Page 33 of Ethereal Shifters

My mouth is dry as she carefully walks around me and opens the door. The second she steps out, she starts screaming. Screaming at the top of her lungs, falling on the floor and crawling away. Somehow, she has blood all over her arm. She must have hurt herself, and she crawls away from me.

“The fuck are you doing?” I hiss as people start gathering in the corridor.

“She’s working with Vian, and she killed Annie!” Georgina screeches. What the actual fuck? “I was trying to be her friend, and I came to see her, but I walked in on her speaking to the Vian. She gave Annie to them and they drained her. Annie’s dead!” She keeps screaming it over and over again. “Annie’s dead, she killed her, she gave them to the Vian! Save me! Help!”

I shake my head, wondering what the hell she’s doing, knowing that she’s completely and utterly lost her mind. “No, I haven’t!”

“Someone find Annie.” Tutor Jettie gets there first and takes a second to lean down to help Georgina, looking at her arm where there are claw marks bleeding out. “And get a healer! She can’t heal herself!” Tutor Jettie looks at me, and I see it in her eyes. Fear. I look around at all the students, and they are looking at me the same way…they are scared of me. I didn’t even do anything.

“You won’t find her. She killed her!” Georgina points at me with her good arm. She sobs, “She’s gone. There must be something done about it. You need to call the Supreme Alpha. Get him to get people down here. She needs to be put on trial. That’s the law.”

“I don’t know what the fuck’s going on, but that is not happening,” Aleksander growls, stepping forward. “Back in your rooms, everyone! This isn’t a movie!”

A few people move and leave, but most don’t. They are whispering and staring at me like they need to be here to stop me if I flip a lid. Tutor Jettie helps Georgina to her feet. “I have to call the alpha, and it can be his decision on this. The academy will be searched for Annie, and if she really is missing, then I can’t defend you, Gwenieve.”

“It’s not true.” I wave my hand at her. “She’s just manipulating everything. I don’t know why, and I’m sure Annie is around somewhere. She’s lying and doing this to make me look bad.” I pause. “Unless you did something to Annie?”

Georgina shakes her head. “I’d never hurt her. I’m not a monster like you!”

Rhodes and Hollis break through the crowd together, followed by Finnegan, who is fuming mad. “What’s going on?”

“She says that I’ve killed Annie by giving her to Vian and that she witnessed all of this. Apparently,” I explain to them. “It’s not true. I found her in my room. She asked me weird shit while telling me she is working for the Vian king, and then she did anacting lesson right out here to scream all of this after hurting herself.”

Hollis doesn’t say anything. None of them do, but they move closer to me. Rhodes speaks first. “I trust Gwenieve and you should, too.”

Tutor Jettie looks at me and then quickly away. “I’m afraid Gwenieve’s actions in the past do not give me the greatest confidence in her. I’m sorry, but this time, unless Annie is found, I am going to believe Georgina.”

“Then we will protect her in her room until Annie is found,” Alek growls. “And you’re making a mistake.”

Tutor Jettie leads a sobbing Georgina away. Most of the students are staring still as Alek leads me into my room and the others follow, shutting the door behind Hollis last.

“We need to get out of here. Pack a bag,” Finnegan begins. “I don’t know what she did with Annie, but I have a feeling we won’t find her.”

“Do you think she hurt Annie?” I whisper before I begin to spiral. “She said that she’s working for the Vian king, and I’m scared. No one is going to believe me against her, and I’m surprised even you guys do. Annie can’t die, she is my friend…I?—”

“We will find Annie,” Rhodes soothes. “We believe you. You don’t need to ask us that, and Georgina working for the Vian makes a lot of sense. I thought something was wrong from the moment she got here. We’ve all taken turns watching her. Not close enough though, because every time she touches us by accident, my Nexus wants to throw up.”

“Same, brother,” Hollis admits. “And my Nexus doesn’t even want Gwen. There is something corrupt about Georgina, so working for the Vian king makes sense. It also means he put her here in this academy and close to us for a reason. I don’t want to be here when we find out what that reason was.”

“Her telling you the truth isn’t a good sign,” Finnegan muses, getting out a backpack.

“I’m not running from here again.” I shake my head. “I just can’t. This is my home, and Annie won’t be missing. I just…”

Alek touches my shoulder. “We can’t stay. I’m sorry.” All the fight leaves me as I realise he is right. It’s too dangerous here now. “Your home is with us. It doesn’t matter where we are, as long as we’re together. I’ll get word to Onyx to get him and his mother out of the city, and we have a place near Morriganis City, a safe house we can meet at. We’ll sort what’s left of our families and get them out too. Now pack a bag. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

I reluctantly take the backpack off Finnegan, who kisses the side of my head, before I throw my favourite clothes, the box from my mother, and my father’s statue into the bag. I go to the bathroom and grab what I need from there next, including the flower clip from Annie. She has to be okay.

“What about you guys? Don’t you need bags?” I ask as I pull on my leather jacket and put the backpack on.

“We’ve been ready to leave at any moment, with cars packed, just in case,” Finnegan explains. “My sister and father are ready to leave separately, and I’m sending word to them now. They will be safe.” He uses his phone to text his family.

They go wait outside as I look at my room one last time, the sinking feeling in my chest that I won’t see it for a while. This is the closest thing I’ve had to a home in a long time, and I loved every moment here. I found myself here, and now I have to run again. I’m sick of running away, living in fear, and I don’t want it anymore.

My mates are waiting for me as I shut the door and wipe my tears away. Aleksander takes my hand, and Rhodes walks on my other side, with Finnegan and Hollis ahead as we go down thecorridors into the main part of the academy. It’s silent. “Why is it so empty?”

“I don’t know and I don’t like it,” Finnegan murmurs. When we step outside the front of the academy doors, it becomes apparent why it’s so silent. The sun is setting fast in the sky, and the sky almost looks pink with dots of purple. The Supreme Alpha is waiting for us, and Onyx isn’t here, but there’s a line of rangers behind him. They’re wearing dark green ranger uniforms with a symbol on their chests I’ve not seen before, a snake and a bear claw. There’s something off about them. I can’t see their faces. Black masks cover their features except for their eyes. All their eyes are the brightest green, almost glowing.

“Do you know these rangers?” I ask my mates quietly.

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