Whitethorn Academy

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I ran across the quad, breath panting out of me. People gave me wild looks as I ran, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.

I'd heard a voice speaking in my head before. During Parent's Day, when my magic had Emerged. And again when I'd nearly gone into the woods. Could that voice have really been from my true Bond? My soulmate?

Ms. Rose was at her desk and looked up at me in alarm as I entered Gamma Hall's foyer.

"Selene? Is everything okay?" Ms. Rose rose to her feet, worry creasing her forehead.

I wasn't sure how to respond. Was I okay? Was this something I could discuss with Ms. Rose?

"I—I—"

"Selene? Do I need to grab Inara? Or the nurse?"

"I think I'm going to vomit."

Without missing a beat, Ms. Rose stood, grabbing a small trash can and thrusting it at me, just in time for me to empty my stomach into it. Since I'd eaten nothing at breakfast, bile stung my throat.

Ms. Rose held my hair back from my face and rubbed my back in soothing circles. When I finished, Ms. Rose stepped back and set the trash can off to the side of her desk.

"Are you not feeling well, dear?"

"I don't know," I answered her honestly.

"Do you need to see Inara?" Ms. Rose asked again.

Tears slipped down my cheeks. "I just found out some information and I'm very confused."

Ms. Rose nodded. "Okay. Let's get you to Inara then, shall we?"

I nodded, though I still felt incredibly nauseated and my mouth tasted of bile. "Could I get something to drink first?"

"I'll grab you something from my room. Give me just a second."

I sat in one chair in the foyer, trying to get my breathing to calm. Inara could help me make sense of all this, couldn't she? I mean, after all, who was to really say that I was walking in dreams because of a Bond? Maybe it was a strange part of my magic, some sort of dream-walking. And I only focused in on Inara's conversations because they'd apparently been about me.

My stomach stopped twisting at the thought. Yes. That made more sense. Inara would tell me I had some sort of magic that allowed me to walk in dreams and that would be the end of all this nonsense.

I closed my eyes, letting my breathing slow again. Then, as if I were asleep, my consciousness yanked in a separate direction.

I was once again in Inara's office, though she paced, looking more and more agitated. With her phone pressed to her ear, I watched through eyes that weren't mine as her lips thinned.

Whoever was on the other side of that phone call was giving her news she didn't want to hear.

"Yes, I understand," Inara said, though her face was paling. Then, with a tap, she ended the phone call, before clutching the phone in her hand so hard, her knuckles turned a stark shade of white.

I leaned forward in my chair, as if waiting for Inara to give me a report. But Inara didn't seem interested in speaking. Instead, she slammed the phone into her desk with a sharp thud. Then she slammed both of her hands repeatedly into the desk. Over and over and over and over—

With a jolt, I came back into my body, where Ms. Rose stared at me with concern. She held a bottle of water, but didn't immediately offer it to me.

"Where did you go, Selene?"

More tears streaked down my cheeks. "I think I'm going insane," I admitted softly. "I keep seeing things, hearing conversations I don't think I'm supposed to be seeing and hearing."

Ms. Rose seemed to understand in an instant. "You're astral projecting."

"I don't know what that means."

"It's traveling, though your body doesn't go anywhere. Your mind travels, ending up wherever it feels like. You can end up in the strangest of places. Why don't you tell me where you were?"

"Inara's office. I'm always in Inara's office. I see out of someone's eyes. Whoever is having a conversation with her. And the conversations are always about me. At least, I think they are anyway."

Ms. Rose seemed shocked for a second before she smoothed her face into a neutral expression.

"Why don't we head on over to her office, then? I'm sure she can help figure this out."

"Won't she be angry that I've been hearing some of her private conversations?"

"No, she won't be angry. Magic is unpredictable, and you didn't have any ill intentions. You weren't even aware of what you were doing."

I stood, though I didn't feel so sure that Inara wouldn't be upset with me. Ms. Rose tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear and gave me a motherly smile that instantly made me homesick for the mother I used to have.

"I promise you, Inara will not be upset with you. This is not your fault."

Letting her words reassure me, I followed her out the doors of Gamma Hall and back toward the Main Hall, where students were steadily filing out, laughing and talking as they headed to their first hour classes.

I briefly searched the crowd for Naomi's bright curls, but I didn't see her.

We pushed through a small crowd of students and into the entrance of the Main Hall. Ms. Rose gave me another reassuring smile as we headed for the stairs. I'd only ever been in Inara's office in my mind, never in person. During Parent's Day, I'd stood outside the door and listened to my mother having a discussion with Inara that had made no sense.

My stomach started churning again as we entered the third floor. Inara's office door was closed, but Ms. Rose gave a light knock.

A few seconds passed before Inara was there, opening her office door. She looked much as she had in my small vision I'd had before leaving Gamma Hall. Her face was still pale, like she'd seen a ghost.

"Eliza, is there something I can help—" Inara's words cut off immediately as she glanced behind Ms. Rose at me.

"Selene has been astral projecting, and she wishes to speak to you about it."

Inara gave a quick glance behind her, her face giving away nothing. For a moment, I thought Inara would turn us away, tell us to come back at a more convenient time. But then she opened the door wider, inviting us inside.

Ms. Rose gave me an encouraging smile before leading the way inside.

It was familiar to me, having seen it so many times in my dreams. Her redwood desk, the wall of windows, which was currently open to let in the natural light of the day, illuminating the bookshelves on the opposite wall, which I'd never seen before. Her crystal decanter wasn't in sight, though I knew she kept it in here somewhere.

"Please, take a seat," Inara gestured to the seats across from her desk, placed against the wall between bookcases. And for the first time, I realized Inara hadn't been alone.

My hands trembled and my stomach took a nosedive as I took in Alek, seated in a leather chair.