He groaned. “Every time you say that, I end doing something I shouldn’t.”
“Not this time. Promise.” I scooted my desk closer to his. “Have you been talking to Ivy?”
“No. Why?”
“You haven’t been giving her updates about me or what’s going on around here?”
“No,” he repeated. “Why?” He furrowed his brows. “If she wants to know what’s going on, she knows where to find you. She doesn’t need me to be her little messenger boy.”
I frowned. Why was he in such a bad mood? He and Abby had managed to work things out and were sort of back together. Abby was still a little leery, but she was giving him a chance. He should be happy about that.
“I think someone’s watching me,” I whispered, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “I saw this girl earlier. About my height. Bleach blonde hair. Red glasses. At first, I thought she might just be a new student, but no one has… Isach?”
His face was pale, and his eyes were wide. He stared straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I’d been talking to him.
“What is it?” I asked, fear clutching my chest.
“As soon as class is over, find Trent and stay with him. I’ll meet you.” He scooped his books off his desk and rushed out of the room.
I stared after him, stunned. What was that all about? I leaned back in my chair, my mind racing. He obviously knew who I was talking about, and based on his reaction, I could only assume she wasn’t friendly, which meant she was probably a Zoya. How had they found out about me? Isach hadn’t told them; I was positive of that. Unless…
When Isach first showed up, he’d been sent here to mess with me just to cause Trent pain. Could that be what’s happening now, too? Had the Zoya sent this girl here to mess with my and Trent’s happiness? Our impending wedding wasn’t exactly a secret in town. It’s very possible the Zoya knew about it and were now here to mess things up.
I folded my arms on the desk and rested my head on my arms. My stomach twisted. On top of everything else, I couldn’t handle the Zoya playing games with my mind. They liked to make me see things that weren’t real, and I had no way of stopping them.
Last time, I’d seen some awful things—dead bodies, my mother’s ashes spilled all over my bedroom floor, Trent killing Abby. I couldn’t imagine what they’d try to make me see this time. Or what they’d do to Trent.
As soon as class was over, I did exactly as Isach said and found Trent. He was at my locker, already talking to Isach, who was scowling. Trent was livid, though, his eyes dark, jaw clenched. This wasn’t good. I approached slowly.
“We’re leaving,” Trent said.
“What? Why?” I glanced at Isach. “What’s going on? Who is that girl?”
Isach glanced around nervously. “I can’t tell you yet. Not here.” He looked around again. If Isach was that freaked out, then this really wasn’t good at all.
“We need to get out of here, Chloe.” Trent took my hand.
“No.” I jerked my hand from his and crossed my arms.
Trent and Isach turned to look at me, the same shock written across their faces. “No?” Trent asked slowly.
“I have detention with Mr. Gordon today. If I miss that, I’ll be kicked out of the class, and if that happens, I won’t graduate,” I said, my voice bordering on a whine.
Admitting that was hard, mostly because it was a dumb class, and Mr. Gordon was a jerk, but I had to do what Principal Donavan said.
“Your life is at risk, Chloe,” Trent whispered harshly.
“I’ll deal with Mr. Gordon,” Isach said, dragging his hand through his hair. “I can make him think you’re there. He’ll never know the difference.”
My jaw dropped. I knew firsthand how it felt to have a Zoya mess with your mind, and I didn’t want to subject anyone else to that. Then again, Isach wasn’t going to make Mr. Gordon see his worst nightmares, so maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible.
Finally, I nodded. “Okay.”
Trent let out a huge sigh of relief and once again took my hand into his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “You’re going to explain later, Isach,” Trent warned.
“I will,” he promised.
“Can you let Abby know I skipped with Trent? She’ll just think I took off to be alone with him.”
Though, if Isach wanted to tell her the truth, he could. Not that I wanted her involved in any of this—whatever this was.
“Sure,” Isach said. “Now go.”
I was positive Trent had me at his truck before Isach got the words out of his mouth. I clutched his arms to steady myself, and then I climbed into the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt. Trent sped out of the parking lot.
“Okay, what’s going on? Did Isach tell you anything?” I asked.
“No.” Trent’s tone was clipped. “He said she wasn’t a Zoya, but that’s all he’d tell me.”
A small sense of relief settled over me. “That’s good, right? Her not being a Zoya?”
“Isach doesn’t think so.”
Dread crashed hard in my chest. “You’re telling me there’s something out there even worse than a Zoya?” I slouched in the seat and stared out the window.
Who—or what—could she possibly be? And what did she want with me?
“Depends on what you think is worse,” he said, suddenly very calm. “You used to think vampires were the worst thing ever, remember?” He winked and then reached for my hand.
I had no idea how he could be joking right now, but I was grateful for the momentary reprieve. He always knew how to distract me and calm my crazy thoughts. I unhooked my seat belt and scooted across the seat when a flash of nearly white hair caught my eye.
Trent
