Chapter 81
I circle the last option.
A chill slides down my spine, like someone brushing a finger across an old scar. Whether this question was coincidence or something far worse, it feels deliberate.
But Karina couldn’t know how I died, could she?
Did she know?
The thought threatens to unravel me, but I force it down, swallowing hard as I move on, finishing the exam with fingers that refuse to steady. When I finally set my pen down, my breath comes shallow, my head buzzing with more than exhaustion.
I don’t look at Karina.
I just sit there, waiting, suspicion curling tight in my gut as the weight of the test. Either this was a crazy coincidence, or someone wanted me to remember exactly how it felt to die.
Rage flared in me.
Karina wouldn’t get away with this.
Dominic POV
If Vivian hadn’t physically latched onto my arm, I would’ve skipped the announcement entirely. Ellie clearly didn’t want me there. But I didn’t fight her too much.
She dragged Marcus, Jake, and me across campus like this was a parade, her excitement sharp enough to grate. She was cheering, happy to support Ellie yet…she didn’t know this was a sabotage. I wasn’t sure if I should tell her.
The entire academy was funneling toward the central hall, buzzing with anticipation, and Marcus was enjoying himself far too much.
“Well,” he said loudly, clapping his hands together, “this is it. Front row seats to Ellie Fairwood’s spectacular crash and burn. No way she is going to pass this!” 2
Jake snorted beside him. “Five minutes in, she panics. Ten minutes, she’s crying. By lunch she’s back at your door, Dom, acting like this whole thing never happened.”
I stopped walking.
Both of them turned as I fixed Marcus with a flat look. “Knock it off.”
Marcus lifted his hands. “What? I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking.”
I scoffed, and just kept moving, jaw tight, because the truth was I didn’t know what to say-and that bothered me more than their jokes.
Ellie…couldn’t fail. She wouldn’t. Not because I wanted her to do well at the Medical school, but because she would be expelled. A less of evils I suppose.
The hall was packed when we arrived. Students filled the floor and the balconies, voices echoing off stone as the professor stepped up onto the raised pedestal, hands lifted for silence. It came slowly, grudgingly, the way quiet always does when people think they’re about to be entertained.
1/3
+25 Bonus
Names began to roll out.
Ranks. Scores. Applause for the usual top performers.
I barely heard any of it.
My attention locked on a single point near the center of the crowd-Ellie. She stood straight, hands folded loosely in front of her, face unreadable. No nerves. No fear. No cracks. It was like she’d already decided she’d survive this, regardless of the outcome.
When the professor reached the final names, the atmosphere shifted.
I felt it before I heard it-the snickers starting up, the whispers rippling outward like a bad tide.
“There it is-”
“She’s next-”
“Watch this-”
I tensed without meaning to, Vivian tapping my arm. “There she is! Ha!”
The professor glanced down at his list.
“Ellie Fairwood.”
The room practically leaned forward.
“…Ranked number…one.”
For a second, I thought I’d misheard.
The silence that followed was total, violent in its suddenness. No laughter. No whispers. Just the echo of those words hanging in the air like a challenge.
“Ellie Fairwood,” the professor repeated, voice steady, “please come to the stage.”
Marcus stopped breathing.
Jake stared openly.
Ellie moved.
She stepped forward without hesitation, walking through the stunned crowd like this was exactly where she belonged, shoulders back, gaze level. The hall watched her pass, disbelief spreading like a fracture through glass.
Something twisted in my chest.
Pride, sharp and unwelcome.
Shock.
And beneath it, quieter, something like loss.
Marcus swallowed hard. “Maybe… maybe Ellie really has changed.”
Jake nodded slowly. “She’s definitely not the same Ellie we grew up with.”
My teeth clenched hard, but all I could see was Ellie.
2/3
Standing there.
Unbowed.
Untouchable.
No longer where I left her.
And for the first time, it hit me with brutal clarity:
She didn’t need to come back to me.
She’d already walked somewhere I couldn’t follow.
COIN BUNDLE: get more free bonus
P
Comments
+25 Bonus
Support
