“Right, that party.” I’m resigned to getting in trouble for things I didn’t do because I have to hide the things I did. Wait, how did—

“Getting in late again last night?” That shocks me. The only way he’d know about that was if—

“Alice has been keeping me updated, and thank God for that. If I had to rely on you to tell me, who knows when I’d find out the truth.”

I’m too shocked to respond to my father. All I can do is stare at my friend.

“You told him?”

A cold spear of resentment drives through me from head to toe, but it fades some when she throws her hands up and screeches, “You scared me!” at the same time my dad admonishes me with, “Don’t get mad at Alice now! That’s a good friend you got there.”

Ganging up on me, the both of them. Now I know why she decided to sit through this call.

“What’s gotten into you, damnit? You doing drugs?”

“What? No, I’m not doing drugs.” I stare meaningfully at Alice, who has the grace to grimace.

My dad’s done leading me to the edge. He sounds done, period. “Then what is going on, kiddo? Talk to me.”

Alice must hear his request because her face goes expectant, just as I imagine his has. I sigh. This I can’t deal with, on top of everything else. There’s no way I’d tell either of them what I’m up to with the Order, not after last night. “I’m sorry. I’ve just… got a lot going on. I promise I’m okay.”

Except not really. Mage flame pouring out of your skin isn’t really okay in either of these two worlds I’m in.

“A lot like what?” My dad wasn’t letting me off the hook.

Think, Bree. “Dean McKinnon hooked me up with this peer mentor, perfect student kid. He’s supposed to check in with me all the time.”

My dad grunts. “The dean did say he was going to see to it you’d get on the right track with some sort of model student type.”

The best lies are a little close to the truth. “Nick’s dad went here, so he’s some sort of UNC royalty. He got me into one of those old invite-only student groups. Big house, rich kids. Like debutante, cotillion-type stuff, but for college students?”

Except instead of learning which fork to use, we’ll learn to fight demon hordes.

Across from me, Alice raises a brow. My dad grunts again, but he doesn’t pursue it. Instead, he shifts gears. “Bree, I’ve tried to give you space since Mom died, but I think that was a mistake. It’s time I step in.”

A ripple of anxiety runs down my spine. “Step in? Step in how?”