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“They’re not until March,” Victor scoffed. “And they’re not even the real thing.”
“I want to do well. You should, too.”
That shut him up.
“You two get started studying,” Perdita said. “We’ll be in the living room, but I’ll organise some snacks for you first.”
“You will not,” Amelia protested. “I’ll do that. Go rest.”
I handed Perdita the gift bag. “Mam sent it over.”
“Really?” Amelia said, not even bothering to disguise her surprise.
“My mother is nice,” I said in a snarky tone. “Even if she doesn’t like you.”
“Are you sure something didn’t happen to you?” She gently tugged on my plait as she passed me by.
A shock of electricity ran through my body. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable when Amelia touched me, but I had no idea why. For the umpteenth time, I missed Dorian. Everything felt so much calmer when he was around.
Victor hadn’t paid attention in any of his classes, like, ever. I stared in horror at his scribbled notes, most of which were weird, random phrases or doodled images that made no sense to anyone other than Victor, if even him.
“What even is this?” I muttered to myself. “How have you survived school so far?”
He grinned, looking proud of himself. “How do you think?”
I glared back at him. “You have a lot of studying to do. Like, every year’s worth. Can you even count, dude?”
That made him laugh, which was a relief because he’d been looking like he was about to burst into tears all week.
“This isn’t funny. I don’t even know where to start.”
“Give me your notes. I’ll catch up.”
“Yeah, in five to six years,” I mumbled, distracted by a doodle of what might have been some kind of dinosaur holding up the head of a—I blinked.
The sky was dark, and my eyes were watering. I looked around me in fear. “What?” Everything was loud and disorienting.
Victor gripped my shoulders, shaking me. “I said, stay back!”
“No, what?” I blinked back unshed tears and looked around, gripped by fear. We were standing in the middle of the housing estate, people all around me, and Emma was clinging to my hand.
“I can’t believe this,” she said. “If you hadn’t shown up and pointed out the smoke, the whole house would have burned down. This is unreal.”
Slowly, flashes of memory hit me, Victor calling my name, an unfamiliar house, smoke, the wail of a fire brigade.
I pulled my hand out of Emma’s. “Sorry, be right back.”
I grabbed Victor’s arm then pulled him away from the crowd. “What happened? I was looking at your notes, then I was here. Tell me!”
He yanked his arm out of my grasp then rubbed where I had touched him, looking uncomfortable. “You stopped talking mid-sentence, your eyes turned blue, and I asked what was wrong. Then you,” he gestured wildly, “flipped the whole table over and ran off. I followed you here, but you wouldn’t let me touch you. You stopped at Emma’s neighbour’s house, but I had already smelled the smoke, so I called for help.”
I turned to look at Emma, but he stopped me, gritting his teeth to touch me. “What?” I said. “You’re hurting me.”
He let go of my arm. “She said she wanted this to happen. At school, remember? She said she wished her neighbour’s house went on fire.”
I thought back. “Yeah, as a joke.”
“She still said it.”
