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“Y-yeah… he did seem suspicious,” Blaire said with a forced laugh.

She honestly hadn’t paid much attention to the movie, so she had no idea. With the way things happened in that theater, and the way Lukas responded, she suspected neither Lukas nor Aiden watched much of the movie either. The entire night had been a failure. She would have done better to stay at the academy than have this night of “freedom.”

The walk back to the academy cleared her mind. One of the perks of being only a few minutes away from the plaza was being able to walk and take in the scenery, but at night, it became peaceful and quiet. The scent of magnolias as they approached the main courtyard calmed her.

Lukas didn’t speak to anyone, just continued to walk toward the dorm.

“What’s Grumpy McGrump Pants’s problem?” Riley watched Lukas leave.

Aiden shrugged. “He’s always grumpy.” His phone dinged, and he checked it.

Riley peeked over his shoulder. “Seth?”

“Yeah, I texted him on the walk over. He’s gonna come and play video games.”

“Well, whatever.” Riley yawned. “I’m wiped. I’ll see you tomorrow, Blaire.” She waved, before skipping off in the direction of her dorm building. She literally skipped.

Blaire turned and looked at Aiden standing with a hand in his pocket, running the other through his messy hair, watching her. He ran his tongue over his lower lip.

“So… goodnight then,” Blaire said, trying to ignore the look he gave her.

“Yeah… goodnight.” Aiden cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sweet dreams.”

They both turned away toward their separate dorm buildings. She had no idea how to deal with this recent development between them. She needed to tell Aiden she had feelings for Lukas, but Aiden was such a good guy. He wasn’t running hot and cold like one particular Vasirian she knew. She liked him as a friend, but she felt guilty, even upset, at even entertaining the idea of something more with Aiden.

She found the door to their room locked, and since she forgot her purse, she didn’t have her key with her. Great. She tried knocking and calling out to Lukas, but he didn’t answer. She didn’t have a cell phone, and if she did, she didn’t have his number, anyway. She sighed and sank to the floor next to the door. Maybe he hadn’t come back yet. Maybe he went to the canteen first for a late-night snack …or blood bag. She wrinkled her nose.

When ten minutes passed and she still hadn’t seen or heard a sound, she decided to give up. He locked her out. He was probably still pissed about their confrontation earlier and was taking it out on her. Had everything he said after he calmed down been a lie? It hadn’t felt that way.

She decided to visit the administration building to see if someone was around to give her a spare key.

This night just kept getting better.

17

AIDEN

Blaire stalked out of the dorm building, cursing Lukas.

The audacity in him getting angry with her at the movies over whatever nonsense about what he claimed he could feel, or hear, made absolutely no sense to her. Sure, she felt something too, but none of it made sense. Regardless, what reason did he have to be angry over that, anyway? Was it because of Aiden? There wasn’t anything going on between them. Well, no. There was something there, but it wasn’t like they were together or anything. She didn’t do anything to encourage it.

Blaire glanced around nervously. The courtyard was so dark with the moon barely peeking out from behind the cloud cover, and none of the outside lights lit the area she passed through. Crickets chirped in the surrounding flower beds as she hurried along. The wind whipped her hair around her face, and a chill went down her spine as she recalled her nightmare.

She stopped short as she stared at the statue that guarded the entrance to the hedge maze. The gaping black maw of the entryway looked so ominous at night when she couldn’t see anything beyond the statue. She gulped and took off, sprinting across the main courtyard to get as far away from that place as possible, the memories of Aryan’s teeth coming toward her flashing in her mind.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she collided with someone small and soft. She screamed at the same time as a high-pitched yelp came from the other person. Reflexively, she reached out to catch them and saw it was Riley as she stumbled backward.

“Ouch. What are you doing out here?”

“Lukas. What are you doing here?”

Riley tilted her head and lifted the mesh bag in her hand. “Snacks! But hold up. What’s going on with Lukas?”

“That asshole locked me out of the dorm because, like usual, he’s pissed at me. I need a key from administration.” Blaire crossed her arms to ward off the chill from the wind.

Riley shifted from foot to foot, her pink fuzzy slippers drawing Blaire’s attention. She stood dressed in black pajama pants with little skulls with pink bows on their heads all over them and a solid black pullover.

“I thought he stopped with the asshole moves?”