Dark Embers (Dark Shifter Academy Book 2) by Barr Tricia

Author:Barr, Tricia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Tobias

Though the Avian common room held the normal buzz of activity after a long holiday—mostly dreary faces and complaints about being back—there was a frantic, panicked energy in the halls of the Dome.

I walked slowly as students turned to each other in hushed whispers. A lot of girls were crying and hugging each other, pointedly ignoring my presence, which was unusual. Since Niko wouldn’t be back for another hour due to a delayed flight, and Brett was still in his room, probably asleep, I couldn’t ask either of them what the apparent mass hysteria was about.

Fortunately, Miss Tanis rounded the corner and was heading in my direction with her head down.

“Aida,” I called, using her first name without thinking. I blamed my informality on the circumstances and my reason for speaking with her, and hoped that since she was a relative, she wouldn’t mind.

But she didn’t seem irked when her glistening eyes met mine. She’d been crying, too.

“What’s going on?” I asked without pretense.

She swallowed hard and blinked a few times before adjusting her frames and tucking a piece of her short hair behind her ear. “You haven’t heard?”

I shook my head.

“There was a vampire attack on a student.”

My pulse beat to a desperate and frantic tune as she explained what she knew. A girl had been found on the secret subway platform leading into the Dome, almost completely drained of blood.

I barely registered the words because I had to know the answer to my next question. “Who?”

The brief pause before her answer felt like a hundred years. Was it a were? Another avian? Though I didn’t think a dragon would allow a vampire to get the jump on them very easily, it wasn’t completely unheard of. And Niko wasn’t back yet.

Was it Arya? The very thought sent panic flooding through my body and overpowering all of my senses. I was imprinted to her. Surely, I’d have gotten some sense she was in danger. Right? Right?!

“It was one of the mers,” Miss Tanis said, causing my heart to hammer against my chest. “Letti, I think is her name?”

“You think?” I didn’t mean for it to come out as a snap, but it only took me the split second that Letti’s face flashed in my head, and the hesitation in her voice, for me to fear that she said the wrong name. That maybe it wasn’t Letti, but someone who looked like Letti.

She leveled her gaze on me with her head slightly tilted. Her emotions didn’t show, but I suspected she was curious about my reaction.

“Was it Letti?” I asked, forcing my tone to steady. “Or…someone else?”

“It was Letti,” Caesar confirmed, coming up behind me.

I closed my eyes momentarily to calm the rising flood of emotions in my chest.

“If you would please excuse us, Tobias,” he said. “I must speak with Miss Tanis.”

“Of course,” I said and waved a quick goodbye before heading down to breakfast.

I spotted Cora and her entourage—minus Letti, obviously—coming from the nurse’s station before I entered the dining hall.

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