“Well, if it isn’t my favorite circus act at Phantom High,” she says loudly enough that the elemental students turn in our direction. She switches from a British accent to an American one, both of them impeccable. In fact I don’t think there’s an accent that she hasn’t mastered, making it impossible to know anything about her upbringing, other than that she’s a Jackal and a force to be reckoned with. “After you graduate, well…if you live to graduate, you should take your show on the road. I would pay good money to watch stunts like the one you pulled with Nyx.”

I exhale audibly. In a normal world, the fact that she helped me escape from Conner would mean that we’re now friends, but this is Aarya. “Anything else you want to shout in front of everyone, or did you get enough attention for the day?” I reply.

Just as I’m finishing my sentence, Brendan enters the courtyard and sees me talking to Aarya. We make eye contact and his gaze is openly threatening, like he’s broadcasting the fact that he’s not done trying to kill me. The sickest part is that he’s my cousin, and even though I didn’t know that until a couple of days ago, he knew all along—and it didn’t faze him in the least.

“Cranky, cranky,” Aarya says as she follows my line of sight. “Looks like…what’s the American saying? Ah yes. It looks like ‘someone bit off more than they could chew’ this morning.”

Felix doesn’t leave Aarya’s side, but his shoulders are turned away from me and his arms are crossed, like he’s guarding himself from having to interact with me or maybe he just doesn’t want anything to do with this conversation.

I look away from Aarya as Matteo exits strategic sparring and heads for the door leading inside.

Aarya’s eyes twinkle, like she’s found something interesting. “Unless maaaybe you’re not scared about the consequences of pissing off Nyx and Brendan because, oh, I don’t know”—she inspects her nails—“you’re leaving us soon?”

“What?” I nearly choke on the word and shift my attention back to her, trying to keep the shock out of my voice. “As much as I’d love to stick around and listen to your crap, I’ve got to go.” Given Aarya’s victorious look, it’s too late; she already knows the truth. So instead of continuing this disastrous conversation, I follow Matteo.

Aarya growls and slashes her fingers at me like she’s a big cat.

There were three things I was supposed to do today—act like everything was normal, not let people know I was leaving, and talk to Matteo. I haven’t even finished my classes for the day, and I’ve already managed to screw two of them up.