Monteverde Academy

Chapter-47

I went in the shower and turned on the hot water, enjoying the way it felt on my skin. It was a Saturday and I had spent the whole week trying to keep up with my classes and making an effort to forget Aiden and I was exhausted. It felt good to be able to relax and to drop the pretence for a few hours. 

I walked out tying a towel around my long wet hair. The dorm was empty as Bianca was still in the common room. I turned towards my closet, trying to pick out something to wear. 

Suddenly, I felt the hair at the nape of my neck prickle. I whirled around and saw a flash of movement at the window, too quick even for my Carthan vision to decipher. My heart thudded in my chest as I quickly threw on whatever clothes came to hand. 

Someone had been at the window, looking in. I was certain of the fact. I ran up to the window but whoever it was had disappeared. Throwing the towel wrapped around my hair on the bed, I hurried out of the room. 

I was about to run down the stairs when I crashed into Aria on the dorm landing. Putting a hand on my head, I stood quickly and hoisted Aria up as well. 

"Some creep was peeping in from the window," I said, running down the stairs, Aria close at my heels. 

"Yours too?" she asked, looking surprised. 

I stopped and stared at her. 

"What do you mean 'yours too'?" I asked slowly. 

"Someone was peeking in through my window as well. I was just going to check it out when I ran into you," she explained as we reached the bottom of the stairs. 

I opened the kitchen side gate and we hurried out into the yard. I walked over to where my dorm windows were visible from the ground. There were no tracks on the muddy ground and no branches appeared to be trampled. There was no sign of anybody being there for quite a while.

"Did we imagine him?" asked Aria panting loudly.

"Both of us?" I said sceptically. "Not likely." 

We looked around for a few minutes but there was nothing unusual to be seen. How had the stalker or whoever he was climbed so high to look into our windows without even leaving a single trace on the ground? I doubted that any Carthan could achieve this kind of feat. 

I stopped in my tracks. No Carthan could do it- but a Selzer could. And they could scale the walls quite effortlessly. Selzers were way faster than even Carthans and they possessed plenty of strength. A Selzer might have been behind it. The very thought of it made my heart race. A Selzer being here could create havoc.

I kept my suspicions to myself as we let ourselves in through the side door. There was no point upsetting Aria without any proof even though I felt terrified. However, I had a premonition that my fears would prove correct soon enough. I felt my heart sink. And sure enough, the school alarm started blaring, startling both of us out of our skins.