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Not looking at anyone in particular, Elara casually walks in. She slides in the seat next to him, keeping a wary eye on the teacher as Kade jerks his head to look at her, then sighs when he realizes who it is.
“What are you doing here?” he hisses.
She leans back on the stool and crosses her arms, the picture of nonchalance as she pretends that she is perfectly fine with sneaking into a lab that she has no place being in. True, she’s a student at the college, so technically she has every right to behere, but somehow she doubts that the professor will appreciate her sitting in without permission, especially if she’s distracting one of the students.
“I want you to tell me what’s going on,” she says tightly. Despite her act, there’s a ball of nervousness in the pit of her stomach at the thought of being caught. All Kade has to do is raise his voice and say something and she’ll be kicked out.
Instead, he shakes his head as he focuses on the beakers in front of him. “There’s nothing to tell you.”
Again he doesn’t call her crazy, which makes her think he knows more about what’s happening than he’s letting on. If he really has no idea what’s happening, then she’s fairly sure he would have called her crazy. She certainly would have.
And yet, he doesn’t say anything. Those lush bow lips of his are pressed tightly closed. It makes no sense, and she grows even more frustrated as he refuses to answer her, or even look at her.
How can she make him see what this is doing to her? That she’s terrified she’s started the slow descent into insanity?
Frustration coils through her muscles, hot and tight. If Kade knows something, she has a right to know it. And it all started the night she was scratched. The night he was there.
She’s about to say exactly that when the beaker in front of Kade begins to overflow, blue liquid spilling over and hissing as it hits the Bunsen burner below. As if a switch has been flipped, all around her, the same thing starts to happen with the other beakers. Elara shoots to her feet, swallowing hard. This can’t have anything to do with her. It can’t.
But as panic climbs up her throat, it gets worse. The blue liquid boils violently, bursting and spitting liquids over protesting students as they scramble backward. The flames of Bunsen burners flare up, glaringly bright as Elara shrinks back, Kade coming to stand beside her. His fingers twitch toward her,as if he’s instinctively trying to protect her, but he doesn’t touch her.
The shadow of something huge appears on the wall to her left, something with fangs and tall ears and a long snout. If she didn’t know any better, Elara would say it was a wolf, but that makes no sense. There’s no wolf in here, nor anything to make the shadow look like one, or even anything to make a shadow that big.
She gasps as her fingers begin to ache, the nails burning as if something’s trying to burst out of them. It feels as if every one of her senses is on high alert. She can hear every single person in the room breathing, feel their heartbeats as they pound faster and faster. The spilled chemicals fill her nose with an acrid scent, almost as much as the flames of the Bunsen burners, still burning so high she’s surprised that they haven’t set off the fire alarms yet.
“Elara.”
Her frantic gaze shoots to Kade. She needs to say something. She wants this to stop.
She needs him to help her.
He grips her arms, his thumbs stroking her skin. “Elara, it’s okay.”
Elara slams her eyes closed, clinging to those words.It’s okay. It’s not, and it doesn’t feel like it ever will be, but she lets them sink in.
It’s okay.
When she opens her eyes again, everything’s gone back to normal, right back to the irritated students glancing around at their ruined lab. If not for that, she might have thought nothing happened, but everyone is eyeing her.
Humiliation burns Elara’s cheeks. Again, there’s that strange urge to snarl, something she’s never had the compulsion to do before the wolf scratched her.
Everything started then. Her gaze flies to Kade’s. It all started with him.
It’s not possible, but...what if Kadeisthe wolf? It’s the only thing that makes sense. He was there when she was scratched by the wolf, or at least nearby. He even mentioned some animal attacks that had been happening. But that’s not possible, is it?
Nothing about this whole situation is possible. She doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but she shouldn’t be able to hear everyone’s heartbeats, her curtains shouldn’t change colors, and a chemistry lab shouldn’t almost explode just because she’s upset. But every one of those has happened.
And as Kade simply watches her thinking all this, she notes he’s not freaked out. Not surprised. And still not talking.
Tears of frustration prick at Elara’s eyes, and she shoves at him. If he isn’t going to tell her the truth, then there’s no reason for her to stand here and feel the stares of everyone else in a lab burning into her skin.
“You know what’s happening.”You did this,she almost screams, even though it’s totally irrational and not fair. “So either tell me what's going on, or…” She pauses, fighting the urge to stamp her foot in frustration like a little girl. There is really no ultimatum that she can offer that will motivate him, especially since he’s totally ignored her thus far.
His non-answer is proof of that.
Elara whirls on her heel and stalks out of the lab, barely making it outside before the tears finally overflow. She tucks herself into a small alcove where no one can see her, one of the perks of coming to such an old college; there are plenty of places to hide.
The tears flow freely, and Elara doesn’t try to stop them. It feels good to just let herself do what she needs, instead of having to worry about what everyone is going to think about her. She cries as she lets out all of the fear and pain of the last couple ofweeks, the fact that she can’t understand anything that’s going on.
