Chapter 2 Everly #2
Something that might have been approval flickered across her face. "Tomorrow, wear it with black jeans. And maybe consider retiring the pink shoes. At least until you stop being a target."
"I like my pink shoes."
"I know you do. That's the problem."
I sat on my bed, the blazer stiff and unfamiliar around my shoulders. It felt like wearing someone else's skin. "Tell me more about the presidents. What happens if one of them decides you're a problem?"
Brittany was quiet for a moment, her expression shifting into something more serious.
"It depends on which one. Callum won't touch you himself—he'll just make sure your life falls apart piece by piece until you leave or break.
Felix will make everything go wrong in ways you can never trace back to him—accidents, bad luck, opportunities that vanish at the last second.
Ren..." She paused. "If Ren wants to hurt you, he does it through the people you love.
Blood magic is about connection. He'll find the bonds that matter to you and twist them until you wish you'd never cared about anything. "
"And Atlas?"
"Atlas doesn't do subtle. Storm magic is direct—overwhelming force, public humiliation, making an example out of you so everyone else knows what happens when you step out of line.
" She met my eyes. "That scar I showed you?
The lightning strike happened at noon on a Tuesday.
Maximum witnesses. Atlas wanted everyone to see. "
I thought about that. About power wielded openly, without shame. About a school where the strongest students could hurt whoever they wanted and call it discipline.
"Has anyone ever fought back?"
Brittany laughed, short and humorless. "Against the four most powerful students on campus? Students whose families have been running this place for generations?" She shook her head. "No one's that stupid."
"What if someone was?"
She studied me for a long moment, her pale eyes sharp. "Then they'd better be powerful enough to back it up. Or fast enough to run."
I didn't say anything. Just sat there in my new blazer, thinking about wolves and deer and what I would do if one of those four decided I was worth their attention.
I didn't have to wait long to find out.
Day two ended with Felix Ferrix sliding into the seat next to me at dinner.
I'd been eating alone—Brittany had a Sanguis study group, and no one else seemed interested in sharing a table with the new girl, blazer or no blazer. So when a tray clattered down beside me and I looked up to see the Tumult president's easy grin, I nearly choked on my pasta.
"You're Everly, right?" His voice was warm, friendly—the kind of voice that made you want to trust him. "The new transfer?"
"That's me."
"Felix." He held out his hand. I stared at it for a second, remembering everything Brittany had told me about chaos magic and bad luck, then shook it anyway.
His grip was firm, his palm warm. Nothing happened.
No lightning bolt of misfortune, no sudden urge to trip over my own feet. Just a handshake.
"I've heard a lot about you," he said, settling into the chair like we'd known each other for years.
"Really? Like what?"
"Like you're the only person on this campus who doesn't seem to know the rules yet." He grinned, and it was the same warm, friendly grin he'd given me across the dining hall earlier—the one that had made my skin crawl. Up close, it was even harder to resist. "I find that interesting."
"Interesting good, or interesting bad?"
"Just interesting." He stole a fry off my plate without asking, completely casual. "This place can be a lot, especially for someone coming from outside. The fraternities, the politics, the whole hierarchy thing." He waved his hand vaguely. "It's a lot to figure out on your own."
"Are you offering to help me figure it out?"
"Would you accept if I was?"
I studied him. Auburn hair falling across his forehead, green eyes bright with amusement, an energy about him that was almost magnetic. It would be so easy to say yes. So easy to believe that someone was finally reaching out, finally treating me like a person instead of a problem to be avoided.
But I remembered what Brittany had said. Chaos magic. Bad luck you can't trace. You never know what he's going to do.
"Why would you help me?" I asked. "You don't know me. And from what I hear, you don't do anything without a reason."
Something flickered in his expression—surprise, maybe, or appreciation.
"Maybe I like underdogs. Maybe I'm bored.
Maybe I just think you're interesting." He leaned closer, and I caught a whiff of something sharp and electric, like the air before a storm.
"Or maybe I just want to see what happens next. "
He stood up before I could respond, leaving his tray behind like he expected someone else to clean it up. Because of course he did.
"See you around, Everly Grey."
And then he was gone, disappearing into the crowd like he'd never been there at all.
I sat there for a long time, staring at my cooling pasta, trying to figure out what had just happened. My first real conversation with another student besides Brittany, and it had been with one of the four people I was supposed to avoid.
Maybe I just want to see what happens next.
That sounded like a threat. Or a promise. Or both.
I finished my dinner alone, thinking about chaos and probability and the feeling that I'd just become a piece in a game I didn't know the rules to.