Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Hennessey: Welcome to the Graves Academy.
The days slipped by, and none of them brought me any peace.
I hadn’t slept. I was going into the future completely blind, and that should’ve been the emotion keeping me awake, but it wasn’t.
I hated that somehow, in less than a few days, Onyx Devereaux managed to occupy space in my mind that he didn’t deserve.
Rolling onto my back on my bed, I stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling above me. The heavy wooden beams had darkened with age, while the pale morning light spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the property.
Nothing about this room felt like mine. Not all the expensive furniture, not all the antique books lining the shelves. Not the over-the-top decor or the gaudy bedspread I was lying on.
Nothing.
Especially not the silence.
I was used to a home with a revolving door when it came to family and friends, and a sense of community, and this was far from that.
At least it was to me. I hadn’t seen my uncle since the night of the party.
The only people I came in contact with were his staff.
He had servant upon servant in a home with only two people.
I didn’t see his fiancée either, which made me think she might not live here. I stayed in my room for the most part. I had yet to wander the estate, unsure of what I’d find.
I missed my plants the most. Our home was covered in them. I spent years collecting all kinds. My favorite was anything that trailed. All the greenery brought so much life into a room, and I loved the fact that if you took care of them correctly, they’d live forever.
The energy alone was good for your immune system, not to mention all the spiritual protection they offered by warding off any negativity.
Maybe I can find a plant shop?
I wasn’t going to find a rainforest in my backyard to exchange with. If I snipped a plant clipping, I left an offering in its place as an even trade with Mother Nature.
I had quite a bit of money saved from working since I could basically walk.
My family always paid me. They were adamant about it.
Even when I tried to refuse. I wasn’t much of a spender, buying things that I needed more than anything.
My Apple laptop, an iPad, my cell phone, things like that were what I spent my savings on.
What little I did see, there was nothing alive in my uncle’s house.
It was cold, with no touch of a woman. The chef’s food was pretty bland, with little flavor.
There were also no snacks. The chef asked me to make a list of the food and drinks I enjoyed so they could buy them for me, but I didn’t want them to waste money.
I decided I’d buy my own groceries. I just had to find the nearest store to purchase them. In the meantime, I ate what the chef cooked. Tío did own quite an obscene amount of alcohol, bottles that looked like they’d been around for centuries.
I still wanted to explore the town, but considering I probably made a fool of myself to most of the people who lived there the other night, I couldn’t find the desire to venture out.
Back home, the breathed with life. Birds argued with the sunrise while insects sang until dawn. Even the river had its own beat, reminding you life never truly stopped. Here, it felt as though his estate was holding its breath. Just waiting for I don’t know what.
My gaze drifted to the ripped-up dress folded across the velvet chair in the corner of the room.
Mud stained the hem, but I reached for it anyway, my fingertips brushing over the torn fabric.
It was a reminder that the night had been real and that every person at the party had looked at me like I was something they couldn’t quite place.
An outsider, or maybe I was just an inconvenience. A source of entertainment that they could play with. I wasn’t sure which one was worse. I pushed away the thought, crossing toward the window and onto the balcony. The view truly did steal the air from my lungs.
Morning fog rolled across perfectly trimmed gardens, swallowing marble statues one moment before revealing them the next. It was probably why I couldn’t shake the feeling that somewhere behind the mist, I was being watched.
I forced myself away from the balcony. There was no point delaying the inevitable. Folded neatly at the foot of the bed sat the uniform I’d been given yesterday. Pressed perfectly, it looked untouched by human hands.
For a moment, I only stared at it. The black-and-white pleated skirt, the crisp white, collared button-down shirt, a black vest with a matching black blazer, tailored precisely as if they’d already known my measurements.
My gaze settled on the embroidered crest stitched over the left breast pocket, directly above the heart.
Even their emblem looked as if it were daring you to survive.
I slipped on the skirt first, smoothing the heavy fabric over my hips before fastening the waistband.
It fit as though it’d been made for only me.
It was somehow more unsettling than if it hadn’t fit at all.
The blouse followed, rough against my skin, and then I put on the vest, which cinched my waist tighter than I thought it would.
By the time I shrugged into the blazer, I barely recognized the girl staring back from the floor-length mirror.
She looked like she belonged here.
It was the biggest lie of them all.
The expensive fabric couldn’t erase who I was, and it only made the whispers in my ear much louder, they repeated over and over again to run.
I reached up, touching the crest against my fingers.
These uniforms weren’t meant to express yourself for who you were.
They were a reminder of who you were expected to be.
Everything that made me still existed, and I needed to remember that more than ever before. This Academy wouldn’t strip my identity, no matter how hard it tried.
Today wasn’t just my first day of classes at a new university. No, it was far from that. It was the first day I’d willingly step into the lion’s den instead of running from it.
Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the vanity in my en suite bathroom to do something with my wavy hair. I thought about putting it up, but at the last second decided to just leave it down. Outside, the Connecticut air carried autumn, and the crisp breeze gave my hair more volume.
I reached for the small makeup bag I brought with me and applied some mascara and a little eyeliner to accentuate my dark brown eyes.
I ended it off with blush and a nude lip stain.
After I was done, I caught myself in the mirror one last time before I grabbed a pair of black knee-highs from my dresser and then my black boots.
Picking up my backpack on the way out of my bedroom, I paused at the door, trying to settle the anxiousness of what was to come. My boots clicked against the marble floors, echoing through the hallway. Once I was in the kitchen, I grabbed a muffin on my way out the garage door, running into Alfred.
“Your chariot awaits,” he greeted, gesturing to his SUV.
