Page 157 of A University of Betrayal

Swept

Jay Varton

I crept down the stairs like a tiger and almost went into cardiac arrest twice because the stairs had started creaking deafeningly.

If Mum found out what was wrong with me and what I was doing, she would ground me for life.

I made it to the door without making any more noise, slipped out onto the porch, and surveyed the lantern-lit street.

Not scary at all when you think about what had happened here. The therapist was really worth considering.

I spotted a shiny dark brown SUV. A man was sitting in it, nodding at me with a pleasant smile. My professor.

My excitement rose once again, giving my ass the push I needed to get moving.

Oh, great.Was that really smart of me? Could I trust this man? After all, he was a university director.

I opened the passenger door and got in, trying to suppress the queasy feeling in my stomach, telling myself that it could only be hunger.

“Bayla, I’m glad you made it.” I was only slightly calmed by his gentle smile.

“I had no other choice,” I confessed nervously, placing the backpack on my lap.

His expression softened even more. “It’s important that you find out what you are until the next full moon comes.”

The attempt to calm me down had failed and a little too violently I closed the car door.Crap.Maybe I’d woken Mum.

“Should I be scared?” I asked quickly to get Alarik’s attention back on the subject, and he finally put the car in motion. Further away from our house, down the road.Further away from Mum.

“Not if you do what I tell you.”

“And the tea? Can’t I just drink it for the rest of my life?”

Just like Julian did.

“I won’t let anyone make that mistake again.”

He could only mean Julian.

Alarik drove us through the neighborhood where my mother and I lived, which was still peaceful at dawn, and we took a route that wouldn’t take us into downtown.

“Firstly, the herbs are extremely hard to find. The supply I’ve collected over the last few years is almost used up, and there’s less and less wolfsbane growing in the Copeland woods.” He sounded worried. “I fear that the occurrence of it has increased in the Quatura forests. Secondly, the side effects are strongest around the nights of the full moon.”

I wondered if Julian was struggling with side effects. And another thing...

“Does that mean that Senseque’s powers are dependent on the moon?”

“The moon doesn’t just play an important role for us. Perhaps you’ve already heard. The Quatura also adapt their rituals to different days of the lunar cycle.” That’s right. My ceremonies, which had both gone wrong, had taken place once on the full moon and once on the new moon. “Only the Ruisangors don’t seem to have to adapt to the moon.”

I just nodded and watched as we got closer to downtown.

Maybe I should have looked at my mother’s lunar calendar. Now it made sense that she had one.

“The moon is kind of a guide, for most of the supernatural inhabitants of this town. If the moon is waxing, our powers become stronger, we are more connected to ourselves and our true identity. If the moon wanes, we distance ourselves from our true nature. We become more human.”

“That one Quatura, Rebecca Harlow, or whatever her name is...”

I heard a disdainful snort from Alarik, who ran his hand through his hair, destroying his neat hairstyle.

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