Chapter 76: One Normal Day

Astrid

I woke slowly, my eyes heavy, unsure for a moment why. Then it came back. Yesterday. The synchronization. My mother. The grief. The panic. Crying in front of both of them.

I wanted to disappear entirely.

I lay perfectly still, aware of Reed asleep nearby and Xander on the other side. That only made the embarrassment worse. I started moving carefully, one foot already on the floor, my plan simple. Get up. Get dressed. Pretend yesterday hadn’t happened.

"Where are you going?"

I froze. Xander’s voice, rough with sleep.

"Nowhere," I said.

He squinted at me. "You look like you’re escaping."

"I’m going to the bathroom."

"With that expression?"

I glared at him. Reed stirred beside us.

"Tell him to stop talking," I said.

"Good morning to you too," Reed said, opening his eyes.

I pulled the blanket tighter around myself. "Don’t."

Both of them looked at me, and I knew they understood exactly what I meant. Don’t talk about yesterday. Don’t mention the crying. Don’t make me explain any of it again.

Reed simply nodded. "Okay."

No teasing. No pity. No awkward questions.

I relaxed visibly. Xander sat up. "Can we talk about breakfast?"

"You weren’t going to mention yesterday?" I asked.

"You told us not to."

I paused. He shrugged. "I’m annoying, not stupid."

I tried not to smile and mostly failed.

The apartment felt different once I got ready, though not because anyone was avoiding the subject. Nobody was treating me differently at all. Xander complained about being hungry. Reed told him to stop opening cupboards dramatically. I sat at the counter watching them argue and found myself smiling.

Yesterday they’d seen the worst parts of me, the ones I never wanted anyone to see. This morning, Xander was still complaining about food, Reed still trying to keep the apartment organized. Nothing had changed.

Except something had. I wasn’t trying to hide.

"What?" Reed asked, noticing me staring.

"Nothing," I said.

"She’s being weird," Xander said.

"I’m literally sitting here."

"Exactly."

I kicked him under the table. He made a dramatic noise, and Reed sighed. "Can you two survive one meal?"

"No," we said together, then looked at each other and started laughing.

"I’ve created a problem," Reed muttered.

I announced I was going to school. Xander looked at me. "Congratulations."

"Do you want to die?"

"A little early for death threats."

Reed studied me more seriously. "Are you sure?"

I knew what he meant. Not whether I felt fine physically. Whether I was ready, after everything.

"Yes," I said. I didn’t want to spend my life hiding in this apartment. I’d already hidden long enough.

"Then we’ll go," Reed said.

"We?" I asked.

"You think we’re letting you walk to school alone?" Xander said.

"I walked to school before you existed in my life."

"And look where that got you."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don’t know. Sounded convincing in my head."

Reed rubbed his temple, and I laughed.

We walked together, and I noticed the difference immediately. Before, walking beside them always made me hyperaware of everyone watching. Today I still noticed the stares, but they mattered less.

Xander said something ridiculous, and I laughed loudly before I could stop myself. A few students turned. I felt self-conscious for a second, then caught Reed’s quiet presence through the bond, Xander’s amusement right behind it, and relaxed.

Reed took my bag when it started slipping off my shoulder.

"I can carry that," I said.

"I know."

"Then give it back."

"No."

"He’s gone," Xander said. "No saving him."

Reed ignored him. I shook my head, secretly liking it, not because he was carrying my things, but because it felt like something we’d already done a hundred times.

Ivy spotted me from across the courtyard, standing with Camilla, and her expression shifted the moment she saw Reed and Xander beside me.

"Don’t," I said before she could speak.

"I haven’t said anything."

"You’re thinking too loudly."

"What’s happening?" Camilla asked.

Ivy kept staring. "Something happened."

"Nothing happened," I said.

Xander smiled at exactly the wrong moment. Ivy’s eyes went wide.

"YOU—"

I clapped a hand over her mouth. "Not here."

"What?" Camilla asked, suddenly very interested.

"Nothing."

Ivy pulled my hand away. "Nothing?"

I gave her a look. She lowered her voice. "We’re talking later."

"You’re not interrogating me."

"I’m your best friend."

"Exactly why I’m scared."

She grinned, then, quieter, when the others weren’t paying attention, "Are you okay?"

The question meant something different than gossip. I smiled, real this time. "Yeah."

She studied my face and nodded. "Okay."

And this time, she actually believed me.

Class felt ordinary in a way I’d forgotten I could enjoy, students bickering, someone late, the usual noise. I caught myself doodling instead of paying attention when a flicker of amusement crossed the bond.

Xander. Somewhere far off. I looked around anyway, found nothing, and felt the amusement grow stronger, like he knew exactly what I was doing.

The student beside me asked if I was okay when I glared at nothing in particular.

"Fine," I said, though I couldn’t stop smiling.

Then Reed’s presence settled in, calmer, focused, somewhere else entirely. The bond didn’t feel like a trap today. It felt like a thread connecting me to something steady.

I liked knowing they were there.

Between classes I saw Selene across the courtyard. Our eyes met, and I braced for a comment. None came. Her gaze flicked past me toward Reed and Xander, then back, something calculating settling into her expression.

She knew something had changed.

I turned away without engaging, though I felt her watching long after I’d walked past.

At lunch, I considered sitting with Ivy alone, then realized I didn’t have to choose. I sat with both, Ivy and the twins together, and though it felt slightly awkward at first, Xander talked enough to fill the space until it settled naturally.

"We still have work to do on the project," Reed reminded everyone.

I groaned. Xander dropped his head onto the table. "Academia is oppression."

"You’re a student," Reed said flatly.

"Exactly."

I laughed, and Ivy watched me with a small smile.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"You’re being weird."

"I’m allowed."

She didn’t explain further. She just looked happy.

The day continued that way, classes, complaints, arguments with Xander, Reed telling me to focus, ordinary things I’d never let myself enjoy before because I was always braced for something terrible.

Walking with them as the day wound down, Xander arguing about something absurd, Reed telling him he was being ridiculous, I laughed and without thinking reached out, one hand finding Reed’s, the other finding Xander’s.

I froze. I hadn’t meant to do that.

Both of them glanced down. I considered letting go.

Instead, Reed’s fingers closed around mine. Xander’s did the same. Nobody said anything.

I looked ahead, warmth spreading through my chest.

Then a voice cut across the grounds, announcing that all students needed to report to the main assembly hall immediately.

I stopped walking. Students around us started talking, confused, the announcement repeating.

"Did someone die?" I asked.

"That would certainly explain the drama," Xander said.

Reed frowned. "Aldrich doesn’t call an emergency assembly without a reason."

Something unsettled moved through me, not fear exactly. Just curiosity.

Ivy found me in the crowd moving toward the hall. "What’s happening?"

"No idea," I said.

We moved with everyone else, and inside the packed hall, students talked and guessed at every possible explanation. I stayed strangely calm, feeling Reed nearby, Xander close, Ivy beside me. Whatever this was, I wasn’t facing it alone.

Aldrich stepped onto the stage, and the room gradually quieted.

"All students are to remain here until further notice," he said.

The hall erupted immediately. I exchanged a look with Ivy. Reed’s expression shifted. Xander sat forward.

Aldrich raised his voice over the noise. "There has been an unexpected development concerning Moonshade Academy."

My curiosity sharpened.

I had no idea, sitting there, that the peaceful life I’d only just begun to let myself enjoy was about to be interrupted entirely.