Ringleader’s approval, who just happens to be our leader as well.” She pauses for effect. “I hear you’re real-life besties.”

With that, they all walk away, laughing their heads off. But that’s not why I’m fuming. It neither surprises nor gets to me, when an asshole acts like, well, an asshole. But realizing that the only person who could get me in with the Vipers is Faust… Let’s just say that that does get to me.

No, I think to myself as I go to my room to wait for the sun to set. If that’s what it would take, I’ll rather let them all die in that fucking bloodbath. After all, ever since the Ball, I haven’t even been able to look at a piece of news with his name in it. Not even when they were all gushing about him taking his new girlfriend on a cruise over the holidays. Of course, I couldn’t avoid seeing the pictures. And of course, the girlfriend is a thin blonde vampire girl. They all must be dying their hair to make him like them.

But as I watched him with his hand wrapped around her ethereally slim waist, her looking at him like he’s some kind of god walking this earth, all I could think about was murdering him with my bare hands.

So no, I’m not exactly ready to be asking him for any favors.

By the time I realize that Professor Mistila must be finishing up with the last class of the day, I’m still pissed, but I’m forcing myself to focus. Luckily, all I have to do is use a cloaking spell, find her when she’s on her way to her apartments and let Moswen take care of the rest.

It all goes smoothly enough. I sneak up on her while walking down one of the moonlit galleries, her steps echoing off the polished stone.

I dig the diary out of my bag and I crack it open, Moswen appearing before me. “I thought Nuala would be with you.”

I don’t tell her I’ve chosen to do this early. “It’s time,” I whisper.

It was Moswen’s suggestion. During one of our brainstorming sessions, she told Nuala and myself that this was something she’d be able to do, in case Professor Mistila proved to be a hard nut to crack. We practically squealed with delight.

Still, once she actually does it, I can’t help but draw in a breath. The image of her flickers before me, turning into the image of my mother, Syllia Olarel.

Without a word, she nods at me and glides over to where I can hear Professor Mistila walking. I creep closer, dying to see what happens.

Just as I thought, as soon as Syllia’s ghost appears in front of her, Professor Mistila stops midstep.

“Why did you turn my daughter away?” the ghost demands.

I see Professor Mistila frown. “Who are you?” she asks in a low voice.

“You know very well who I am.” I have to fight not to applaud Moswen for the way she does the spooky ghost voice. “I just wonder why you didn’t say as much when she asked for your help.”

There’s a moment of silence before the professor takes a step closer and speaks in a threatening voice, “I said,who are you?”

I frown. I heard her call my mother ‘my dear Syllia’. And now she’s asking herwhoshe is? My mind is buzzing, but I can tell that Moswen is confused as well. Shit. I quickly close the diary shut, making her disappear.

The professor is now looking around. I duck, drawing in a panicked breath. She can’t see me and the spell should prevent her from sniffing me out, I tell myself.

But the sound of her footsteps is telling me she’s heading straight in my direction. It’s only when they stop a few feet from me that I dare to look up.

And there she is, squinting at me from above.

I slowly get up, not knowing whether to expect an attack.

“I have a sneaking suspicion…” She’s frowning, but she doesn’t look pissed. To my surprise, there’s concern in her eyes. “That thisghostI just saw was your doing. Explain yourself.”

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