Page 255 of Axis of Fire

“The academy has plenty of punishments for breaking the rules.”

“Punishments?” Gia repeated, her eyes growing even wider.

I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes this time.

Save me.

“Of course.”

“But if you behave yourself, there won’t be any punishment,” Stasia said in an overly sweet voice, smiling innocently.

“Otherwise one of your lovely new roommates might accidentally poison you.”

She shrugged casually.

Apparently, there was a line even for that.

“They don’t inspect the rooms, do they?” I asked.

“Can they somehow figure out we ignored the rules?”

“I’ve never checked,” Joelle admitted.

“I didn’t have roommates before.”

“Apparently, they can tell who’s living where by scent alone.”

“What?” Stasia frowned.

“By the scent in the rooms,” Gia corrected quietly.

“We just need to leave enough of our belongings in each room to mix the scents,” Joelle said thoughtfully.

“We could confuse them completely,” I suggested.

“Mix our scents throughout both rooms.”

“Let them think we became ridiculously close.”

A thin, poisonous smirk appeared on Joelle’s face.

A softer smile spread across Stasia’s.

Apparently, the majority approved of the idea.

Somehow, I couldn’t tell whether this was the beginning of trouble—

Or the beginning of something much bigger.

******

“I had a feeling fate would be on our side,” Stasia said with a Cheshire Cat grin as she unpacked her things.

In just half an hour, she’d managed to scatter her belongings not only throughout Joelle and Gia’s room, but across ours as well.

Naturally, she hadn’t forgotten the flowerpots.

One sat on the windowsill between our beds.