I felt like the world was ending. Nothing made sense anymore. Alek and Inara still spoke, but their voices were muted and incoherent, as if I were underwater, drowning while they remained just above the surface.

"Selene," Inara's voice was sharp, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I know this is difficult, but your mother knew this was a possibility."

"Is that supposed to make this better? She knew the risks, so it's okay that she might be dead?"

Inara shook her head, her lips thinning. "That's not what I meant—"

"But it's what you said. All my life, I wondered why my mother didn't love me enough. Why she always chose Vincent instead of me. I wondered why I wasn't enough for her. And now, I find out that everything, everything, she ever did was to make sure I made it out of that house alive. And all you can say to me is that she knew the risks?"

Inara fell silent, as if she were unsure of what to say next.

"Is there no way of finding out if she's okay? Or trying to get her out of there before he does something terrible?"

The headmistress looked at Alek for a split second before responding. "I will see what I can do, but Selene, I need you to know that there may be nothing we can do."

While I supposed that was better than nothing, it still didn't ease the tight feeling in my stomach. My mother could be dead. All because she'd been trying to protect me. I wanted to scream, to throw something, to break something.

"Selene," Alek suddenly said, his voice low in warning, "you need to calm down before your magic explodes again."

Irritation flared through me. "Stop sensing my emotions."

"Learn to shield them from me and we won't have this problem."

"Alek is right, Selene. You need to get your emotions under control. Your magic, especially your anger, seems intrinsically tied to your emotions. The more powerfully you feel the anger, the more power you will unleash. And considering you can't control it, you may very well harm someone this time."

I took a few calming breaths, trying to restrain the anger I could feel building in my gut. As much as I wanted to release it all, consequences be damned, I also didn't want to harm anyone.

"I know these last few days have been intense for you. But there is nothing you can currently do for your mother. Instead, go to breakfast, and then attend your classes like normal. Can you do that?"

Could I? I wasn't sure. But Inara was right. There was nothing I could do now.

"Alek, take her to the dining hall and make sure she gets something to eat. And make sure she stays calm. Please."

Alek said nothing, but stood, waiting for me to do the same. With a sigh, I followed suit, trailing behind him as we exited Inara's office.

Even on the third floor, I could hear the clamor of students in the entrance hall, talking and laughing. Alek didn't make sure I was following before he headed down the stairs, taking them almost too fast for me to keep up.

On the first floor, it was easy to merge into the crowd of students heading into the dining hall. Almost easy to pretend I was the same as everyone else, except that churning feeling in my stomach didn't ease, a constant reminder that something was inevitably wrong.

I tried to keep a safe distance from Alek, not wanting everyone to see me following him like a lost puppy. Everything had spun out of control so fast, but I didn't want people to get the wrong idea about the two of us. Especially not Mari or Celeste. The pair of them might team up and murder me if they found out about the situation between Alek and I.

Even though I'd kept myself several paces away from Alek, I still ended up right behind him in line. He didn't turn to speak to me and I didn't initiate conversation either. I had nothing to say, anyway.

The line moved slowly, leaving me entirely too much time to contemplate what could happen to my mother. Was she hurt? Could Vincent be torturing her? Or even worse, was Alek right and she was already dead? The thought sank into my stomach like a lead ball and I swallowed hard past a lump of bile that rose in my throat.

Alek's arm grabbed my arm, pulling me forcefully forward. "Grab something to eat," he snapped, his voice full of venom.

I jerked out of his grasp, annoyed myself. "Don't boss me around," I replied snappily, though I begrudgingly grabbed a tray of whatever was closest to me.

I went to move away from the line and toward a table, any table, when someone blocked my path. Alek was standing in front of me, back rigid.

When I took the chance of peeking around his shoulder, I instantly wished I hadn't. Mari stood there, arms crossed over her chest, and her lips pouted in a frown.

"Alek, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Go sit somewhere, Selene." Alek told me, though his eyes never moved from Mari.

Not wanting to get in the middle of whatever lover's spat was about to occur, I moved to do as he asked, but I barely got a few steps in before my body suddenly stopped. My body froze, rendering me immobile.

Ice-blue energy crackled around Mari's hand, which was aimed in my direction. A sense of warning slipped down my spine and out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw Naomi watching me with concern.

But I didn't have time to dwell on that. Instead, I focused on Alek and Mari, at the intense stare down that was occurring right in the middle of the dining hall. Students had stopped to watch, whispering behind their hands as they took in the power couple in front of them.

"Marisol," Alek said, his voice full of annoyance, "release her. Now."

She curled her fist tighter, and it felt like something was clamping around every muscle in my body. The tray in my hands fell to the floor, the plate shattering and the food flying in all directions.

"Marisol, I will not ask nicely again. Let her go before you do something you'll come to regret."

