A University of Betrayal (The Blairville Legacies #2)

Chapter 55

Julie

Night

Christopher Tyng

When Larissa came rushing back to me from the front door, I knew she wasn’t going to let up, so I didn’t even give her the chance to speak.

“Please don’t be mad at me, but I’m not leaving this house. No matter what you say.”

Instead of extending the discussion we had started five minutes ago, she took a stool and sat on it. She then moved closer and put her hands on my knees. I could feel how cool she was. Funnily enough, it didn’t bother me, not even that she was touching me.

“What’s the real reason?” she asked with an intensely scrutinizing look, and it only took those words to overwhelm me.

An involuntary tear ran down my cheek, and then another. Finally, I could no longer hold them back. I could no longer hide it from her, not from Larissa.

“The pregnancy test. It was mine.”

Larissa’s eyes widened, and she slapped her hand over her mouth. “Shit.”

Before she could say anything else, I started talking.

“Don’t say anything. You know who the father is, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

It was difficult to say the words, but Larissa would understand me. At least I hoped so.

Her eyes were filled with emotions that I couldn’t interpret.

“Does he know?”

“No,” I said quickly.

Larissa nodded as if she was afraid of saying the wrong thing.

“My point is that you can see it. It’s only been almost seven weeks, but you can already see it. Damn, I can’t wear this skin-tight dress.”

More tears ran down my cheeks and I thought about how well I had hidden it so far, but wondered why no one except Emely and the Ruisangors had noticed. Even though Larissa was one of them.

“You’re an adult. It’s your business,” she began carefully, looking at me with what had to be concern, as if she wanted to say more. “You shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks, believe me.”

“No, it’s not that simple,” I tried to find a start for all the things Larissa didn’t know. “My family, when they find out... the prophecy...” But my words tumbled out, forming a mess. The same mess that raged inside my head.

“What exactly did Vivienna mean when she spoke of the prophecy?” Larissa asked.

“Part of it predicts a baby descended from the strongest species that will destroy the other species.”

I could tell that she was not at all comfortable with this part of the prophecy. Neither was I.

“Where did this ridiculous prophecy come from?”

“From the gods,” I said quickly, and she raised one of her pretty eyebrows.

“And you believe in that bullshit?”

Surprised that she thought I was so na?ve, I shook my head.

“No, but my family, the whole Circle, the Councils...” I looked down at my stomach, which was covered by the oversized gray hoodie. “They’re going to take it away from me... I mean, I don’t even know if I really want it, but I also don’t want to be the one to blame if Gloria raises someone to bring destruction and death to this city.”

The truth was out. If the child didn’t die inside me, it would be born, here in Blairville. I had to make a decision, now, about whether I could let that happen.

“Gloria is a dangerous woman. Anyone who messes with her has lost their mind,” I said in a shaky voice.

Larissa should never feel the wrath of this woman. No one should, especially not this innocent baby.

Larissa began to stroke my elbow with her pleasantly cold hand.

“Listen. Whether you want to keep it or not, you shouldn’t hide.” I found it hard to hold her gaze, because her words touched me, got far too close. “You shouldn’t miss out on this day. I’m sure it will be a wonderful memory that you won’t want to miss out on.”

“They’ll see it,” I whispered desperately, my voice breaking mid-sentence.

“Then they will see it. They’ll see us running around together.” Larissa’s look became more serious. “It’s time for something to change in this town. But you can’t do that if our generation is going to let itself be shoved around like this all the time.” She rose to her feet. “Basically, the future of this town is in our hands.”

I looked at Larissa. She was talking about promising things. Of change, of a better future. But she didn’t know that sitting opposite her was the granddaughter of the devil, the daughter of the destructive that no one dared to talk about. Blood from a dark family line ran through my veins. And until now, I had tried to suppress this fact and be the quiet, obedient and controlled Julie.

“Larissa. I’m not who you think I am.”

Larissa looked to me, a soft smile playing around the corners of her mouth. “I know there’s more to you than this quiet girl who barely talks.” My breath hitched. “You shouldn’t hide that side any longer.” Another way-too-hot tear trickled down my cool cheek. “Julie, no matter what happens, I’m here, okay? You can count on me and Bayla.”

Larissa’s words sparked like a flame inside me. Barely noticeable, but the explosives inside me had been eagerly awaiting this moment for far too long.

Who was I if I continued to hide? A pathetic heap of misery. A pile of dirt for Gloria to step on? Her puppet on a string? If I went down, it would be with my head held high, not small and vulnerable.

I looked at Larissa as my last tear rolled down my cheek. It would be the last tear I would shed in self-pity for this family.

