“I’m sorry it can’t happen before then. As you noticed this morning, there’s still a lot I have to do here.”

He sounded exhausted.

“It’s… okay, it should be… fine,” I stammered quickly, trying not to blush.

Everything was strange. Just the fact that I was supposed to be a werewolf should be unsettling enough. Now I had a secret to keep that no one had prepared me for. I would have to continue playing the unsuspecting daughter of a witch, because I would probably only find out later what happened next.

And then there was Larissa... I had to sort that out. But how, if she belonged to the Ruisangors now?

Chapter 15

Julie

She Knows

Christopher Tyng

He had just taken her with him. Was I the only person who thought that was more than just weird? Strange creatures, these Senseque…

Maybe I was just trying to distract myself from the things I’d witnessed in my crazy molecular biology professor’s office this morning.

After I’d seen his black eyes, he’d closed them again, grabbed the back of his chair as if to hold on to something, and when he’d opened them again, the blackness had shifted slightly, letting the peridot-green return. What had remained were the veins on his neck.

With a pounding heart, I had watched him put his shirt and vest back on, gather his things and finally leave his office in human form.

For ten minutes, I had stayed in the closet, trying to process what I’d seen, but my overloaded mind had yet to find an explanation for what had happened there.

I knew that I could only find answers in that room.

But I had just wanted to get out of there. And so, I had left the office, determined to return as soon as I had sorted out my thoughts.

After I’d left the office, my body had started to go crazy, controlled by this strange magic, and before I could suffer another panic attack, I’d used the Salma that Gloria had given me yesterday. It had dulled my emotions, but the memory of Professor Tiberius’ black eyes burned into my mind like a mark.

“Let’s go before we get ourselves into unnecessary trouble,” Amber said, pulling the frozen and white-faced Vivienna with her.

I looked ahead to where Larissa was standing among the Ruisangors, her expression full of confusion. It must have been a harsh shock to find out that you had suddenly become something completely different. The transformation alone must have been painful. Even though I couldn’t imagine anything being more painful than being stuck in my body. Either uncontrollably emotional or empty, like now.

“We should go,” the one with the short black hair grumbled, wearing an expression of steel as always.Adrian.

“In a minute.”

“No,Larissa, you’re coming with us,” he replied, slightly annoyed.“Now.”

Larissa stared at him hostilely. “Iwon’tlet you tell me what to do!”

They didn’t seem to like each other very much.

“Larissa.”

The moment this Miles interfered, she reacted angrily.

“And not from you either!”

“We can’t leave you alone,” Miles continued calmly.

Why couldn’t they leave her alone? She was an adult and didn’t belong to them. But did I actually know much about her? Not really. I realized that the Circle was doing an excellent job of sealing us off from the outside world and the other species as best as they could.

“A few minutes and I’ll be with you!”