CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

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Caelum's icy disdain cuts through my heart like a knife, knocking the breath from me

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Caelum's icy disdain cuts through my heart like a knife, knocking the breath from me.

He's looking at me like I'm the shit on his shoe. Like I stole his dog, then dismembered it. Like I tossed it in a pot and ate it too.

"You're dishonoring the Hall with this mess." His voice is as cold as his gaze, and I wince.

I set down my backpack and clumsily take the pile from him.

Then he's gone without another word, quickly descending the staircase.

My stomach churns as he strides past Arielle, his head held high, still wearing that dark expression.

Ouch. That was some emotional whiplash shit right there.

What happened?

I feel sick as I glance down at what he's handed me, trying to make sense of his sudden change in demeanor. Orientation pamphlets, a few pictures, some quarters, a wrinkled bill of service for the only car my mom ever owned, which she sold when I was ten... and...

My pills. My orange bottle of ADHD meds.

I know it's the pills. It has to be. And I knew the second I glanced down, so I don't know why I'm trying to pretend anything else in this pile matters. They're the only thing here that's any different from the first two piles he handed me.

Does he think I'm a drug addict or something, because I have amphetamines?

Dishonoring the Hall.

I didn't ask to be pushed down the stairs!

Did I?

I really screwed up, making those girls my enemies. They're not messing around. I could have broken my damn neck.

My eyes are burning again as I shove the pile into my backpack. There's no way to zip it shut now, so I push down hard to try to get everything compact so the mess doesn't just spill back out onto the stairs.

"Let's go." Arielle's got her wand out, and her face is even paler than before. "You're holding everyone else up."

"Almost got it all." I grab the last few papers and quarters from the stairs below me and high-tail it down to the tiles below.

"What's your name?" Arielle asks brusquely.

"Lyric. Lyric Hart."

She closes her eyes and starts to wave her wand at the staircase. Then she freezes, and her light blue eyes snap back open.

"You missed something," she hisses at me.

"Sorry." I set my backpack down and jog up the stairs, scanning them.

She's right. I missed two quarters. Oops.

On my way back down, a flash of something catches my eye near the banister.

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