Then, as I left third period, she called me aside. "Rain, drink this." She handed me a small bottle of an amber liquid.
"What is it?" I asked suspiciously.
"Rain!" Jack told me.
Ms. Rhodes ignored him and answered, "Nectar. It'll help refill the magic in your body. That should be enough to keep you awake until lunch, where I suggest you eat a few flowers."
"Oh."
The woman made a gesture with her finger like she wanted me to lift the bottle right now. So, opening the top, I sucked it back. Ms. Rhodes took the empty bottle from my fingers and gestured to the door. Evidently I was now free to go.
By the time I reached biology, I was definitely awake. Maybe not much more than that, and Jack still felt a little heavier than normal on my shoulder, but my exhaustion had been held at bay. Claiming my seat beside Torian, I couldn't help myself.
I leaned in and whispered, "Please tell me you're as wiped as I am today?"
"Probably better than you," he said, offering me a little smile.
But then I made the mistake of looking up and meeting his beautiful green eyes. Damn, it just wasn't fair that we humans never got the cool colors, but the best part? There was a sparkle in there. For the first time in far too long, Torian didn't look at me like he was about to pick a fight.
Which made me hesitate before asking, "But you're ok, right? I mean, you know, mentally?"
Yep, that killed it. He glanced away, his smile slipped, and a sigh fell out. "He doesn't talk to people, Rain."
"He always asks me to ride with him," I countered.
"And you're a human!" He huffed, clearly annoyed. "He doesn't talk tous."
"Do you think he defines 'us' the same way we do?"
The guy stilled. "No," he said after a little too long. "I think he'd kill anything that stands in his way, though. Human, fae, or anything else."
"Yeah," I had to agree. "That's why I'm going to figure out how to stop him."
Torian looked back at me and smiled again, a little of that spark returning just as a pair of girls entered the room. They were giggling about something and making a fuss about it. It wasn't anything abnormal, but when they sat down behind us, I could see Torian starting to get annoyed again.
"Let them have fun," I whispered. "You've been pissy for weeks now. That doesn't mean everyone else has to be."
But then their words got loud enough for me to hear what the pair was talking about.
"I didn't even wake up!" said the one I thought was named Oriana. Maybe Auriana? No, I was pretty sure it started with an O.
Then her friend Briony replied, "I was out until they came for a head count. I heard Jasmine had snuck out of her room, though. She got so busted!"
"Was she outside?" Oriana asked.
Briony made a noise, proving that was silly. "The Never - with a guy!"
"Oh, that's going to suck," Oriana agreed. "But from what I've heard, that's the worst that happened this time. So, the Hunt showed up and we got a day off because of it, nothing else? Talk abouta win."
"I wish they'd do it more often!" Briony giggled. "I got out of a test in lit!"
"I'd love to have the Hunt come every night if it meant no more school," Oriana tittered.
"What?!" Torian demanded, twisting on his stool to glare at the pair of them.
"Torian, leave it alone," I pleaded. "C'mon, the Hunt didn't get in. This is a good thing."
"It's still the Hunt!" he growled. "How fucking funny do you think it would be if he came now? Would you laugh if you'd been the one he asked to ride with him? If he'd pointed at your friends and said he was after them? Would you - "
