“Yeah, we’re in this together now.” Sini’s glare is for Aysha, not me. “And we have Taika to thank for coming up with this plan.”

Her words hit me like that first bite of ice cream, skewering my brain. Is she being nice to me?

“Fine.” Aysha flicks her hair before she and the others stalk out of the woods.

I exhale the breath I’ve been holding, my shoulders shuddering with relief and more than a little confusion. Did that really just happen?

“Okay, I guess we’re doing this then,” Morgan says quietly.

“And with the worst people imaginable.” I take my feelings out on the remains of the containment circle with my heel. “But hey, students seem to be disappearing so maybe one of them will be next.”

“I know they can be asshats, but you shouldn’t joke about stuff like that,” Morgan says, and an unpleasant hollow yawns open inside my chest.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” he adds. “Any of us could be next.”

11

The gym is way more crowded than I expected. Almost all of the boarders are here since it’s compulsory for them, but a bunch of day students are too. I scan the crowd but of course Natalie isn’t here, and neither are any of the others who’re supposedly down with noro. All the students are busy, hands clumsily tying up bundles of twigs and kindling to add to the frame preconstructed by the twelfth-grade art students.

Not even half done, the Kekri buck already looks pretty impressive. With its stance and the enormous horns curled over its back, the buck looks like a mythical forest chimera rather than a wood-and-thatch art project. Too bad it’s destined for destruction. Every year, we spend hours building the thing, only to watch it burn to nothing in a matter of minutes. I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

Despite the crowd, the vibe isn’t exactly festive. Students gather in their houses beneath their banners, all sporting house shirts. Usually, the buck building includes house competitions. Last year, Fajro brought their dragon emblem to life in curls of blue-and-red flame. This year though, Emmi and other teachers decided the conservation of natural energy was more important than showing off conjuring skills.

So here I am. I’ve got the T-shirt too. It’s not a bad design or a particularly vomitous shade of green, but I still hate the tree emblem of House Tero sitting above my heart. It’s a lie, and everyone knows it.

“Nice to see you here.” Emmi greets me with a too-big smile and a wave of twigs. Kalma the cat perches on her shoulder, eyes narrowed into golden slits. “I’ll need to know your final decision about the trip before Monday.”

Urgh! I’d completely forgotten about this awful camping expedition.

“I probably won’t be going,” I say.