“Last night,” Hawthorne continues, “a student by the name of Brody Patton did not come to dinner. The faculty was informed by some of the other students on his floor that he wasn’t feeling well. This morning, however, he was gone from his room before the first bell rang. We’ve had staff searching both the academic facilities and the student housing areas top to bottom to find him, and we will continue to do so, but so far, there has been no sign of him.”
A panicked murmur rises up from the assembled students. I stare at the others. Landon’s lips are pressed into a thin line, while Hazel is nervously whispering to the girl on her other side. Hunter’s expression has gone from broody to concerned, while Shade just stares down at the president, his eyebrow raised. Silas’ face is stony, his eyes practically burning a hole in the floor. His shoulders are hunched a little, and he looks ready to get out of his seat at any minute.
“Given the circumstances of Mr. Patton’s disappearance,” Hawthorne continues, “it’s possible that he is no longer on campus. As most of you are aware, this island encompasses thousands of acres of undeveloped land, most of which is forest, with the exception of the faculty housing. With that in mind, it may take quite some time to locate Mr. Patton if the search extends past Academy boundaries. But I want everyone here to rest assured that we are doing all we can to find him, and we will continue our search until we learn his whereabouts. This kind of incident has never happened here before. We take situations like this very seriously here at Shifter Academy, and I want to take this opportunity to remind you that our students’ safety is our number one priority.”
Hawthorne clears his throat, and for a moment the auditorium is silent save for the shifting of students in their seats. The president’s eyes sweep the room for a moment, as if gauging the reactions of all the students present. For a moment I could swear that his gaze settles on me, but as soon as I narrow my eyes, he’s moved on.
“Now,” he says, “I know that this is probably very confusing, and perhaps a bit frightening to all of you. I want you to know that you will be informed of any relevant new developments as they come up. That said, this is an unusual situation, and it’s not clear yet whether Mr. Patton is simply lost, or met with foul play.”
My heart drops at the idea. Shade said that the woods were safe, but what if he was wrong? What would he know about it, really? Hawthorne himself just said that the island is thousands of acres. What if there’s something in the forest? Or someone? My mind is already swimming with possibilities, the paranoia that only comes from a lack of information already sinking its claws into me. I tell myself to calm down, glancing at the others for reassurance, but none of them seem particularly calm, either.
“I have spoken with the rest of the school board,” President Hawthorne says. “We have determined that, until we know what became of Mr. Patton, we are going to make a few temporary adjustments to the rules at the Academy. This is first and foremost for the safety of the students here, so that we can err on the side of caution and prevent something else like this from happening. Therefore, effective immediately, we will be instating a mandatory curfew of nine PM. Additionally, no students are to be allowed off campus for any reason without express permission and a faculty escort. This means that you will be required to stay within the Academy buildings and on the lawn. The forest is off-limits until we have more information.
Additionally, no students are to leave the dormitory before the breakfast bell sounds. We will have faculty members patrolling the grounds to enforce these new policies and help maintain security while we search for Mr. Patton. We are taking this situation very seriously, and we expect you all to do the same. Now,” he says, putting his hands behind his back, “I’m going to give the mic over to our head of security and co-chair of the board, Ms. Evelyn Rose. She will answer any questions you may have, and then you all will be able to resume your day. Thank you for your time and attention. Ms. Rose…”
He steps away from the microphone to allow a gorgeous, dark-haired woman to take his place. “Hello, everyone,” she says. “Some of you may know me. My name is Evelyn Rose, and I’m in charge of campus security here at Shifter Academy. I wanted to take this time to address any concerns you might have before we continue…”
What feels like every student in the lecture hall raises their hand at once, but I’m already tuning the discussion out, my gaze instead lingering on Hawthorne. He has moved off to the side again, but his eyes are sweeping the room once more, and I can’t shake the sneaking feeling that he’s looking at me.
“Well,” says Landon as we slowly file out of the auditorium ten minutes later, “that was… a lot.”
The hallway is choked with students, all looking bewildered as they make their way back in the direction of the cafeteria. All in all, the meeting took about half an hour which at least gives us enough time to get some food before we head off to class, but I can’t fight the growing sense of unease that I’m feeling in the aftermath of Hawthorne’s announcements.
“That’s putting it mildly,” Shade mutters. “It’s always overkill with them, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” Hunter asks.
“Calm down, daddy’s boy,” Shade says. “I’m talking about the school in general. This is total overkill, and I’m willing to bet most of the other people here agree with me.”
“You think
