Delcroix Academy: The Candidates by Inara Scott

Author:Inara Scott
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
Published: 2010-08-24T07:00:00+00:00

C H A P T E R 18

I FOUND myself glancing repeatedly in the side mirror as we drove to Delcroix early Monday morning. It was dark and cold outside, and I had that creepy feeling you sometimes get when you think someone’s watching you. For a few blocks I thought a beige sedan was on our tail, but then it turned off the road, and I cursed Jack for getting me so wound up.

We arrived at the parking lot fifteen minutes early, but there were already half a dozen cars sitting in the lot. I went to stand under the foggy glow of one of the streetlights. Paul and Alessandro were the first from my team to arrive, and they joined me. We exchanged halfhearted waves, but didn’t say much. I liked them both, but we hadn’t spent much time together since orientation. Marika got there next. I still couldn’t look at her the same way, after the incident in pottery class. In her defense, I don’t think she liked Catherine that much either. She mostly hung out with Allie and Emma.

I was wearing the pink hoodie and an old pair of jeans that hung low on my hips. When we’d talked the night before, Esther had persuaded me to leave my hair loose. This seemed like a huge mistake to me, but she was always complaining about how it drove her crazy that I kept my hair locked up in a ponytail. She believed in being natural and loving yourself the way you were, and she kept telling me how beautiful my hair was.

I thought this was complete nonsense, but it seemed to work for Esther. Besides, she was persistent, and I couldn’t help but wonder what Cam would think. So there I was, in a tight pink shirt with crazy blond curls spiraling out from my head in every direction. The real Dancia, exposed for all the world to see.

The crowd got bigger and the sky turned pale gray as the Silver Bullet appeared up the road, making its way toward the parking lot. I looked around for Esther or Hennie but didn’t see them. More people had gone home this weekend than usual, I guess for Halloween, and there were lots of cars and parents milling around. The iron gates creaked open to let the bus through. I suppressed a shudder as Jack’s words rang in my ears again.

Keep the bad guys out, or us in?

He’s paranoid, Dancia, I reminded myself. Of course he’s going to think weird things about the gates.

The Silver Bullet rolled to a stop, and Cam jumped out. They always sent an older student to make sure that all the freshmen who had left school over the weekend were accounted for Monday morning. I don’t know what they’d do if you weren’t there. Sound the alarm and call your parents, I guess. No one had missed the bus yet.

My heart did that little flip-flop Cam always inspired. Everyone seemed to want to get on the Silver Bullet at once, so I hung back and let them find their places.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.