The day felt wrong already.
I noticed something was off the moment I walked into class and saw Caleb's seat empty.
He was usually early.
The fact that he wasn't already there irritated me more than it should have.
I told myself it was because I disliked when things weren't as I expected them to be.
I sat down.
I spied the three girls who usually swarmed him. They were already here, sitting in their seats. I barely knew their names - Kaitlyn, Eliza, and Juniper? That was my best guess.
I ran through the acceptable reasons in my head while I waited.
Maybe he was delayed by a teacher, or held up by some errand he had to do.
Overslept, even - unlikely for him, but still possible.
Maybe his airhead of a roommate - this Edward - was holding him up, telling him about the latest shopping he'd done.
One by one, I dismissed them all.
For a fleeting, deeply irritating second, I wondered if some other girl had demanded his attention. I rejected that thought immediately. Ridiculous. He wasn't that easily distracted - and I wasn't going to be the sort of person who worried about such things.
When he finally arrived, slipping into the room with barely a sound, something about him immediately set my teeth on edge.
He looked blank.
Not tired. Not bored. Not distracted in the usual way when he was thinking of something. Just empty, like he'd left half of himself somewhere else.
The girls next to us greeted him - all three of them - in such a polite fashion that I knew something was up.
Of course I knew on the first day already, but what I didn't know was how Caleb knew them.
He didn't respond to them. I narrowed my eyes. Served them right, but that wasn't like him.
I saw the three of them exchange quick looks, sharp and worried. I told myself I didn't care what they thought, but the fact that they'd noticed too made it harder to ignore.
During the first lecture, I leaned toward him, close enough that he couldn't pretend not to hear me.
"Hey," I said quietly. "Are you listening?"
Nothing.
He didn't flinch. Didn't blink. It was like I hadn't spoken at all.
I would not be ignored.
I stared at him, but no matter how I stared, he didn't acknowledge me at all.
I grew flustered, but I refused to feel embarrassed. I wasn't used to being ignored - by anyone, least of all him.
I told myself I was just irritated. That was all.
After class, I followed him straight out. I didn't hesitate. The three girls trailed after us - in their minds, they must have thought they were doing it more subtly - I didn't care.
"You're ignoring me," I said, not bothering to lower my voice.
Caleb stopped.
For half a second, I felt an absurd flicker of relief - good, he had heard me. Then he turned around, and that relief vanished just as quickly.
Up close, he looked worse. Paler. Tense, in a strange way.
"I'm sorry, Io. I just need some time to figure something out," he said. His voice was calm, but distant. "That's all."
The apology didn't sound right. Not insincere, but… it was something I couldn't place. His voice was flat, and he didn't meet my eyes when he spoke, not even briefly. Caleb was never afraid of anything socially.
I was used to people avoiding my stare, out of respect or fear, or to suck up to me, but never Caleb.
And then he walked away.
I lifted a hand without thinking, fingers curling slightly, like I might grab his sleeve or call after him.
I didn't.
I let my arm drop back to my side and stood there, staring at the space he disappeared into as the crowd swallowed him whole.
I told myself I was annoyed. Offended. That he owed me an explanation.
But the truth - persistent - was that I simply didn't know what was wrong and couldn't yet figure out how.
Maybe it was just a boy thing?
Something had happened.
I didn't know what. I didn't know when.
And I didn't like not knowing.
"Something happened," I heard from behind me.
Enough of this.
I said it aloud as I turned on my heel. "Enough of this."
I cornered them before they could escape.
The three girls froze like I'd caught them doing something wrong - which, frankly, I probably had.
"Well?" I said, folding my arms. "Do any of you know what's wrong with him?"
They exchanged looks again. I hated it when they did that. If I were in their place, I told myself, I wouldn't hover. I wouldn't stare like he might vanish if I blinked. I would be composed about it.
The thought sat comfortably in my mind, even though I suspected - annoyingly - that it might not be entirely true.
"No, Princess Io," the human one said a little too quickly.
Then the dwarf nodded. "He didn't say anything."
The elf, the most timid of the bunch, added, "We don't know anything."
I stared at them.
I knew what it looked like when someone didn't want to answer a question.
This was that.
I nearly snapped at them then. The words rose hot and sharp, ready to be loosed, but I swallowed them down just in time. Causing a scene would gain me nothing.
"You're terrible at it," I said as flatly as I could.
"At what?" the human one said a little too defensively.
"Lying," I replied. "Or pretending, or whatever it is you think you're doing." I took a step closer. "So let me try a different question. What exactly is your relationship with Caleb?"
The elf avoided my gaze, the dwarf made small, strangled sounds, but the human straightened herself like she was bracing for impact.
"We're just - " she began.
"Friends," the dwarf cut in.
"Very normal friends," the elf added.
"Oh, that's fascinating," I said. I didn't believe it for a second.
And there was almost something guilty in their expressions. They were weirdly protective. They huddled together, like they formed a shield, both physically and socially, or whatever. Something that could withstand prodding.
But I prodded anyway.
I tilted my head. "You swarm him. You watch him like he might disappear. And now he does one strange thing, and you all look like the world is ending. That's not 'normal.'"
"We're not hiding anything," the human said, but her voice lacked conviction.
I hummed thoughtfully. "You don't have to tell me what it is. Frankly, I don't care."
That was mostly a lie.
"What I do care about," I continued, "is that something is wrong with him, and none of us know what."
There was no trust between us, but something shifted - an alignment.
"We may think something happened over the weekend," the human one said. "He was fine on Thursday."
"Then we're agreed," I said. "He's acting strange, and we don't like it."
They exchanged another glance - this one different. Less panicked. More… resolved, but still, I hated it.
"What do you suggest?" the human asked.
"We find out," I said simply. These girls seemed too helpless, like they were waiting for orders.
Fine, I'd just give them some - to follow my lead.
And so we did something I never would have imagined doing willingly. We teamed up.
The four of us followed Caleb.
Not closely. Not too obvious. I wasn't a fool. Caleb was sharper than he let on; that I knew.
He moved through the academy grounds, seemingly without purpose - hallways, courtyards, staircases, outside, inside.
Students passed him, but none acknowledged him, nor he them.
It didn't seem like he was searching out a place in particular… or a person.
Like he was avoiding places and people, just wandering to wander.
But I did notice something. His fingers curled and uncurled at his side like he was resisting the urge to do something else. Whatever was occupying his mind, it wasn't pleasant, and it wasn't light.
It was strange.
I looked out for Edward - he seemed to be someone Caleb hung out with often - but it didn't seem that he was around.
I was kind of glad, but then an uncomfortable prick crawled up my spine.
This was a deliberate withdrawal, but why?
"We should stop following him," I muttered, mostly to myself.
None of them agreed.
And annoyingly, neither did I, but I stopped anyway.
I looked at the girls. They seemed so fragile, like they weren't as old as they looked. But that meant it would be easier for me to make them listen.
Good. It would be for the best, for them and me.
They didn't seem like planners. They were more like followers - common folk; peasants.
I, as the princess and royalty, had to guide them.
So I thought. I knew I was smart, and I must have been intelligent enough to think of a way to find out what had happened to Caleb, if anything, other than to follow him around all day.