Page 4 of Just One Bite
“I’m in. I got accepted.”
“When did you apply?”
“Are you kidding? I didn’t! But here, look—you and Eva have one.”
I grabbed the envelope and wasted no time opening it. There at the top confirmed my greatest want in a matter of seconds.
“I got in too.”Without another word, I opened Eva’s. She was at work and would yell at me for it, but I had to know.
“We’ve all been accepted.”
“Why?”
I only knew one person with the power to do that. But why?
My father had changed his mind, and just like that, my dream school was at my fingertips. But the mystery of his reasoning haunts me as I remember his warning to bring my first aid with me everywhere I go on campus. I leave mine at the foot of the bed. Following my father’s wishes is a habit I stopped long ago.
With a hand on the sapphire doorknob, I open the door to move into the chaos of the hallway. I brace myself for the man running by with a box in his hand while another chases after him at a speed I can’t comprehend.
My body stops before my brain registers it, then I’m staring at the man coming from the door directly across from mine.
We close our doors at the same time. They click closed, and we halt.
A tall man with broad shoulders towers over me just a few feet away, wearing a mask—something you’d see in a horror movie. His shirt is nonexistent, and my eyes catch on the jagged scars across his chest.
My heart beats in my ears. Strange. A hot flash rings up my spine, and my throat dries when I open my mouth to exchange words. What words? Any. All. Something is better than nothing. You’d think I’d never seen a male with his shirt off before.
He twirls his fingers at me in a casual wave, and my senses snap back into place. I rest a hand on my chest and saunter down the hallway, my heart drumming hard against my ribcage. I’m just jumpy because of all the changes.
My phone chimes as I make my way onto the porch.
Em:Haunted maze before orientation!!!
I sigh. That was mentioned in the pamphlet. They turn the path that leads to the castle into a maze.Doxlothia and their traditions.
Chapter Two
Parker
“My chest kinda burns.” I rub my sternum while devouring a burrito. They must have added extra hot peppers.
“Those burritos kill me,” Zant says from next to me, wiping his hands. He’s already consumed his.
The tree branch we’re sitting on quakes under the weight of the two of us. His short, disheveled hair is being crushed by the mask dangling half on and half off his head.
“Worth it,” I say, deciding any burrito from the culinary club is worth the heartburn.
Below us, a crowd of new students funnels through the haunted maze—a Doxlothia tradition since it first started. This year, I get to be the one doing the scaring and not the one walking alone in the maze, which is a path that runs through a wooded area and leads to the castle. They set it up every year with artificial fog and obstacles you can't see around. I wasn’t scared my first year, but it wasn’t exactly a fun experience. Everyone else already had friends, packs, or even siblings to walk with. Zant is a year older than me and scouted me out in the maze. I almost killed him in the process of him trying to scare me last year.
Zant and I have been best friends since our early school years in the city. Long story short, our dads are business men who like to put their kids in private school. Only, my dad did it because he wanted to see me less and Zant’s dadput him in because he actually loves him and cares about his future. I call him a daddy’s boy, and he tells me to eat shit, but he smiles when he says it.
When I got Noxx House and couldn’t join Zant in Solexxa, I was bummed, considering we’d gone to a private boarding school together and shared a room for years. But he said I’d be bored there, and he was probably right. Solexxa houses some of the smartest people on campus and produces the country’s brightest scientist, lawyers, and several of Vviveren’s famous botanists. Zant isn’t interested in any of that, but he is smart. He says Noxx House is Solexxa’s more energetic older brother that throws better parties.
I finish my burrito, thinking I want another. Just as I do, Zant pulls one from his bag and hands it to me.
“Don’t say I never do anything for you.”
“Why did you hide it?” I smile and snag it from him.
