Sacrifice for a Dream

Chapter 13

After breakfast, the twins took our plates back to the kitchen. I gathered up the textbooks and laptop I would need to finish my homework. The Lost Boys already had their stuff. While I was sleeping, the twins went back to their rooms, cleaning up and gathering their own homework.

I still had so many questions. "If all of Weverland can't leave, how do you get stuff like laptops and phones, the internet? Where does the food come from?"

I wanted to ask more questions, but Phoenix cut me off. "Slow down, we'll answer anything you want but you need to keep it quiet. We are not supposed to talk about the curse to outsiders. Although we can't leave, we can have items brought in. If people aren't here for the night of Winter Solstice, they don't get stuck."

"Has anyone ever gotten stuck?" I asked Phoenix.

"Yes."

We got to the library. Ms. Merle was standing at the entrance speaking to Mr. Brigand. He looked upset, and he rubbed his forehead with his hands. I studied her as we walked into the library. When she saw me with the Lost Boys her eyes narrowed. Mr. Brigand put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. She took a step toward us, but Mr. Brigand pulled her out the door.

Although the library was completely empty, we chose a table in the back. We each chose seats around the large table, and the boys opened their laptops to complete their assignments. I pulled out my own laptop from my bag and finished all my assignments. Thankfully all my math homework was done in Ms. Stacey's classroom.

Snapping my laptop shut, I looked around the huge library and all the books. I couldn't sit still, the need to explore the library made me antsy with excitement. I got up to look around.

A hand appeared on my wrist, and I turned around to find Stone with his fingers circling it. "Where are you going, Little Bird?"

"I want to look at the books," I told him, my eyes narrowed on a row of paperbacks not far from his head.

"Don't go where we can't see you." Stone did a great impression of Phoenix's bossiness. He was right though; I had almost been killed twice. I gave him a hug and told him I wouldn't go far.

I walked around the library, making sure to keep in sight of the Lost Boys. I ran my hand over the spine of books I knew had to be first editions by the age of them. I also found new books that I had already read.

It was one of the best libraries I had ever been to. I pulled out a few books that looked interesting as I walked along the aisles. When I got to the last aisle, it faced a wall covered in pictures. I studied the pictures closer; they were class pictures that went back years. They didn't have dates on them but the longer I walked the older they got, until I was at the end of the wall and stood in front of a picture that had at least half the school in it. The oldest photograph was missing Fala and her sister and Talon and Hawk and a few other students.

"What do you think you're doing?" I heard a haughty voice coming from behind me and I turned to see Glimmer. Her three friends also stood way too close to me; Ash and Blaze the two tall, blonde girls and Star the petite Asian girl. None of them speak.

"I was just looking for books to check out," I told her, lifting the books up to show her.

"I mean what are you doing in Weverland and with Phoenix, my boyfriend."

"I'm sorry I didn't know he was your boyfriend," I told her. I felt like I was going to throw up. The jealousy burned in my stomach, threatening to spill out in the form of my regurgitated breakfast. I wondered if she would still be so beautiful covered with my breakfast. Yes, of course she'd still be beautiful. Girls like that didn't become ugly just because they got dirty, even with vomit.