WILLA
My gaze flickered to the corner of the room where the headmaster stood, his tall shadow stretching across the floor. Beside him were the two people who were supposed to be my foster parents.
Yes. The Bakers were here. That was the reason I had been summoned to the headmaster's office.
But ever since I stepped into the room, thick with the scent of old cedar and paper, neither of them had looked directly at me.
A grimace slipped across my face when I heard my mother's voice for the first time.
"We'll take it from here."
They were probably discussing how terrible a child I was. How I had gotten pregnant and secretly terminated it without their permission.
Even though part of me was relieved they were here to take me out of this academy and back to my reality, another part of me dreaded it.
Because I knew exactly what would happen the moment we left. A beating would be the mildest punishment.
More likely they would throw me into the basement again, forcing me to confess to a sin I hadn't even committed.
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself, forcing my eyes away from their silhouettes.
Instead, I studied the room.
It was enormous. The ceiling rose high above, supported by dark wooden beams polished smooth with age. Tall windows stretched nearly from floor to ceiling, allowing shafts of sunlight to spill across the polished stone floor.
Shelves filled with old books lined the walls, their leather spines worn from what looked like centuries of use.
Behind the massive oak desk stood a high-backed chair carved with intricate wolf motifs, the emblem of Lykaon Academy etched deep into the wood.
A large map of the wolf territories hung on the far wall, marked with faint symbols and lines I could barely understand.
A throat cleared.
I turned in my seat and locked eyes with the headmaster, Alaric Robinson. He looked to be in his fifties, though the dark hair at his temples held barely any silver. He moved with quiet grace, crossing the room toward the desk as if gliding rather than walking.
I gulped.
His face was stern but striking, his silver-gray eyes fixed on me longer than was comfortable. They narrowed slightly, studying me, dissecting me, perhaps wondering if I truly was Elyse.
I quickly looked away.
Holding his gaze felt dangerous. If I stared too long, he might see through me. There had to be things about Elyse I wasn't doing right.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he took his seat.
I nodded without lifting my head. "I am," I whispered
"What happened that night, Elyse?"
My breath caught.
I inhaled deeply but struggled to let it out again. Heat rushed to my cheeks as my fingers clenched around the arms of the chair.
Of course he would ask that.
What did you expect, Willa? Did you think they'd just let you walk away?
No. I hadn't expected that.
But I hadn't prepared for this question either.
I didn't know what Elyse's story was supposed to be. Should I tell them about my own encounter with the monster? Or had something completely different happened to Elyse that night?
I hadn't asked Verah.
I had simply assumed Elyse had been attacked somewhere inside the academy grounds.
Headmaster Alaric continued, his voice calm and almost sympathetic.
"I understand your hesitation. No one who has been missing for two months and subjected to harsh treatment at the hands of enemies would find it easy to speak about what they endured."
"Two months?" I whispered under my breath.
That sounded impossibly long.
I understood now why Verah had burst into tears the moment she saw me. But to me, it had felt like only seconds had passed.
None of it made sense.
"Don't worry," the headmaster added gently. "Your parents are here to support you."
"Hello, baby."
"Hello, Elyse."
Baby. Elyse. Not Willa.
And the voices that spoke didn't sound anything like the Bakers.
I turned around slowly, my brows knitting together as I wondered if they were pretending again, playing another cruel trick.
But the moment I saw them, my breath locked in my throat. They weren't Mr. and Mrs. Baker.
They were strangers. People I had never seen before in my life.
The woman standing there had the same pale shade of hair as I did, though hers fell to her shoulders. Her face looked as if it had once been flawless, untouched by time. Now faint lines creased her skin, worry etched into every feature as if the disappearance of her daughter had dragged years onto her overnight.
And she looked exactly like me.
The same hair. The same winter-gray eyes. The same sharp bone structure. Even the same skin tone.
It was like staring into a mirror that showed an older version of myself.
The man beside her was just as striking. Handsome in the effortless way of men who could easily appear on magazine covers. His long brown hair, streaked with gray at the temples, was swept back and tied into a low ponytail.
But the exhaustion on his face was unmistakable. He looked just as broken and stressed as the woman beside him.
As soon as they noticed I was watching them, they exchanged a quick glance. Something unspoken passed between them, a silent question.
Then the woman stepped toward me.
She reached out, gently taking my hand and pulling me up from the chair. Before I could even process what was happening, she wrapped her arms around me.
The embrace lasted only a moment. Almost immediately, she pulled back.
A sharp breath escaped her as she stared at me, her eyes wide.
Shit.
Did she realize I wasn't Elyse?
I tried to force a smile, but it felt stiff and useless. Instead, I flinched when she grabbed the crescent-moon pendant hanging from my necklace.
She let it fall back against my chest.
Then she pushed aside the blazer I was wearing. Before I could react, her hands moved over my neck and shoulders, searching, her fingers pressing lightly against my skin.
I froze.
I didn't stop her.
I had no idea whether Elyse obeyed her parents or not, but they didn't seem cruel. If anything, they looked worried, almost desperate.
So I stayed still. After what felt like forever, she finally stopped.
Then she asked a question no one had ever asked me before. "Where is your birthmark located?"
"Birthmark?" I blinked.
She nodded.
Was this some kind of test? Oh God… please don't let me fail this.
Slowly, I lifted my hand and touched my right shoulder.
"It's here," I whispered. "And it spreads down my back."
That birthmark was the reason I had never worn dresses that exposed my shoulders. People already thought I was strange enough.
I had never wanted them to see just how imperfect I really was.
Yes, I had said a hundred times that I didn't care. But the truth was, I did.
"Oh," the woman murmured weakly.
Her face drained of color. Her knees buckled, and before she could collapse to the floor, her husband caught her.
She was trembling.
She buried her face against his chest while his eyes lifted to me, hard and intense, as though I had done something terrible to his wife.
Quietly, I pulled my blazer closed again.
I turned toward the headmaster just as he spoke. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, yes," the man answered quickly, giving a small nod. "My Whitney is just overwhelmed that our daughter is back."
Overwhelmed?
It looked more like she was terrified.
"Can we take our daughter with us now?" he continued. "There are a few things we'd like to discuss with her."
"Yes," Headmaster Alaric replied. "Hopefully she'll be able to explain what happened to her. It could help us prevent anything like this from happening again."
The man nodded. Then his gaze settled on me. "Let's go."
He turned toward the door with his wife still clinging to him.
"Okay," I whispered, rising from my seat and following them out.