Briar Preparatory Academy

April

Celeste POV

2 months later

I walk down the sidewalk on the edge of the courtyard with Kate by my side. The mess hall looms in front of us, and I can hear the faint sound of dishes clanging and the voices of students. "Cinnamon rolls today." Kate says, inclining her towards me and offering a small smile. I look back at her and frown.

"What?"

"It's Monday. They always serve cinnamon rolls on Monday, remember?"

"Oh," I say, feeling heat rise in my cheeks, "Right. Forgot about that." I look away and wrap my jacket tighter around my body. I don't really have space in my mind to think about what I'll be eating for breakfast. More important things have been clouding my thoughts recently.

It's been almost two months since I was taken, and I've learned that just because the scars have healed doesn't mean the pain has. I have gotten back into the routine of school and training with few exceptions. According to Dr. Alicia, no strenuous physical activity for the remainder of my junior year.

"Hey, wait up." I hear footsteps on the cobblestone and glance over my shoulder. Seth jogs up the path and stops beside Kate. "Morning."

"Good morning." Kate and I say in unison. Seth smiles and turns to look at me. "How are you?" He asks quietly, but the ways his crystal blue eyes pierce into mine and scope out every inch of my soul... I stop moving and my breath comes in short ragged bursts.

I flash back to another set of blue eyes.

"You're intelligent and strange and beautiful and you're something that not everyone knows how to love. And that's solely because you yourself love with every bone in your body. Not many people are capable of that love. And I want to know how you do that."

I flash back to passionate kisses and bloodstained floors. I flash back to concrete rooms and metal guns. I hear screaming and I smell dried blood. I feel rough hands and cold metal. I see cold calculating eyes filled with anger and rage.

"I'll find you! If it's the last thing I do, I swear to God I will kill you!"

"Celeste?" I hear Seth's voice and I blink several times. He stands in front of me with his hands on my shoulders, his eyes filled with worry and concern as they stare into mine. I take a deep breath to steady my breathing and stop my shaking hands.

"Celeste are you okay?" Kate says carefully, taking a step closer to me.

"Yeah," I say cautiously, not wanting to tell them what I saw or what happened, "I'm fine. Let's head in there." I give a weak smile, pushing the flashback into my subconscious. They are becoming a regular part of my day to day life, these vivid flashbacks and dreams. I often wake up screaming or crying at night. Jasper may not have me physically, but mentally I am still held captive by him in that concrete room.

I hate getting flashbacks from things I don't want to remember.

"Celeste you know you can talk to us, right?" Seth asks me. I hear the undertone of worry in his voice.

I hate when he looks at me like that. "I know. But there's nothing to talk about right now." I turn and walk away from Kate and Seth towards the mess hall. I can almost see them glancing at each other behind me before following me inside the door. Despite the tempting aroma of cinnamon and dark roast, I head straight for the person I want to see. "Hey, you guys save me a spot on line? I need to talk to someone."

"Okay." Kate says and watches as I stroll towards Preston's table. I feel the eyes of over a hundred teenagers staring at me as I walk past, but I hold my shoulders back. Think what they want, I'm still me. They don't know anything about what has happened outside these school walls. Lockharte told us that our cover story would coincide with what Preston told Ivy. We were sent on a special assignment mission that was confidential, end of story.