Chapter 98: Something Is Watching

Astrid

I woke up warm and safe for exactly four seconds before I remembered. My hand reached for my phone before I’d even fully opened my eyes, and I unlocked the screen already knowing what I’d find. You shouldn’t have gone back there. Some places only feel safe until they aren’t. My stomach tightened all over again, and I told myself, for what felt like the hundredth time, that I should show Reed and Xander. Especially now, after whoever this was had somehow known I’d gone back to the apartment. I should have shown them last night.

A knock at the door interrupted me before I could talk myself into anything. "If you’re awake, I’m stealing your breakfast," Xander called through it.

I locked my phone fast. "Don’t you dare."

"Then get up."

Despite everything, I smiled, and got dressed, and headed for the kitchen. Reed was already there, and Xander was eating something he’d clearly stolen off a plate that wasn’t his. Reed looked up when I walked in, and his gaze lingered a second too long, long enough that I knew he’d noticed something before I’d even said a word.

"What?" I asked.

"You didn’t sleep well," he said, not really a question.

"I slept fine," I said, sitting down.

"That’s a lie," Xander said immediately.

"Excuse me?"

He pointed at me. "You have the face."

"What face?"

"The thinking-too-much face."

"I don’t have one," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"You do," Reed said quietly, and I looked between the two of them, utterly betrayed.

"Maybe I just regret living with both of you," I muttered, reaching for my breakfast.

"No, you don’t," Xander said with far too much confidence, and I rolled my eyes even as my phone sat heavy in my pocket, a constant weight I couldn’t ignore. Reed noticed me glance toward it. Again. I looked away before he could ask anything else.

At school I told myself I would deal with the messages later, that I just needed to get through my classes first. I walked into the classroom and immediately felt a few pairs of eyes turn toward me. I ignored them, until someone whispered loudly enough that I couldn’t pretend not to hear.

"Which one do you think she’s with today?"

"Xander."

"No, Reed."

I turned slowly, and the students immediately busied themselves with nothing in particular. I sat down and said nothing, and a few minutes later Xander strolled in, holding up my favorite drink like a trophy. The whispering started up again instantly.

"Why are you here?" I asked, closing my eyes briefly.

"You forgot this yesterday," he said, walking to my desk.

"I did not."

"Then I bought you another one."

I looked at the drink, then at him. "You came all the way here to deliver this?"

"Maybe," he said, grinning, and someone behind me made a small strangled sound that stopped the moment Xander glanced their way. I took the drink and thanked him, and he looked absurdly pleased with himself before leaning in slightly.

"Don’t let Reed see. He’ll try to outdo me."

"You started it," I laughed.

"Exactly," he said, already walking backward out of the room, and the classroom exploded into whispers the second he was gone. I opened my drink and pretended not to hear any of it, failing entirely to stop smiling.

Reed was waiting in the corridor after class, leaning against the wall like he had nowhere else to be. "Were you waiting for me?" I asked.

"Yes," he said simply, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. He held out a proper lunch, and I stared at it, then at him.

"What is this?"

"Lunch."

"I can see that."

His mouth twitched. "Then I don’t understand the question."

I took it anyway, mentioning that Xander had already brought me something that morning, and Reed glanced at the drink still in my hand. "I know," he said.

"How?"

"Half the academy knows."

I groaned, and he started walking, and I followed, telling him I was never leaving my room again. "That would be difficult," he said.

"Why?"

"Xander knows where you live."

I laughed, and for a few minutes, walking beside him, I actually forgot about the messages entirely.

We turned a corner and found Estelle waiting there, and I felt myself slow before I could stop it. She smiled the moment she saw us. "Astrid."

"Estelle," I said, forcing my own smile into place.

Her eyes moved between me and Reed before landing on the food in my hands. "Is that lunch?"

"Apparently," I said, and Reed gave me a look that pulled a real smile out of me despite everything. Estelle laughed softly.

"You two have gotten close."

Something about the casual way she said it made me uncomfortable, though I couldn’t have said exactly why. Reed answered simply, "Yes," and something warm settled in my chest even as Estelle’s smile stayed perfectly even.

"I can see that," she said, and then, after a brief pause, turned back to me. "Are you settling in well?"

My fingers tightened slightly around the food in my hands. It was an innocent question, a normal one, but I couldn’t stop myself from studying her face, her eyes, anything that might tell me whether the warmth was real or practiced. She noticed, of course.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly, shaking my head.

She studied me a moment longer, then smiled again. "You seem tired."

"I’m fine," I said, looking away.

Reed’s eyes flicked toward me, but he said nothing. Estelle glanced at him, then back at me. "You should rest," she said, before nodding and walking off. I watched her go, and Reed noticed that too.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said again, and this time his expression shifted just slightly, enough that I knew he could tell I was hiding something.

Later, walking alone between classes, since Reed had a lecture and Xander had vanished somewhere, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I froze instantly, my heart slamming before I even looked. It was only a notification. I exhaled.

"You’re thinking too loudly."

I jumped and spun around to find Criston standing a few feet away, looking entirely too amused. "What?" I said.

"Whatever you’re hiding," he said. "It’s making a mess."

I went still. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Of course you don’t," he said, his smile widening.

"Can you stay out of my head?" I snapped.

"Can you stop thinking so loudly?" he asked, and I opened my mouth to argue and found I had nothing to say. He stepped past me, then paused beside me, his voice dropping lower. "You should tell them."

I turned sharply. "Tell who?"

He looked at me, his eyes giving nothing away. "The people you’re trying so hard not to worry." Then he walked off, and I stood frozen in the corridor, wondering whether he’d actually read my thoughts or simply guessed, and how much either possibility meant he knew.

My hands were shaking slightly when I reached for my phone again. I hated that Criston had gotten under my skin. I hated more that he was right. I should tell Reed and Xander everything, the messages, maybe even Selene, and I started walking faster, determined to find them and finally say it all out loud.

Then my phone buzzed again.

I stopped. An unknown number. I stared at the screen for a long moment before opening it.

You should have told them.

My blood ran cold. My eyes lifted immediately, scanning the corridor, students walking past, talking, laughing, none of them looking remotely suspicious, none of them watching me, at least not openly. I looked back down at the message, my fingers tightening around the phone, because now I understood something far worse than before.

Whoever this was wasn’t just watching where I went.

They knew exactly what I was thinking.