Page 5 of House of Ydril

“You know,” I say, smiling as I turn to look at her, “you look like your animal would be something really fierce.”

And I don’t expect her to shift to show me, but I definitely don’t expect to see her frown at me. As if I’d just offended her.

“I think we better get going,” she says flatly. “The opening ceremony should be starting soon.”

I open my mouth to say I’m sorry if I was rude, but my eyes catch a strange movement to our left. I snap my head in its direction and I see a guy being spit out of a hole that looks just like the one I got here through.

It’s just that, unlike me, he deftly lands on his feet and keeps walking with his hands in his pockets the entire time. Dammit.

Just as I’m about to turn to Nuala to recount what the Pull did tome, I recognize him.

“That’s not…” I break off, unable to tear my eyes away.

“Andreas Faust?” she finishes my sentence in a voice that’s barely above a whisper. “It sure is.”

And the fucking prince doesn’t stop walking, his movements smooth and controlled. But now I see that he’s looking straight at me, as if he’d heard our little exchange loud and clear, even though there’s quite a bit of overgrown garden separating us.

Because he did. Because he’s a vampire, for crying out loud. Maybe he doesn’t shy away from the Sun, as people thought in the good ol’ days, but he definitely has heightened senses.

His eyes still on me, I realize my heart is pounding wildly and I can feel tension emanating from Nuala as well. Fucking hell, have I just done something stupid?

He breaks eye contact and disappears into the castle. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding in.

“Wow,” I hear Nuala say and I turn back to her only to see her blushing from head to toe, “I didn’t expect to see him without the usual entourage.”

With that, she moves to lead me back into the castle. But my mind is still on the prince.

“He’s not a student here, is he?” I ask as I rush to catch up with her.

She walks into the Elevator and presses a button. When she looks at me again, a slight frown is scrunching up her forehead. “I thought everyone knew he was enrolling. It was all people talked about the entire summer.” She gives me a smile as she walks out of the Elevator and back into the entrance hall. “Even now, the tabloids won’t leave it alone.”

I look up and almost let out a laugh. I haven’t even noticed them because I was so focused on everything that makes Grimm Academy out of ordinary for someone like me, but there’s more than one huge screen hung above us.

The sound is muted on all of them. But two out of four are currently dedicated to the prince. They’re switching between photos of the Academy and photos ofhimin his perfectly tailored suits.

And there’s strips of text below them, but my mind barely registers them. I’m too shocked to learn that my high-school celebrity crush, the vampire prince and heir to the throne, will be attending the Academy with me. An image pops into my mind, of all the posters of him I kept hidden beneath the mattress in my room.

“Anyway…” Nuala snaps me out of it by tugging at my sleeve, making me turn to look at her. “The opening ceremony is about to start.” Giving me a little smile, she motions at the archway opposite to the one leading into the Main Hall.

“Oh fuck.” I slap myself on the forehead. “You did mention it earlier.”

“It’s no reason to get your panties in a bunch,” she says with a laugh. “It’s basically dinner. But I do hope you enjoy it.” And with that, she waves, turns on her heel and starts walking away.

It takes me by surprise, the abrupt way she ends our little tour. But she probably has her friends waiting for her to join them at the ceremony. So I shrug it off and start making my own way there, feeling like fish out of water as I walk past tattooed shifters, raven-haired vampires and faes who’ve probably known they’re faes their whole fucking lives. God damn them.

But as I go through the archway into what seems like a giant dining hall, I almost have to raise my hand to shield my eyes. Outside, it’s already dark. But in here, the light is reflecting off both seen and invisible surfaces. Ornate metal. Polished stone. Lacquered wood. Despite its enormity, the room is steadily filling up, the murmur of the students taking their seats creating a soft, feverish music that perfectly reflects how I’m feeling.

I guess I’m a fae now, I think as I look for a seat. And that has a lot of implications, a lot of which I can’t even be fully aware of yet. But it also means a lot of unexpected possibilities.

Chapter five

Ifindaseatclose to the exit. I don’t know what kind of danger I’m expecting, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I throw smiles to everyone around me, but only a couple of students at my table smile back. One of the girls even frowns. Oh well, you can’t please everyone.

With the corner of my eye, I see Nuala sitting alone. Now that she’s not giving me the tour, she seems different. As if she’s trying her hardest to stay invisible.

I’d know. It’s basically all I did when I was still in the foster system. And it makes my brain want to poke around hers in search of possible reasons, but I force myself not to think about it. It’s a habit of mine. To make other people’s problems my own. And it’s a welcome thing when I’m at work, but when it comes to my personal life, it’s not necessarily, um, good.

To distract myself, I turn to look around. The dinner hasn’t started yet so I have some time to take in my surroundings. Besides the long tables the students are sitting at, there’s one placed on a podium at the front of the hall. It’s still empty, but it’s obviously there for the professors and the faculty. Above it, there’s a flag with the Academy’s crest flapping in the breeze. It’s full of detail and I can barely make anything out.

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