CHAPTER TWELVE

The white feather didn't move.

It rested on the windowsill as it belonged there, untouched by the wind sneaking through the half-open window. Moonlight washed over it, making the silver words stitched across the quill gleam.

HE IS ALIVE.

For a second, I forgot how to breathe.

"...Don't."

Lila's voice wasn't loud, but it hit harder than a scream.

I looked over my shoulder.

She was sitting upright in bed, her blanket clutched tightly in one hand. The teasing smile she wore almost every hour of the day had vanished.

"Lila?"

She didn't answer.

Her eyes never left the feather.

"You know what that is?"

She swallowed.

"I know enough to tell you not to touch it."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting."

I frowned. "You sound like those instructors."

"And you ask too many questions."

"Well, somebody has to."

I stepped toward the window anyway. Behind me, I heard the mattress creak.

"Nira."

"Hm?"

"If you touch that thing, whatever happens next is your responsibility." I paused and glanced back at her.

"...That was oddly specific."

"So was the feather."

Despite the joke, something about her expression made my stomach tighten. Lila was dramatic. She complained about waking up early. She complained about cafeteria food. Yesterday, she'd spent ten minutes arguing that wolves shouldn't have morning classes because they were "naturally nocturnal."

She wasn't dramatic like this. I turned back to the window, and the feather looked ordinary. Yet every instinct in my body whispered the opposite.

"Nira!" Lila grabbed my wrist before my fingers could brush the feather.

The room exploded with icy wind. The curtains snapped upward, and books slid from the desk. The window slammed shut so hard the glass rattled.

"So..." I said carefully.

"...Either I'm losing my mind..."

"...or this school just keeps getting weirder."

Lila let out a shaky breath. "I was hoping it was just you."

Lila rubbed her face with both hands before dropping onto her bed with a dramatic sigh.

"I officially miss having boring roommates."

I raised an eyebrow. "You've had other roommates?"

"Three."

"Three?"

She nodded. "One snored like a dying wolf. One talked in her sleep and kept apologizing to furniture. The last one transferred after two weeks because she couldn't survive the cafeteria's mashed potatoes."

"...Mashed potatoes?" with my eyes talking. 

"They tasted like betrayal."

Despite everything that had just happened, I laughed.

"You are unbelievable."

"I've been told."

The room finally felt warm again, as though the strange wind had never existed. If not for the pounding in my chest, I would have convinced myself I'd imagined the feather.

Lila tucked one leg beneath herself and looked at me for a moment.

"You know..." she said quietly, "I wasn't always this loud."

I tilted my head.

"No?"

She shook her head.

"When I first came here, I hardly spoke to anyone. I thought if I stayed invisible, no one could hurt me."

Something in her voice made me listen a little closer.

"There was this senior," she continued. "He used to tell everyone I was too weak to belong here. Every time I answered a question in class, he'd laugh before I even finished talking."

"What happened to him?"

A small grin tugged at her lips. "He graduated."

I stared at her for a second. "That's it?"

"What? Were you expecting me to say I pushed him off a cliff?"

"I mean..."

She burst into laughter. "I considered it."

"So how did you stop caring?"

Her smile softened.

"I didn't."

The answer surprised me.

"You never really stop caring what people think," she admitted. "You just wake up one day and realize their opinions don't pay for your lunch."

I laughed again.

"That's... strangely wise."

"I have my moments."

Silence settled between us, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable.

I looked toward the window again. The feather was gone, almost as if it had never been there.

"You still thinking about it?" Lila asked.

"A little."

She stood and stretched. "Good."

"What?"

"It means you're curious."

"I thought curiosity got people into trouble."

"It does."

She grabbed her jacket from the chair.

"But around here, it also keeps you alive."

I frowned.

"I seriously can't tell when you're joking anymore."

"Neither can I."

She flashed me a grin before opening the door.

"Come on."

"Where?"

"The cafeteria."

"It's almost midnight."

"So?"

"People eat at midnight?"

She looked at me as though I'd asked whether wolves had tails.

"This is Grimhalden. Half the students are awake all night. The kitchen never closes."

I stared at her.

"This school keeps finding new ways to confuse me."

"You've only been here a few days."

"Exactly."

She linked her arm through mine and gently pulled me into the hallway.

"Give it a month. You'll either love this place..."

"...or need years of therapy."

"I don't know what therapy is," she said with a shrug, "but it sounds expensive."

I laughed harder than I meant to.

For the first time since arriving at Grimhalden, the weight on my chest felt just a little lighter.

Maybe the feather had been a warning.

Maybe it had been a dream.

Or maybe this school was determined to keep me guessing.

Either way...

I wasn't facing it alone.

At least, that's what I believed as Lila, and I disappeared down the corridor toward the bright lights of the midnight cafeteria.