“I’m good.” I stepped past him. “I can walk.”
“Miss—”
I turned, still backing away. “I said I could walk.”
He eyed me for a second. “Are you upset about the other night?”
“What do you think?”
“Miss Belladonna—”
“I told you not to call me that.”
He didn’t falter in replying, “I’m ordered to.”
My eyebrows pinched together. “Is that all you do? Follow orders?”
“If I want to keep my job.”
I shrugged. “At what expense?”
“I think you have it all confused.”
“Considering no one will tell me what all is, you bet your ass I do.”
“Miss, you’re attending the best private university money can buy and that’s all that matters.”
“I guess there’s one thing about you, huh? You never go off script.”
With that, I spun and left.
The conversation with him sat heavier on my shoulders than my backpack did. I tightened my grip around the leather strap, stepping beneath the wrought-iron gates of my uncle’s estate.
I couldn’t help but look over at the Devereaux’s property. It was screaming at me. I swear if you said it fast enough, you could hear the devil’s property.
I instantly wondered if I’d run into the beloved son at school and if we’d have the same classes or be around the same people or if we’d see each other at all.
The thoughts tormented me the entire walk to the Graves Academy.
It was about a mile down the road, only taking me twenty minutes to walk there.
Despite there being some houses around the university, I was the only one walking. Extravagant cars drove by me while I strolled down the sidewalk. Once I crossed the campus gates, I noticed the voices stayed low, almost reverent, disappearing beneath the toll of distant church bells.
Leather loafers clicked against centuries-old cobblestone paths.
There was so much ivy climbing the buildings that looked more like castles than classrooms, swallowing all the weathered stone with its thick emerald vines.
It was the Gothic arches stretched toward the sky, still painted with the last warmth of August, that held my attention the longest. The stained glass windows caught the morning sun, scattering these jewel-toned lights across the courtyard.
The architecture of the buildings was something else, taking my breath away with its historical exquisiteness. They were cryptic. However, it didn’t detract from its beauty. It simply added to it.
Students drifted across the grounds dressed in identical uniforms to mine, the guys wearing slacks instead.
They managed to fit each person flawlessly, tailored rather than issued.
Expensive watches peeked from beneath the crisp cuffs of their button-downs.
Their designer shoes cost more than someone’s quarterly paycheck.
Money didn’t whisper here. It introduced itself before anyone had to open their mouths. I caught more than one stare in my direction. Some people were subtle, while others didn’t care, being unapologetically curious.
Everyone knows.
Whether they’d heard about Friday night or simply recognized a new face, I couldn’t tell. Either way, I wasn’t invisible in the way I’d hoped. Reaching into the pocket of my blazer, I unfolded the campus map I’d been given with my admissions packet.
Labeled in tiny lettering were Administration Hall, the East Wing, the West Wing, and so on. Most of the names were creepy, like Chapel Hall, Mausoleum Manner, the Catacombs, and the Vault. There were also buildings named after what I assumed were families, including the Devereaux building.
I frowned, gazing up. Every building looked the same.
A blond guy walked past me. “Excuse me?”
Nothing. Not even a glance.
Maybe he didn’t hear me?
A girl with a stack of books crossed the path.
“Sorry… could you tell me where Administration is?”
She looked directly at me, then kept walking. I watched her disappear into the crowd.
What the hell?
Another student, the same question, the same response. A knot twisted in my stomach.
Has news spread this quickly?
I opened my backpack, pulling out a few books to see if my admissions packet had a number I could call or something to help me find my way around.
When a loud giggle captured my attention, suddenly, a gorgeous blonde walked toward me.
“You’re asking the wrong people.” Her arms folded over her blazer, amusement skimming across her warm honey-colored eyes.
She couldn’t have been much younger than me.
Maybe nineteen?
It was then that I remembered her. Her blond hair spilled down her back, and unlike everyone else, she’d rolled the sleeves of her uniform to her elbows like rules were merely suggestions to her.
She was one of the girls I’d first seen at the party by the bar.
Once she was standing in front of me, she openly shared, “They’re not ignoring you because they don’t know where the Administration building is.” She smirked. “They’re ignoring you because they’re pretending you don’t exist.”
“Oh.” I blinked. “That’s comforting.”
She actually laughed. It wasn’t polite or forced. It was natural. Instantly, I liked her. I appreciated her honesty. She was the first person who’d actually told me something straight without turning it into a game.
When out of nowhere, she proudly stated, “You’re the girl who embarrassed the Devereauxs at their party the other night. A defeat that’s never been done by the way.”
I licked my lips, my mouth dry. “All I did was climb a tree.”
“No…” she coaxed. “You declared war.”
My eyebrows lifted. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think I understand.”
“What’s not to understand?”
I accentuated the word, “Everything.”
“Let me make it a little clearer for you then.” Extending her hand to me, she greeted, “I’m Deja.”
I shook it. “Hennessy.”
“I know.” She smiled. “Hennessy Belladonna, right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
We stood in silence for a second. She was investigating me with her eyes, and I allowed her to, hoping she’d actually answer some more of my questions. She seemed defiant in the same way I was. We shared that immediate connection.
There was also something really familiar about her, like we’d known each other from another life. My soul recognized hers.
For one quick moment, the rest of Graves Academy disappeared, along with everyone in it.
All the noise, the students, the questions no one answered, none of it existed.
There was only this strange feeling of certainty that we were supposed to meet.
This encounter wasn’t by accident. It wasn’t a coincidence.
It was fate.
It wasn’t until she broke whatever spell had settled between us that she unexpectedly declared…
“I’m Deja Devereaux.”