Chapter 77: The Assembly

Astrid

I stood in the crowded hall beside Ivy, the room loud with speculation. Nobody knew why we’d all been called so suddenly, and students whispered guesses back and forth around us.

I felt strangely calm. A few weeks ago I would have assumed something terrible was happening. Now I was mostly curious.

Ivy leaned closer. "Do you think someone got expelled?"

"Why would they call the entire school for that?" I asked.

"Maybe it was someone important."

"Maybe Aldrich finally realized how exhausting this place is and decided to close it," Xander said from nearby.

"You’d complain about being unemployed too," Reed said.

"Obviously," Xander said, and I laughed.

Then Aldrich stepped onto the stage, and the hall gradually quieted. I noticed immediately he looked more serious than usual.

He explained that Moonshade had received an emergency request from another supernatural academy. Their campus had suffered severe damage recently, parts of it unsafe to house students, repairs expected to take considerable time.

A murmur spread through the crowd. I recognized the name he mentioned. Everyone did.

"Wait, isn’t that the place people always talk about?" Ivy whispered.

"What do they say?" I asked.

"That they’re weird."

"We’re literally wolves," I said.

"You know what I mean."

I didn’t, actually, but I let her keep going. Before she could explain further, Aldrich continued. Moonshade had agreed to temporarily accommodate the displaced students.

The hall erupted.

"All of them?"

"How many?"

"Where are they going to stay?"

"They’re actually coming here?"

I noticed something odd underneath the surprise. Some students weren’t just startled. They looked nervous.

"They have witches," someone whispered nearby.

"One of them is a mind reader."

"I heard someone there can see the future."

"My brother said they don’t even let you look directly at some of their students."

I turned to Ivy. "What kind of academy is that?"

She looked just as uncertain. "I don’t know."

Xander, meanwhile, looked entertained. "I’m starting to like this already."

"Don’t start," Reed said.

"I haven’t done anything."

"Yet," I muttered.

He smiled at me.

Aldrich raised his voice until the room settled. He made it clear the transferred students weren’t guests passing through. They’d be attending Moonshade for the duration of the repairs, using our classrooms, library, training facilities, dining hall, and dormitories. Moonshade would continue functioning normally, but adjustments would need to be made.

He reminded us firmly that the incoming students had already lost their school temporarily and would not be harassed, would not be treated as outsiders. There would be consequences for anyone who caused trouble.

I noticed how firm he sounded, almost like he expected problems specifically from us. That struck me as strange. From everything I’d just overheard, shouldn’t everyone be worried about the transferred students instead?

Then he moved on to the part everyone had clearly been dreading.

Housing.

Moonshade didn’t have unlimited dormitory space, and adjustments would need to be made. I barely paid attention at first, assuming rooms would simply be reshuffled, maybe new roommate pairings.

Then he said, "Students currently occupying temporary project accommodation will return to the standard dormitories."

I froze. For a second the words didn’t fully register. Then they did.

I turned slowly toward Reed. Then Xander. Neither of them looked pleased.

"Oh," Ivy said quietly beside me.

I stared at Aldrich. The project apartments. Our apartment.

He continued explaining that the apartments would be repurposed to help house the incoming students, though protected royal housing would remain untouched.

"You’ve got to be kidding," Xander muttered.

Reed said nothing at all, which somehow felt worse than any complaint would have.

I tried to stay unaffected. It was just an apartment. I’d moved before, slept in far worse places than a dormitory. I could go back. I should be fine with it.

But the thought of leaving that apartment twisted something uncomfortable in my chest.

The assembly ended, and chaos broke out immediately, students complaining, speculating, worrying over accommodations. Ivy started talking about our old dorm room, though I barely absorbed any of it.

Reed and Xander caught up with me as I walked.

"You’re not moving," Xander said.

I stopped. "What?"

"You’re not moving."

"I literally just heard Aldrich say I have to."

"We’ll talk to him."

"Xander," Reed said quietly.

"What? We can."

I looked between them both. I knew they didn’t want me to leave. Honestly, I didn’t want to either.

But I shook my head anyway. "Don’t."

"Astrid—" Xander started.

"They’re students who lost their school," I said.

That quieted him. I looked toward the crowd still buzzing around us. I knew exactly what it felt like to have nowhere to go, to be pushed out of the only place that had ever felt safe. I wasn’t about to hold onto space someone else genuinely needed just because I’d finally gotten comfortable somewhere myself.

"I’ll go back to the dorms," I said.

Reed looked at me, something shifting behind his expression. "You don’t have to pretend you’re happy about it."

I tried to smile. "I’m not pretending."

His eyes stayed on me, unconvinced.

I sighed. "Okay. Maybe a little."

I looked toward the academy buildings, the dormitories in one direction, the apartment in the other. For the first time since I’d come back to school, I was heading toward it not to settle in, but to pack.

The realization sat heavier than I expected.

I looked at the twins. Xander was still visibly annoyed. Reed had gone quiet in that way that meant he was thinking too much to speak.

"It’s just across campus," I said, trying to lighten it.

Neither of them responded. My smile faded on its own.

Because suddenly, it didn’t feel like just across campus at all.

The announcement echoed once more over the speakers, reminding everyone to begin arranging their accommodations immediately.

I exhaled slowly.

"I guess I should go pack," I said.

Reed’s expression shifted at that. Xander looked away entirely.

I turned toward the apartment, the place I’d only just started to think of as home, and understood I was about to leave it behind.