“Cut my hair.”

Larissa looked at me in shock. “What?”

“I don’t want this hairstyle anymore. I hate long hair. Cut my hair as short as Bayla’s, maybe shorter, so that it barely touches my shoulders,” I said sharply and with determination.

This ridiculous hairstyle that Grace had always plaited into braids. Hair that now only served to be pinned up in a messy knot because I couldn’t handle it. I had never felt comfortable with it. It was part of the fragile Julie, an externally controlled Julie... If I wanted to change something, I had to start there first.

“Now?” Larissa asked, looking at her watch.

“Now.”

A smile spread across her lips, and I smiled through my tears too.

cinderella’s dead

EMELINE

Larissa and I disappeared upstairs to the bathroom, where she spread out her hair care set and took my thick, platinum-blond hair between her fingers.

“Are you sure?” she asked again.

I seemed to have surprised her.

My eyes met hers in the mirror. “I’ve never been so sure.”

She nodded and reached for the scissors. Then she started.

There was a soft scratchy sound and I watched as the long strand slid down the black cape.

It was as if Larissa was freeing me from something, from an old part of myself that was now falling to the floor.

The noise sounded again, and another strand slid down. Larissa picked up one of the strands and held it high. We both looked at it in the mirror.

A mischievous smile played around the corners of her mouth. “I’ve always wanted to cut hair this long for someone.”

Larissa continued cutting and with each old strand, something inside me came loose, fell to the floor and broke.

“Straighten your head,” Larissa reminded me with a grin, and I was forced to look in the mirror.

Normally, I hated what I saw there. I hated it to the core. But the more time passed, the more details I discovered that I had never seen before. Not in that dimmed light, not with full straight almost shoulder-length hair that made my cheekbones stand out even more.

I didn’t look like Julie anymore.

The old Julie died in that very moment. She was too weak for this world.

And for a moment I recognized him, the boy whose picture was under my pillow. The one who had died on November 2nd, 1998. We had the same aventurine eyes, the same pale face and the white hair... unmistakable.

A curious part of me wondered what he had been like. Was I like him?

I had only had my weak mother as a reference until now, but a part of me had always known that I wasn’t like her. Everyone had told me so. Amara, Gloria, Rebecca Harlow... They had all tried to keep me small, to compare me to her. But neither outwardly nor inwardly did I resemble the woman who seemed just as strange to me as this frail Julie. They compared me to her because they were afraid of him. And it was only a matter of time before they would be afraid of me too...

I looked at the reflection in front of me, tried to memorize how it felt, to make a connection, to stop suppressing the dark feelings. I felt everything rise up inside me at once. Anger, sadness, hate... pain. A new feeling mingled with all those that seemed familiar to me.

Power.

Power over my own body, over my elements that were waiting inside me to come out.

How had I ever been able to hold them back like that? Damn it, I had hidden them. Out of fear of myself? Yet it was the Circle and the Councils who should be afraid of me.

Larissa had opened my eyes: There was no reason to keep hiding.

I knew that no one would ever love me, especially not what was waiting inside me to burst out. But if no one else did, then I should at least accept who I was.

I could feel ice crystals forming under my hands, which rested on my thighs beneath the cape. A new storm was raging inside me, and my magic was ready to leave my body.

“So much better,” Larissa said, unaware of my thoughts or the magic.

I turned my head to either side.

“Julie, that hairstyle looks badass,” Larissa said with a devilish grin.

I couldn’t help but smile.

The hairstyle gave me more severity.

Apparently, the fairytale princess I had never wanted to be had also just died.

Larissa put the hair into the bin, where it belonged.

“I’d better put on my dress and go. If you’re still coming...” She paused. “I’d be happy.”

I nodded, not taking my eyes off my reflection.

She turned toward the door.

“Larissa.” I stopped her and she turned to me. I looked at her with a serious expression. “Thank you,” I whispered, and I meant it.

A smile appeared on her lips again. “Always with pleasure.” And then she disappeared.

I got up and closed the door, then I slowly turned to the mirror.

On the shelf of the bathroom cabinet, I spotted the scissors that I had dragged across my wrist far too often in recent weeks. I reached for them. And without hesitation, I threw them in the garbage can too.

I took off the cape completely and opened my slightly raised hands. Even as ice crystals spread all over the glass surface, I tried to concentrate fully on my reflection.

I smiled back at the new Julie. It wasn’t a sweet smile, not a happy one, and certainly not a cheerful one. It was what I would give Gloria tonight.

I would show them what they had made of me. I would show them all.