Chapter 65: A Seat Among the Doomed
{CAROLINE}
I exhaled slowly through my nose, forcing myself not to react. The rumors were spreading faster than rot in damp wood, mutating with every retelling.
"Don’t let it get to you, Iris," I whispered, forcing my voice to stay steady.
But when I looked at her, the words faltered in my throat.
Iris’s face had gone pale—unnaturally so. The faint color that usually warmed her cheeks had drained away, leaving her skin almost translucent. Her lips parted slightly, breath shallow, eyes unfocused.
She looked... unwell.
I couldn’t smell anything—I was human, after all—but I had always thought Iris didn’t smell like anything at all.
No sweat. No musk. No wild scent like people claimed werewolves carried. Being near her was oddly calming, like standing in fresh air after rain.
But now...
She swayed.
Just barely.
"Iris?" I murmured.
Her hand tightened around my sleeve as if anchoring herself.
A thought crept in, cold and unwelcome.
Was the rumor true?
Was she really packless? A rogue?
Why?
She was a werewolf. She could shift whenever she wanted. There was no spell binding her, no magic preventing it—only punishment, if discovered.
Then why did she look like this?
Why had she needed garlic and salt when she could tear a vampire apart with her wolf’s powerful jaws?
Despite the fear crawling along my spine, one truth remained painfully clear: I felt safer with Iris beside me. As long as she was here, I have her wolf’s protection.
...Right?
When we reached the classroom, the chatter died instantly.
The silence slammed into us like a wall.
Every head turned. Every gaze sharpened. The air felt thick, electric, as though one wrong breath might spark violence.
I ignored them and headed straight for my seat.
Or what had been my seat.
Someone else was already sitting there.
"Sorry, Caroline," Josh said coldly, leaning back in the chair as if it had always been his. "This seat’s taken. Go sit somewhere else."
I blinked. "What? But that’s my seat."
"Not anymore."
The words hit harder than I expected.
"We don’t want you here anymore, Caroline."
"Yeah," another voice chimed in. "We don’t want to be implicated. I hope you understand."
I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt.
Cowards.
Where was their pride now? Their moral outrage? Their loyalty to their own kind?
I looked toward Jessica out of sheer instinct.
She didn’t meet my eyes.
Her gaze slid away, fixed intently on the wall as if it suddenly fascinated her.
Fine.
If they didn’t want me, then I didn’t want them either.
I turned away, spine stiff, when—
"U-um..."
Iris tugged lightly at my sleeve.
"There’s still a seat beside me."
Her voice trembled, but her eyes held a quiet resolve.
I swallowed and nodded.
Right now, she was the only friend I had.
We approached the desk—and stopped short.
The student sitting there was... odd.
A man, thin to the point of fragility, with pale, sickly skin stretched tight over sharp bones. Dark circles bruised the area beneath his crimson eyes, as though he hadn’t slept in weeks.
Jewelry adorned nearly every finger, every wrist, every visible inch of skin—rings, bangles, chains that glinted softly under the classroom lights.
His lashes were long and undeniably false. His nails meticulously manicured.
And yet—
He was handsome.
Strangely so.
He looked up at us and grinned, lips curling with theatrical delight.
"Hey there, babes" he drawled, voice lilting and strange. "Heard what happened yesterday at the cafeteria. You two were epic."
He laughed—high and unrestrained.
I blinked, taken aback.
"I—uh—"
"Caroline," Iris said quickly. "This is Jay. Jay, this is Caroline. She’ll be sitting with us. I hope that’s alright."
Jay waved a hand dismissively, bony fingers flicking through the air with a gesture almost feminine.
"No worries, girl. You two can sit with me. I don’t care about that stuff anyway." His grin widened. "Besides, I want to see how this drama unfolds."
Something about that made my skin crawl.
Why did I get the feeling he wasn’t repulsed by us—not because he was brave, but because he was heavily invested in the consequences of our actions?
Like a spectator watching a fire, not minding the heat as long as he wasn’t the one burning.
I don’t think that he was a vampire so . . .
In the end, I sat near the window, Iris in the middle and Jay near the stair’s isle.
The creatures here were strange.
All of them.
Even Iris.
Why had she helped me in the first place?
She was a werewolf. One of the most feared creatures in the academy. Why involve herself in human problems?
Why carry garlic and salt like a superstitious child when she could tear through vampires with claws and fangs?
Why look so afraid?
The bell rang, sharp and sudden.
I flinched.
And for the first time since arriving at this academy, fear truly settled in my bones.
Not the fear of vampires.
Not the fear of rumors.
But the fear that I didn’t understand the monsters around me—
Or the one sitting quietly at my side.
The whole class passed with me barely present.
My eyes remained fixed on the board, my body seated properly, obediently—but my mind drifted somewhere distant and empty.
Thoughts came and went without form, dissolving before they could settle. It was as if something inside me refused to think too deeply, as though stillness was safer than understanding.
The next thing I heard was the bell.
Its sharp clang cut through the room, announcing break.
Before any of us could properly react, Jay shot up from his seat, chair scraping loudly against the floor. He practically skipped away, already halfway to the door, not once looking back.
I stared after him for a moment, baffled.
"Should we go to the cafeteria?" Iris asked softly.
I turned to her. Color had returned to her face now—warm, almost glowing against her pale skin—as if whatever sickness had gripped her earlier had never existed at all.
She looked... normal. Calm. Beautiful, even.
I nodded absentmindedly.
So far, nothing seemed to be happening.
