Chapter 81: New Seats

Astrid

I woke slowly, not quite remembering where I was for a second. Familiar, but not the way the apartment had started feeling familiar.

Ivy sat on the other side of the room, already awake, absorbed in her phone. "They’re already fighting," she said, not looking up.

"Who?"

"Everyone."

That got my attention. I sat up as she read through the group chats, already flooded with rumors. One student claimed Criston had read someone’s mind before breakfast. Another said Estelle had made someone see themselves falling from one of the towers. Someone else insisted a witch had cursed a student’s shoes.

"That’s ridiculous," I said.

"Which one?" Ivy asked.

I paused. Honestly, I wasn’t sure anymore.

I could have told her about last night. Estelle’s voice. The cold expression. Criston’s cryptic warning. But saying it out loud would make it feel more real, and I still didn’t know what was real. So I said nothing.

Getting ready, I noticed how different the room felt without the twins around, nobody rushing me, nobody stealing my things just to annoy me, nobody asking if I’d eaten. I felt the bond faintly, Reed calm somewhere nearby, Xander more restless, probably already talking too much.

I checked my phone. Two messages. Xander’s first: Don’t skip breakfast. I rolled my eyes.

Then Reed’s: We’ll see you in class.

My mouth curved before I could stop it.

"You’re smiling at your phone," Ivy said immediately.

"No, I’m not."

"You’re terrible at lying."

"I’m not lying."

"You’re in love," she said.

I nearly dropped my bag. "Ivy!"

She laughed, unbothered, and I pointed toward the door instead of answering.

The academy felt crowded and unfamiliar the moment we walked in, new faces everywhere, students clearly lost, professors directing traffic through the halls. Our classroom had been rearranged, seats shuffled to fit the transferred students in.

I spotted Josh first, and he waved, relieved to recognize someone. "Morning," he said as we sat down near him. "You look terrible."

"Thank you," he said, offended.

Ivy laughed. He gestured around the room. "Your academy has twelve hallways that all look the same."

"There are four," I said.

"Exactly."

"Four is too many?" Ivy asked.

"One hallway is enough."

"You’ll survive," I told him.

"That’s what everyone keeps saying."

For the first time since last night, I relaxed. Josh was easy. Normal. Nothing about him matched any of the rumors floating through the halls.

Then the door opened again, and the room shifted. Eliza walked in, calm and quiet, the same old book tucked under her arm. Students suddenly found their desks fascinating. Seats around the room mysteriously opened up. Eliza noticed. She didn’t react. She simply walked toward the one empty seat left, beside me.

"You’re Eliza, right?" I asked once she’d sat down.

"Yes."

"I’m Astrid."

"I know."

I froze. She glanced toward the front of the room. "Everyone seems to."

I laughed, quiet at first, then louder, and something in her expression almost shifted into a smile.

While we waited for the professor, I nodded toward her book. "What’s that?"

"A journal."

"You carry it everywhere?"

"Usually."

"Family?" I asked.

"Something like that."

I hesitated, then asked directly, "Are you really a witch?"

She turned toward me, and I immediately regretted it. "Sorry, that sounded—"

"Are you really a wolf?" she asked.

I stopped. "I don’t have one."

She paused, then said, "Neither do I."

"What?"

"Not every witch is born the same way," she said, looking ahead again. She didn’t explain further, and the professor walked in before I could ask.

Class itself stayed ordinary, and after everything last night, ordinary felt good. When the professor announced a paired exercise, the room split predictably, Moonshade students with Moonshade students, transferred students with each other. Except Josh, who looked around and found nobody left.

"Anyone?" he asked.

Nobody answered.

I sighed. "Come here."

He grabbed his things immediately. "I knew I liked you."

"Don’t make this weird."

"Too late."

The exercise itself was unremarkable, which was exactly the point. Josh was funny, easily distracted, and I ended up explaining things twice. At one point he gave an answer so ridiculous I laughed before I could stop myself. Eliza glanced over, and when I caught her, she looked away, though I thought I saw the faintest smile. For a few minutes, everything felt completely normal.

Class ended, and I felt the bond the moment I stepped outside, warm and familiar, closer now. Reed and Xander waited near the doors.

"You didn’t answer," Xander said as I approached.

"I was in class."

"So?"

"So I was learning."

He looked unimpressed. Reed was fighting a smile.

"Don’t encourage him," I told Reed.

"You could’ve answered later," he said.

"You two are impossible," I said.

"And yet you missed us," Xander said.

"I didn’t," I said, too fast.

The bond betrayed me completely. Xander grinned.

Then a voice called out. "Astrid!"

I tensed slightly. Estelle approached, bright and friendly, nothing wrong with her expression at all.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," I answered.

Nothing happened. No cold face, no voice, no illusion. She simply joined the group, talking easily with Xander while Reed listened. I stayed quiet, uncertain what I was even supposed to do. Confront her? Pretend nothing had happened? Watch her constantly?

I eventually stepped away from the group, remembering something I’d left in the classroom. As I turned back, Eliza’s voice stopped me.

"Astrid."

I turned. She stood a few steps away, book still in hand. Her eyes flicked past me, toward Estelle, then back.

"You shouldn’t let someone make you doubt your own eyes," she said.

"What?"

"That’s what illusions are designed to do."

My stomach dropped. "How do you know?"

She looked down at her book, then back up. "Because that’s not the first illusionist I’ve met."

I waited. She started walking away, then stopped without turning around. "And the last one nearly made me believe I was dead."

I froze completely. She kept walking, and I stood alone in the corridor, slowly turning back toward the group.

Estelle laughed at something Xander said. Reed stood beside them, unaware. To everyone else, Estelle Raven was just an old friend. Familiar. Harmless.

I looked down at my own hands, still hearing that voice clear and cold in my memory. Don’t believe him.

I looked back toward her, and one question wouldn’t leave me alone. Who exactly was lying to me?