Page 72 of A University of Betrayal

Larissa seemed a little startled, then she looked at Miles. “They know...”

He just nodded, and Larissa turned back to us.

“Ouh, it seems your new friends have a lot of explaining to do.”

Vivienna crossed her arms over her white blouse in amusement.

Larissa looked up in confusion. Her gaze lingered on me. For a good five seconds, she looked at me, stunned. Then her eyes narrowed.

“You...” she whispered and her glowing red eyes made us all take a step back.

She had become one of them…

Shock spread across my face.

“You!”Larissa blurted out and I flinched. “Youknew... and you didn’t tell me?!” She got louder and Miles grabbed her wrist.

“Larissa,there are humans here.”

“Let go of me, Miles!” She broke free of his grip and took another step toward me. “I thought we were friends,damn it,and you’re keeping something likethisfrom me?!”

The shock inside me was mixed with disappointment. Was she seriously accusing me of making a mistake by keeping her away from all this?

“Oh God,I can’t believe it!”

She looked stunned and Miles tried to calm her down, but couldn’t manage it. Whatever he had to do with her, he didn’t know her like I did.

“I wanted to protect you,” I blurted.

Didn’t she see what a mess she was in now? Her eyes... and that she showed up here with them.

“Protectme? From what?”

“From what you are now!”

She looked hurt for a moment, then drew her brows further together, her eyes glowing red. “Don’t you think you would have protected me if you’d told me everything?!”

That was going too far. I knew she would have done it either way. She would have gone to them, would have kept spying.

Now it was me who closed the distance between us considerably so that we were only a hand’s length apart. I glared at her angrily and felt a relieving tingle on my skin as I fixed her gaze. “You’re reckless, Larissa. And now you trust these people? Look what they’ve done to you!”

She backed away as if I’d scared her to death and her eyes lit up even more intensely.

“What the hell is going on here?”

I jerked my head around and looked Professor Copeland straight in the eye. He also widened his eyes in shock, which made me hold his gaze.

He looked briefly at the DeLoughreys, but then immediately back at me, as if I were a child he couldn’t take his eyes off without it doing something stupid.

Then I spotted Vivienna, who, like the professor, was standing in my field of vision, staring at me with equally wide eyes. Only there was more terror in them than in Professor Copeland’s.

Before I knew what was happening to me, he grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me through the huge main entrance of the main building with a “Please, all of you, go to your lectures!” to the others behind us.

Hysteresis

Angus MacRae

I sat on the dark leather couch in the professor’s office, both perplexed and inwardly upset. His presence made me feel like a child getting caught by doing something forbidden because I had read his letters only a few days ago. Letters that were probably addressed to my mother. And that could mean a lot...

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