A bob of red moved through the crowd and I saw Naomi clearly this time, her vivid green eyes watching as her brow creased with concern. She clutched her cell phone in her white-knuckled hands, and I prayed she was trying to reach Inara.

"You think you can just break up with me? For what? That piece of trailer trash?" Mari's eyes flashed with anger as she took me in, standing next to Alek, frozen. "You know it doesn't work like that. You don't get to just toss me aside."

Alek let out a sigh. "I'm her Guide. She has nothing to do with why I don't want to see you anymore. You annoy me. These little bitch fits of yours annoy me. Let her go before I'm forced to intervene. As her Guide, I'm expected to use magic in her defense. Don't make me. I don't feel like exerting the energy before breakfast."

If I could move, I'd make a snappish remark to Alek. But my jaw, clenched tightly together, prevented me from speaking. My teeth ground against each other so hard I thought they might break.

Mari took another step forward, her hand curling again, and the magic tightened again, so tight that I couldn't breathe, couldn't think—

And then it was gone, snapping away with a pop. I dropped to my knees, pain radiating up my thighs with the force. Air gasped into my lungs.

When I looked at the scene behind me, Alek still stood impassively, while Mari fumed from her spot across from him. Magic no longer crackled around her enclosed fist, and she looked livid.

A thin band of black circled her wrist. It almost looked like a bracelet, but I knew it hadn't been there a few moments ago. Was this Alek's magic at work?

I moved to stand, my legs unsteady under me as I did. Alek and Mari were still staring each other down, though Alek seemed bored with the entire interaction.

Without another word, Alek turned away from her, waving his hand in my direction, as if shooing me toward a table. I glared at him, but moved away from Mari. I noticed the black band had dissipated from her skin, but there was still no sign of her magic.

I picked a table as far from Mari as I could. Most of the tables had emptied now that the standoff between Alek and Mari was over. The blonde was now nowhere in sight, which I was thankful for. Alek sat across the table from me before sliding his tray of food in front of me.

"Eat it," he snapped at me.

"This is yours."

"Inara wanted you to eat. And I've lost my appetite. Eat it before I lose my temper with you, too."

Instead of snapping a remark back at him, I angrily stabbed a piece of fried potato with more force than necessary. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red and turned to see Naomi seated a few tables away, still watching me with worry.

"She's worried about you. Maybe you should make up with her."

I chewed my food, too angry to taste any of it. "Mind your business."

Alek gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Just saying she was your only friend."

"Not true," I said, "Jason's my friend."

I watched Alek's expression, just for the satisfaction of seeing the anger that flashed before he stamped it down. "Jason is a dumbass. And if you truly consider him your friend, I worry about your judgement. You must be desperate indeed to be scraping the bottom of the barrel with friends like him."

"What does it even matter to you? It's not like you're my friend."

"But I am stuck with you. And I will spend none of my free time with the likes of him. So I suggest either making up with Naomi or finding new friends."

"You don't get to control my life. If I have to deal with fielding magical abuse from Mari and possibly Celeste, I will hang out with whoever I damn well feel like."

"Mari and Celeste won't be a problem."

"Yeah, I'm so sure that Mari will definitely not be a problem." My words, laced with sarcasm, made a muscle in Alek's jaw feather. "She definitely hasn't had out for me since day one. And she's definitely never made my life a living hell for absolutely no reason."

With that, I stood up from the table, grabbing the tray and taking it to be put away. I'd also lost my appetite. Alek was quick to follow me. "You need to eat more. Inara specifically said you needed to eat."

I ignored him, emptying the tray and putting it on the line to be washed. "I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten in two days."

"Stop mothering me," I snapped. As soon as I said it, nausea churned in my gut with worry for my mother. The interaction with Mari had been a distraction, but now, the reminder that she could be dead was a punch to the gut.

Deciding to ignore Alek, I headed out of the dining hall, just wanting to get this day over with. My first class hadn't even started, but it felt like I'd been awake for three days. Exhaustion tugged at me, dragging me down.

Just outside the dining hall, Naomi stood, shifting her weight nervously. She held a few papers in her hand and she gave a nervous half smile as we neared her.

"I know you don't want to talk to me and that's fine. But I wanted to give you this." She held out the papers to me with trembling hands.

"What is this?" I asked as I took them from her.

"A peace offering. They're printouts of every text I've sent to Inara since you arrived here at Whitethorn. Every exchange of information."

I glanced down at the papers in my hand, then back at Naomi. "Thank you. This means a lot."

Naomi gave another small smile. "I'm always here, if you need anything, okay?" She turned to walk away then and part of me wanted to call her to come back, but I squashed the response. I needed more time.

So I watched her walk away, hardening my heart against all the emotions that battered at me. I had a feeling I would need a heart of steel if I was going to survive here.