Chapter 80 PARANOID
MERRIELYNN.
Emorie was mid-sentence, her voice bouncing off the walls of the girls’ locker room.
She’d been rambling for ten minutes straight about her family’s spring break vacation, a trip she apparently wanted no part of.
And as she gave me her two cents on why it was the last thing she wanted to do this break, I nodded along, making the occasional sound to show I was listening, but my attention was far from her words.
In my hand was the photo I’d taken from Cormac’s room.
My thumb moved over the image again and again, tracing the edges of the figures frozen in time. Cormac’s face was half-hidden by the camera, but the girl in the picture was clear.
Partially.
Her blonde hair still hung in front of her face as she stood in front of the mirror, clutching a pendant I couldn’t make out. There was something intimate about the moment captured—something that made me uneasy.
“And then my mom said I should just ‘appreciate the family time.’ Can you believe that?” Emorie huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
“Mmhmm,” I murmured, slipping the photo into my bag before she could notice it.
Emorie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not even listening, are you?”
“I am,” I said quickly, pulling my focus back to her. “Something about appreciating family time?”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t push it further. Instead, she stood and grabbed her gym shoes, motioning for me to follow her.
“Come on,” she said. “We’ll be late.”
I nodded, picking up my things and heading out with her.
The gym was loud when we walked in. Groups of students were scattered across the room, taking their places for the next activity. The smell of sweat and rubber hit me immediately, a reminder of how much I hated this part of the day.
Emorie nudged me as we headed toward our usual spot near the bleachers. “Look.”
I followed her gaze to the basketball court, where Cormac and Valtor were playing against each other.
The game wasn’t casual. It wasn’t even competitive in the normal sense. It was… intense.
Cormac drove the ball down the court with an aggression that was borderline feral, his movements sharp and precise. Valtor wasn’t any better, blocking him with equal force and shoving him off balance when he got too close.
“What’s up with those two?” Emorie muttered, her voice low.
I shook my head, unwilling to answer. I didn’t have an explanation for their behavior—at least not one I could share.
Cormac had been on my mind far too much lately. Every glance in his direction pulled me back to the last time we’d been in this gym together. The memory of his wolf-like growl echoed in my head.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look away. I couldn’t afford to get caught up in whatever was going on with him. Not now.
“Come on,” I said to Emorie, dragging my focus back to the present. “Let’s just get this over with.”
She gave me a curious look but didn’t press me further.
By the time the day ended, I was exhausted. Gym class had been draining, but it was nothing compared to the mountain of tasks I’d taken on afterward. Planning committee meetings and school paper deadlines had eaten up my entire afternoon.
It was almost dark when I finally left the building. Most students had already headed back to their dorms, but I wasn’t in a hurry. The weather was surprisingly pleasant, with a soft breeze brushing against my skin.
I decided to walk back instead of taking the usual shortcut. The long way around felt better tonight, like I needed the time to clear my head.
The campus was quiet, the usual hum of activity replaced by a stillness that was both calming and eerie.
My footsteps echoed faintly on the path as I walked, my thoughts drifting back to the photo in my bag.
Who was the girl in the picture?
I shook my head, pushing the thought away. It didn’t matter. Cormac’s past wasn’t my business, no matter how much I might want to understand it.
The feeling started subtly at first, like an itch at the back of my neck.
I slowed my pace, glancing over my shoulder. The path behind me was empty, the shadows stretching long and dark across the ground.
You’re imagining things, I told myself, shaking my head.
Still, I couldn’t shake the unease that had settled in my chest. My footsteps quickened as I continued forward, my eyes darting to the side every so often. The wind rustled through the trees, and the sound made my heart skip a beat.
Relax, I thought. There’s nothing there.
But the feeling didn’t go away.
I glanced over my shoulder again, my breath catching when I thought I saw movement in the distance. My pulse quickened as I turned back and picked up my pace, my bag bouncing against my hip as I all but jogged toward the dorms.
The path felt longer than usual, every shadow stretching wider, every sound amplified.
Then, just as the dorms came into view, the feeling vanished.
I slowed my pace, letting out a shaky breath as I looked around one last time. There was no one there.
“Paranoid,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head as I started forward again.
But I didn’t make it far.
The sound came first—a faint rustling, too close to ignore.
I barely had time to turn before something hit me hard from the side, sending me sprawling to the ground. Pain exploded in my head, and the world tilted dangerously as I struggled to stay conscious.
The last thing I saw before everything faded was the faint outline of a figure moving toward me, the darkness swallowing them whole.