Todos los capítulos de CHASED BY FOUR MATES AT WOLFORD ACADEMY: Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

ELVIRAThe heartbeats did not stop all at once. They went on for a few more breaths; they were slow and patient, then disappeared like footsteps leaving a corridor until only my own pulse remained, too fast and too thin, hammering in my ears.The pain ebbed. It did not leave. It settled into my mark like a coal banked for the night.That was when I heard the hissing.Katty crouched on the floorboards between our beds, with its back arched, every hair on end, spitting at the bare wood as though something lived in the grain. Daphne stirred, rolled over, and squinted at me with one eye open."She says the building is humming," she mumbled. "Old humming."My throat had gone dry. "Bad dream," I said. "Sorry. I woke you.""Mm. Tell your dream to keep it down; people are sleeping." Her eyes closed again. Within seconds, her breathing evened out, and across the room Lexa never moved at all.I lay still and listened to the two of them sleep. I could have told them. The words were right there.

XAVIER’S POVThe mathematics room was empty. Late sunlight was coming through the tall windows in long bars and lay across the desks. The entrance door stood open; I had made sure of that before I came in.She was at the back, in the same seat she had taken her first day in maths class. I knew that seat; it was exactly where I met her, and I felt her bond. I counted afterward, because counting is what I do with things I cannot explain.She had my paper sketch flat on the desk and was working it like a proof. The turns of the stair across the top, a guess at the steps in each, a rise written beside it, three unknowns circled in the margin and none of them solved. A corner of the page had worn thin where she had erased the same number twice.I could see the error in her second line. She had counted the turns in the wrong direction. It did not matter. The equation was missing a variable no one could give her, because nothing can be solved from a dream, and I said nothing about it. I did

ELVIRA“Lying about what?” I asked.Eliano shook his head. “I can’t tell you yet.”“You can’t say that and then stop.”“I know.” He finally looked at me. His eyes were tired and honest, and that made it harder to be angry. “I’ll tell you everything before they come back. I promise. But not here, and not today.”I wanted to push further. I wanted to shout at him in front of the whole dining hall. Instead, I picked up my bag and walked away. I was hurt, and I didn’t want him to see how much.On Friday at noon, three black cars stood on the front drive.Students stood on the steps in small groups, watching. Most of them were leaving for the weekend too. Eliano stood beside me with his hands in his pockets. He hadn’t gone anywhere. He had been within five steps of me since Tuesday.Xavier’s car left first. He looked at me through the back window and lifted one hand. I lifted mine. I felt guilty again. I still hadn’t told him the truth about the kiss, about the heartbeats, and about how I

RAFAEL’S POVMy family home is the quietest house I know. The floors were polished. The clocks were all set to the same minute. Nothing is ever out of place, and nobody raises their voice at each other. I grew up thinking that was normal.I arrived at six. My father shook my hand at the door, as he always does. He asked about my drive. I said it was fine. That was the whole conversation.Dinner was at eight. The table was long, and two places were set at one end. A housekeeper brought the plates and left. My father ate slowly and politely. He asked about my lessons. He asked if the school was treating me well. His eyes kept drifting to the window, and I knew he was not listening to my answers.I watched him the way I watch things that are currently happening at Wolford. I counted how many times he looked at his watch. He checked his watch four times. He answered one question before I finished asking it. At nine, he put down his fork and said he would be working late.“Don’t wait up,”

ELIANOI checked her corridor every hour that night.At nine, her door was closed, and the light was on. At ten, the light was still on. At eleven, the door was open, and her room was empty.I didn’t run. I walked fast to the stairwell, because I already knew where she would be.She was on the stone steps, halfway up the first flight. She was curled against the wall with both hands pressed over her ears. Her face was pale. Her eyes were shut, and her whole body was shaking.“Elvira.”She didn’t hear me. I knelt and put my hand on her shoulder. She flinched hard.“It’s me,” I said. “It’s Eliano.”Her eyes opened. They were wet and unfocused. “It was too loud,” she whispered. “I can’t tell which one is mine.”I didn’t ask what she meant. I slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her back and lifted her. She weighed almost nothing. I carried her up the stairs and down the corridor and kicked my door shut behind us.I laid her on my bed and sat on the edge. She still had both ha