elbow with his. "You and me are still friends, right? You
guys get joint custody in the divorce. Generous visitation rights."
"Divorce?" Despite myself, I laughed. Only Vic could call the
aftermath of a bad first date a divorce. We hadn't exactly been friends
beforehand, so "still" was an exaggeration, but it would've been mean
to point that out. Besides, I liked Vic. "We're still friends."
"Excellent. The weirdos have to stick together around here."
"Are you calling me a weirdo?"
"Highest honor I can bestow." He held out his hands as we walked
through the corridors, taking it all in with one gesture: the high ceilings,
the dark, scrolling woodwork that framed every hall and door, the shaded light
that filtered through old windows and streaked long, irregular shadows on the
floor. "This place is the capital of weird. So what's weird here is what's
normal anywhere else. That's how I look at it, anyway."
I sighed. "You know, I think you've got a point."
He was definitely right about needing as many friends as I could get in a place
like Evernight Academy. It wasn't as if I'd ever liked it here, but my brief
time with Lucas had taught me how it felt not to be so desperately alone. Now
that he was gone, my isolation stood out in sharper relief. Realizing how much
better it could have been only made it harder to bear how unfriendly and
intimidating this place actually was.
The change in seasons didn't help. The school's Gothic architecture had been
softened slightly by the lush ivy and the sloping green lawn. The narrow
windows and strangely tinted light hadn't been able to fully mask the
brightness of the late-summer sun. Now, however, dusk came earlier, making
Evernight seem more isolated than ever before. As the temperatures cooled, a
lasting chill crept into the classrooms and dormitories, and sometimes it
seemed that the featherings of frost on the windowpanes were etching themselves
permanently into the glass. Even the beautiful autumn leaves rustled in the
wind, a lonely, shivery sort of sound. They'd already started falling, leaving
the first few branches bare, like naked claws scrabbling at the gray-clouded
sky.
I wondered if perhaps the founders of the school had created an Autumn Ball to
cheer the students up at such a melancholy time of year.
"I don't think so," Balthazar said. We were at the same table in the
library; he'd first invited me to study with him a couple of days after the ill-fated
Riverton trip. At my old school, I hadn't studied with anyone, because
"studying" usually turned into "talking and goofing off,"
and then the assignments stretched out even longer. I preferred to get my
homework over and done with. But Balthazar turned out to feel the same way, and
we'd spent a lot of time together in the two weeks since, working side by side,
hardly saying a word for hours. The conversation didn't start until we were
packing up our books. "I suspect the school's founders loved autumn. It
brings out Evernight's true nature, I think."
"That's why they'd need cheering up."
He grinned and slung his leather satchel over one shoulder. "This is not
the most terrible school on the face of the earth, Bianca." Balthazar was
teasing me, but I could tell that he was genuinely concerned. "I wish you
were having more fun here."
"That makes two of us," I said, glancing at the corner where I'd seen
Lucas reading a few minutes before. He was still there, lamplight making his
bronze hair shine, but he didn't so much as turn his eyes in our direction.
"You could like it if you gave it a fair chance." Balthazar held the
library door for me as we went out. "You ought to explore a little more.
Try harder to get to know people."
I shot him a look. "Like Courtney?"
"Correction: Try harder to get to know the right people." When
Balthazar said "the right people," he didn't mean the richest or the
most popular; he meant the ones that might be worth getting to know. Thus far,
the only member of the in crowd who seemed
guys get joint custody in the divorce. Generous visitation rights."
"Divorce?" Despite myself, I laughed. Only Vic could call the
aftermath of a bad first date a divorce. We hadn't exactly been friends
beforehand, so "still" was an exaggeration, but it would've been mean
to point that out. Besides, I liked Vic. "We're still friends."
"Excellent. The weirdos have to stick together around here."
"Are you calling me a weirdo?"
"Highest honor I can bestow." He held out his hands as we walked
through the corridors, taking it all in with one gesture: the high ceilings,
the dark, scrolling woodwork that framed every hall and door, the shaded light
that filtered through old windows and streaked long, irregular shadows on the
floor. "This place is the capital of weird. So what's weird here is what's
normal anywhere else. That's how I look at it, anyway."
I sighed. "You know, I think you've got a point."
He was definitely right about needing as many friends as I could get in a place
like Evernight Academy. It wasn't as if I'd ever liked it here, but my brief
time with Lucas had taught me how it felt not to be so desperately alone. Now
that he was gone, my isolation stood out in sharper relief. Realizing how much
better it could have been only made it harder to bear how unfriendly and
intimidating this place actually was.
The change in seasons didn't help. The school's Gothic architecture had been
softened slightly by the lush ivy and the sloping green lawn. The narrow
windows and strangely tinted light hadn't been able to fully mask the
brightness of the late-summer sun. Now, however, dusk came earlier, making
Evernight seem more isolated than ever before. As the temperatures cooled, a
lasting chill crept into the classrooms and dormitories, and sometimes it
seemed that the featherings of frost on the windowpanes were etching themselves
permanently into the glass. Even the beautiful autumn leaves rustled in the
wind, a lonely, shivery sort of sound. They'd already started falling, leaving
the first few branches bare, like naked claws scrabbling at the gray-clouded
sky.
I wondered if perhaps the founders of the school had created an Autumn Ball to
cheer the students up at such a melancholy time of year.
"I don't think so," Balthazar said. We were at the same table in the
library; he'd first invited me to study with him a couple of days after the ill-fated
Riverton trip. At my old school, I hadn't studied with anyone, because
"studying" usually turned into "talking and goofing off,"
and then the assignments stretched out even longer. I preferred to get my
homework over and done with. But Balthazar turned out to feel the same way, and
we'd spent a lot of time together in the two weeks since, working side by side,
hardly saying a word for hours. The conversation didn't start until we were
packing up our books. "I suspect the school's founders loved autumn. It
brings out Evernight's true nature, I think."
"That's why they'd need cheering up."
He grinned and slung his leather satchel over one shoulder. "This is not
the most terrible school on the face of the earth, Bianca." Balthazar was
teasing me, but I could tell that he was genuinely concerned. "I wish you
were having more fun here."
"That makes two of us," I said, glancing at the corner where I'd seen
Lucas reading a few minutes before. He was still there, lamplight making his
bronze hair shine, but he didn't so much as turn his eyes in our direction.
"You could like it if you gave it a fair chance." Balthazar held the
library door for me as we went out. "You ought to explore a little more.
Try harder to get to know people."
I shot him a look. "Like Courtney?"
"Correction: Try harder to get to know the right people." When
Balthazar said "the right people," he didn't mean the richest or the
most popular; he meant the ones that might be worth getting to know. Thus far,
the only member of the in crowd who seemed
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