2. Chapter 2
Brix
The dining hall smells like burnt toast and industrial cleaner; the sharp citrus sting mixing unpleasantly with grease. The staff has been working overtime to get the dining hall clean for summer break.
Sly rambles on about his upcoming final across from me while I chew my rubbery eggs and overcooked potatoes, despite not having an appetite.
My enhanced senses make everything worse on mornings like this: the scrape of metal forks on tin trays, the hum of pointless conversations layered over one another…
someone laughs three tables back with a pitch that drills straight into my skull.
Usually, I can tune it all out.
But today I don’t have the energy or the desire to put in much effort. Just like yesterday. And the day before that.
When I notice Sly has gone quiet, I look up to find him staring across the hall with a mix of longing and frustration on his face. I follow his gaze to our usual table, now sitting empty. Normally I’d try to lift his spirits by saying something stupid, but nothing funny comes to mind.
I haven’t been able to think of much to say to anyone. I haven’t been able to think at all since she disappeared.
“Holly…” Sly murmurs, perking up in his seat.
I turn in my seat to find her walking towards our usual table with her breakfast tray, Tabby and Cleo flanking her. The three of them slow when they spot us, and there’s a visible hesitation before they change direction and start walking toward our table.
I drag a hand through my curls. Things have been tense between us since they heard about how I rejected Arwen’s plea for help.
“Morning,” I call as they approach and give them a small smile, waving the white flag, so to speak.
Holly doesn’t smile back at all. I could blame it on the sleep deprivation, clear by the bags under her eyes, but I know she is furious with me. Tabby has matching purple circles under hers, and Cleo’s red eyes look like they’ve run out of tears.
They stop at the edge of the table, and Holly folds her arms across her chest. She won’t even glance at Sly, just stares at me.
“Have you heard anything new about Arwen?” she asks.
Sly shifts beside me but keeps his gaze lowered and says nothing.
The sound of her name sends an ache through my chest, but I force my expression to stay neutral.
“No, I’ve heard nothing outside the typical rumors these monsters have concocted.” I say, looking around the cafeteria in disgust.
Cleo steps forward, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “It’s been three days. No one’s seen her.”
Three days of torture. None of us want to admit the likely scenario. The Council exiled her, just as they had promised. We’ve tried to go see the Dean, but she hasn’t been at the academy.
I swallow.
“I know nobody wants to say it. None of us want to admit she was… sent away.”
I look at the floor. I can’t even say the word. Exiled.
What is she facing right now? What if she’s alone? Hurting?
What can I do? How can I fix this?
It feels like my insides are ripping themselves apart. As a Wrath, it should make me angry. But I just feel lost.
Tabby bites her lip. “People are saying worse things.”
“People like drama.” Holly replies roughly. “They know nothing. The only people who do were at that trial.”
“They’re saying the Council executed her,” Cleo says, eyes watering again.
My chair scrapes against the stone floor as I push to my feet. I’ve heard these rumors for the past three days.
“These idiots know nothing,” I snap. A few nearby students glance over. I lower my voice, but my pulse is pounding.
“The Dean was in that room. Atticus too. The Council isn’t just going to murder someone.”
Vail is brutal. But there are still systems. Rules. Structure. Right?
Holly studies me. “People have been saying Atticus Willshire is missing too.”
The girls exchange looks.
“And Maddox West,” Cleo adds. “He hasn’t shown up to class at all this week.”
That detail unsettles me more than I expect. Atticus was one of Arwen’s uncompleted bonds, determined to go with her to the trial and use his power to force his father’s hand.
Obviously, he was unsuccessful.
So much for him being an all powerful God of sin magic…
“Maddox had been helping her with some type of potion. Something about drawing out dormant power,” Cleo reminds us.
“You think they’re connected?” I ask.
“It’s strange,” Cleo says. “Arwen goes to her trial. She disappears. Then two boys closely associated with her disappear. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
Holly turns her fury at the situation back on me, like usual. “Why do you even care? We all know what you told her. Don’t start acting like a friend now that she’s not around to ‘weigh you down’.”
My temper stirs, a familiar heat coiling in my chest. The Wrath in me wants me to bite back. To remind her that none of this is simple. That we’re all one critical decision away from losing everything.
But anger is only going to add fuel to the fire. I take a deep breath and hold it before letting it out.
“I’ve told you before, it was bad timing. You know I care about her just as much as you do.”
As much as I want to clear things up with my friends, I can’t admit Ryker’s threats out loud. If it gets back to him that I told someone, he will have me expelled, and that helps no one.
“She was your friend. And she asked for your help.”
The memory hits me hard. Arwen’s hands shaking as she stood in my doorway. Tears streaming down her face.
“We need to meet tonight,” Holly says to all of us.
Sly looks up, hope on his face. He’s dying to resolve things between Holly and him, but with Arwen’s disappearance, there hasn’t been a good time.
He’s been a mope for weeks.
“We need to brainstorm about what could have happened,” she replies. “If she got exiled, we need to know where. We need to think of a way to approach the Dean when she returns…”
Almost as if Holly summoned her by name, Dean Bellow’s voice echoes through the intercoms.
“Attention. All students, faculty, and staff are to report to the auditorium for a mandatory update.”
Chairs scrape and trays clatter as students pack up.
“What if it’s about Arwen?” Cleo asks, hope flickering across her face.
Holly and I exchange a doubtful look.
There’s no way the academy would call a mandatory assembly for one missing student. Much less a sinless one who had a trial with the Council.
Still… my pulse kicks up. Something important must be happening.
We fall into step together without discussing it. Sly walks beside Holly protectively, close but not touching. Tabby loops her arm through Cleo’s, but keeps her head down.
Without Arwen, it feels like we are all balloons, chaotic in the wind with no string attached to keep us grounded.
***
Hundreds of students funnel into the auditorium, filling the tiered seating in restless waves of whispers and speculation. I catch fragments of conversation with painful clarity.
“—heard it was an execution—”
“—rebels spotted near the Hollow—”
“—my brother said the Council—”
I grind my teeth and try to tune it out. I should be listening in case there is any factual information, but hearing the gossip just pisses me off.
The empty seat next to me catches my attention. I can almost picture Arwen sitting there… the warmth of her arm touching mine. I’d make some stupid joke and her smile would break across her face.
I won’t have that anymore.
I don’t deserve that anymore.
Guards file out from behind the stage and line the walls. Not academy guards—the heavier armor, the darker insignia…
Council guards. Wrath soldiers.
Dean Bellows steps onto the stage a moment later, spine straight as a blade. She surveys the crowd and waits until the last murmur dies before speaking.
“Students.”
Her voice carries effortlessly.
“It has come to our attention that there have been signs of rebel activity in the area surrounding Academy Hollow.”
The room erupts with gasps and whispers. I glance sideways at Holly.
We know Arwen had a run-in with Rebels at the Hollow the night I turned her away. The strangers who kidnapped her. The cryptic warning they gave her.
If Atticus had told his father, Academy Hollow would’ve been crawling with guards the next day. That it’s taken this long…
He must have kept it a secret, like Arwen wanted. A strange, bitter flicker of respect moves through me.
Dean Bellows raises a hand for silence.
“Guards discovered remnants of a temporary encampment in one of the abandoned buildings last night with rebel supplies and several forbidden relics locked away.”
My jaw tightens.
“While there are no signs of immediate danger, and the individuals appear to have vacated the area, the Council has deemed it prudent to exercise caution. The academic term will conclude early. All remaining final examinations have been canceled by the university. Students must make plans to vacate the academy and return home.”
A stunned silence ripples through the auditorium.
Then chaos.
Cheers from some sections. Groans from others. Dean Bellow continues, unbothered.
“The academy will transport students home within the next forty-eight hours to commence summer recess. Academy guards will remain on site throughout the break to conduct a full sweep of the grounds and Academy Hollow territory. We expect a safe and uninterrupted return next term.”
I look down the row at Holly, Cleo, Tabby, and Sly.
We’re all thinking the same thing. Time has run out, and now we are going to be separated. Away from the only place that might give us some sort of answer.
The auditorium empties in a rush of noise and movement, but we stay seated in stunned silence.
Holly presses her lips together. “We don’t even know for sure if she was sent away.”
“Maybe she’s already home,” Tabby says, looking at me. “Maybe you’ll get home and she’ll already be back in Furycliff?”
I nod, but I keep my gaze on my hands. I can’t let them see the doubt on my face. Their hope is already thin and fragile as it is.
“You have to promise,” Holly says, turning toward me, voice fierce.
“If you hear anything at all, you get word to us.”
“We all have our academy phones now,” Cleo adds. “It should stay active over the break. We can all stay in touch.”
The auditorium is thinning rapidly as guards usher students toward the exits. We stand together and start towards the doors.
Holly’s fingers close around my wrist as she pulls me back from the others.
“If you find her at Furycliff,” she mumbles, her eyes locking onto mine, “and she asks why you pushed her away… I hope you’ve got a better answer than ‘my grades.’”
Then, without waiting for a response, she releases me and walks away.