Nightworld Academy: Term One(Nightworld Academy #1)(57)

Chapter Thirty-One





MAEVE



Following an initial altercation between Ash and Andrei, where I interrupt to remind Ash about the urgency in finding Tessa, the car speeds away and everyone falls silent for the rest of the journey. I should be thankful only Andrei followed us, without his bitchy friends. I switch to watching the world whizz by as we travel across the darkened, bleak moors towards my town.

As we emerge from the hills and along the town outskirts to the centre, a surreal feeling takes over. We pass familiar places. The newsagents. The town square. The doctor’s surgery I visited regularly. I've been away weeks that feel like months, and my reality isn't this world anymore.

Even though I resented my parents sending me to the academy, the truth is, I couldn't leave permanently now. Not with everything I'm aware of. Some students shun me because of my human connections, but that connection is what will help them. I'm invested in keeping the status quo between both worlds.

Andrei rests his head against the car window and enthuses about attending a 'real, live, human party'. The 'live human' part concerns me. I vow to keep as close an eye on him as I will on Tessa.

Ash parks the car in the car park behind my old school and my stomach lurches again as the familiar re-enters my life. I stare at the 1970s single-storey building that takes up half as much space as the academy. Pupils of all ages group outside as they wait for friends, dressed in an array of costumes both traditional and modern. I spot superheroes and Frankensteins, plus zombies and a plethora of TV show characters. Andrei barks a laugh as a young teen in a red-lined black cape passes by, struggling to keep plastic teeth inside his mouth. Ash dressed as a zombie too, which is a smart move considering how well-disguised he and Amelia are.

I turn to Andrei. "You don't have a costume. You'll stand out."

"Uh, Maeve? I'm a vampire, remember?" He speaks loud enough for a passing group to double take, but they don't see what he does next. Andrei lifts his top lip and touches the tip of a sharp canine with his tongue.

"I've never seen your fangs before," I blurt.

He drops his fingers and smirks. "Fangs. Cute. You almost saw them when you told me to bite you."

Ash jerks his head around from where he's watching passersby. "What?"

"Maeve cosied up to me in the library and asked me to bite her."

"I did not," I retort. "The expression was a comeback to your rude behaviour. People say it all the time."

He straightens. "Oh? Do they? Do you think someone will say the words to me tonight?"

Ash grabs his shirt and drags him closer. "Listen, arsehole. You're lucky I didn't kick you out of my car halfway here. If you so much as breathe in a human's direction, I'll knock you into next week."

Andrei pushes Ash's hand away and tuts. "Shifters. You guys need to get a handle on that aggression."

Ash's mouth becomes a thin line and I step between the pair as Ash reaches out to Andrei again. "Can we find Tessa and leave?"

"Yes. Let's." Andrei smirks again. "I am going to have so much fun."

Amelia gives me a pained look and I mouth, "watch him".

Tessa agreed to meet me outside the main school office where 'on the door' tickets are available to those who didn't plan in advance. The school hallway is alien to me now, but the familiar smell of canteen food and floor polish pulls me back to my last days. Will Tyler be here? That could prove interesting.

As could a teacher spotting the psycho girl they expelled.

Andrei squints against the bright strip-lights and leans against the wall, arms crossed, with Ash by his side as I queue for tickets. Amelia spins around in a slow circle, examining everything from the peeling posters on the chipped, painted walls to the rows of lockers lining the hallway.

"Everything's so..." She waves her hands around.

"Normal?" I suggest.

"Modern. I swear the academy hasn't been updated for a hundred years."

"This school is pretty average. The whole town is."

She grins. "I like average. I've visited Ash's village a few times and spent nights in Paris and London, but this... This place is like a TV show."

I shake my head. I'd love to know what TV show she means.

I shuffle to the edge of the short queue, adjusting my wig and hoping I'm disguised enough.

"Did you really get cosy with Andrei in the library?" Amelia whispers.

"Are you serious?" I ask. "He's a certified dickhead."

She chuckles. "Yes, but a hot one."

I blink at her. Surely, she doesn't find the guy attractive?

Okay, I'm a hypocrite.

"We have to keep an eye on him," I tell her as I hand money over to the young girl selling tickets.

"Andrei? He wouldn't risk hurting someone."

"Wouldn't he?"

Amelia rubs her green-covered nose. "That sounds like you know something. Spill."

I check out Andrei. He's designed to kill, but his fear for the future after he attacked the girl was palpable. Is his mistake recent enough in Andrei's mind to stop him repeating it?

"Maeve!" Tessa's voice shrieks across the hallway and silences the conversations around us. She charges me and wraps arms around my neck, dancing in a circle as she hugs me.