kwell Academy felt more like a high-sec

ast, the engine barely audible ov

of gold and green as we left the city

strongly of wealth, a scent I bega

s hands resting lightly

ed, suggesting he had never faced a

, Jane. Was it every

as we passed an iron gat

truth. "And the teachers don't spend half the period tryi

and deep sound. "Blackwe

o actually want to be there. How about

dmund's cold,

air in the room seemed to

und," I sa

t. Richard's grip on the wheel didn't tig

. A

.. int

son," Richard said,

edge that didn't fit his usual 'Perf

people feel out of place. Do

otecting his

rit

place in a world filled with priva

ing driveway of the Hale estate, I r

Gothic revival of stone and glass. I

yer. My mother came from the kitchen,

justing something or smoothing a rug, as if she were

ing me into a hug that smelled like

eating in the formal

d asked, already heading

ice lowering. "He said he wasn't hungry

ichard cut in,

sense of unease sett

fect" family my m

who hid in the shadows, and a mother who pre

pace three times the size of our ol

ian Gray reading for AP Lit,

ard Edmund's voice: "Easy to mak

rst finally drove

ws at night, with moonlight c

staircase when I saw a sliver of l

d. I should have kept w

ed me. It was music-something

softening my footsteps. Through

wasn't

gany bookshelf, a glass of water in one han

gone. In his place was a boy who look

. He gazed at the photo with a mix of lon

ing on the edge of a floorboa

replaced by a cold and deadly ale

to his pocket and stoo

ere?" he

I pushed the door open wider. "I

d, darkening to the c

. He didn't stop until he was inches away, m

t of yours, Jane?

my heart racing against my

his scent-cedarwood mixed with somet

might be your mother's new

in here. You don't look at me. A

s earlier was gone, replaced by a s

afraid,"

noticeable flicker of his

see you as something other than a Hal

loud enough, nobody will notice how lo

uckles whitening. For a moment, I thought he mig

t because you read a few chapters o

confuse my father's gui

, his breath b

make sure you regret ever s

wait for

ne hard enough to make me stumble, and di

ill playing on the record player and realized my lif

d been sitting. There, forgotten in his ru

cked

er. It was a photo of a man I r

the same prison where my father w