Page 286 of A University of Betrayal

The 3rdDoor

Jay Varton

“Who’s her new right hand?”

Bayla said something for the first time. Behind her, further away, Emely had moved to the other side of the kitchen island so that she had a perfect view of us. Buddy was sitting next to her, wagging his tail as he looked up at Emely with a tilted head.

I looked back at Bayla. “Vivienna.”

Bayla’s eyes widened. “What?No.That... Can’tIdecide?”

I shook my head and Larissa rolled her eyes. “Chill now, you’ll get superpowers after this ritual. It can’t be that bad.”

“It hurt. How many more times do I have to tell you?”

I saw Emely jerk her head up. “They’re going to hurt you?”

Larissa and Bayla spun around. And I thought I saw unease in Bayla’s gaze.

“I swear to you, if I feel anything next weekend that forces my body to seek you out, you and I are going to have a huge problem.”

What,why would Emely feel anything?

Larissa raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to explain that to me in more detail.”

“Your friend put a spell on me and Julian. And don’t youdaredeny it again.”

Emely looked seriously angry and... scared?

“That’s not possible,” I said with suspicion. “Quatura can’t interfere with the consciousness of others and...” I drew quotation marks in the air. “Bewitch them.”

Emely stared at me. “Then what did she do? Explain it to me. So, I can get rid of it as quickly as possible.”

“I’d like to know what Bay did in the first place,” Larissa said, confused.

“Whenever something happens to her, when she gets hurt or attacked, Julian and I feel it and something makes us go to her. Julian even has visions. And Senseque can’t do shit like that.”

“That can’t be...” I insisted on my Quatura knowledge.

But why would Emely lie? What reason did she have?

“Oh,yes.Because when you two were attacked, we, Julian and I, sensed it, and see, you two had in fact been in trouble and Bayla was almost bleeding to death because someone from your clan had sunk their cursed fangs into her neck.”

She looked at Bayla and Larissa again before putting down the kitchen knife.

“You were bittentoo?”Larissa looked at Bayla.

“Yes, but I somehow survived.”

“Which is also a mystery to me,” I replied, and more and more questions arose.

What if I really didn’t know enough? What if I was denied so much knowledge about Quatura magic simply because of my low position within the Circle?

Emely reached for the knife again. “Same here! Butwhat the hell.I trust your magic even less now. Back then it was just the elements. Now she comes, smells like nothing, randomly manipulates Senseque and survives a deadly Ruisangor bite.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that before. It could all be coincidences. The weak scent, because maybe she was an ungifted... but the manipulation? If that was true, what did it mean?

“I wish I could undo it. Ireallywish I could, Emely. Youhaveto believe me.”

---