Balthazar by Claudia Gray Page B

in open delight—as they took out their books and started pretending to do homework. Skye palmed her phone, angling it behind her notebook even though she doubted Balthazar would chastise her for using it. Quickly she texted him, OMG WTF are you doing?
    The pile of books on top of Lovejoy’s desk … now Balthazar’s desk … apparently let him hide his phone, too. You were exposed at school. Too dangerous. I needed a way to watch over you here .
    Since when do you teach history?
    Since today. But I’ve lived through a lot of it. That’s got to count for something, right?
    It won’t count when Zas checks your credentials and finds out you don’t have any .
    Thanks to some hacking—by our mutual friend Lucas, by the way—she’ll find that I’m fully accredited. Apparently I got a master’s in education from the University of Mississippi. Who knew?
    Skye turned her phone over, lest she start laughing out loud. Or screaming. Her life was more and more like a supernatural roller coaster all the time.
    Within two hours, she definitely felt more like screaming.
    â€œMiss Tierney?” Ms. Loos gave her a look across the anatomy classroom. Skye could barely hear her over the drumming of her heart as the poor man collapsed in front of the room—again—his death drowning out everything else. “You look terrified. Are you well? Do you have some kind of condition I should know about?”
    Snickers came from around the room. Skye braced her hands against the desk, her stomach churning. “No, ma’am. I’m fine.”
    â€œThis classroom isn’t the place for your personal drama, people.” Ms. Loos pretended to be talking to the whole class, but her sharp eyes remained focused on Skye. This woman got off on picking on the weak—like she was in high school instead of teaching it. “If you’re not capable of handling the subject of sex with maturity, then you should reconsider being in here to begin with. Transfers are still available.”
    Skye just hung on. The death began to fade, though the cold sweat trickling down her back and the cramps in her muscles told her the aftermath would be with her for a long time to come.
    So, that was zero percent better. She definitely needed to check on transferring out of this class.
    As Ms. Loos resumed her talk about how sex differentiation evolved millions of years ago, with mollusks or something, Skye put her head in one hand. This morning, for a brief hour, everything happening to her had seemed like a kind of adventure. A roller coaster. Balthazar’s sudden appearance in her classroom had suggested that everything could be solved quickly and easily.
    That had been a brief illusion, though. Now her problems loomed large and dark around her.
    Skye took a deep breath. Before jumping competitions, she had gone through a checklist in her mind, making sure every single thing about Eb’s tack was perfect, or if not, how she could handle the difficulty. It couldn’t hurt to try that now.
    Problem: Vampires are trying to kill me. Solution: My house is safe. My school is now safe thanks to Balthazar. I have to watch myself carefully anyplace else and minimize going out . Skye groaned inwardly as she realized she was, in effect, grounded. That was a small price to pay for staying alive, though. Maybe she could take up martial arts or something similar. Balthazar would always be the best at kicking ass when necessary, but she needed to be able to defend herself.
    Problem: I can see the … psychic remnants of old deaths, all over the place. Solution: None. I can avoid most of the places I find, but whenever a new one shows up, I’ll just have to get through it somehow . That felt a lot harder to accomplish. When no answer presented itself, she pushed herself on to the next issue.
    Problem: My ex-boyfriend and his skank girlfriend are all over this school being judgy about me. Solution: