We arrived at the academy late in the night due to traffic. None of us were particularly hungry enough after the revelation we'd had to stop for dinner. We were all stressed and we were only stressing ourselves out even more by being near each other.

"I'm heading back to my room," Desmond announced.

"Yeah same. It's going to be okay guys. Just rest today, we'll figure all of this out in the morning," Cassius said optimistically.

The two of them departed, leaving behind five people with two rooms for accommodation. How considerate. The four of us just stared at each other awkwardly like we hadn't been in life or death scenarios together.

Alex just looked bored as he sat on top of my suitcase twiddling with his fingers.

"Okay Annabelle you can stay with me tonight and we'll figure something out in the morning. Azriel do you mind taking the boys with you," I asked.

"We're not splitting up," Theo said immediately, gesturing to his sister.

"I understand. You and Annabelle can come with me. Alex can go with Catherine," Azriel suggested graciously.

Once that was settled, Azriel gave me a reassuring hug before walking away with the teenagers in tow. I trudged through the familiar corridors back to my room, hoping Alex would just follow. My thoughts were still all over the place when we entered the room together.

I'd barely been gone but this room suddenly felt like a stranger's.

"Do you want the bed or," I started.

The kid had already taken his shoes off and clambered onto the bed. Well that settled that question. I pulled out an old sleeping bag from the cupboard and laid down the floor, alarmingly awake despite the tiredness in my body.

I didn't get much sleep for the rest of the night as I tossed and turned on the sleeping bag.

Rafia Hamilton called us into her office a week after we'd gotten back to the academy. Classes had gone on as usual and more than one teacher had commented on my frayed focus. It was hard holding the shift of an ant, recalling the circumstances of the last time I had held this shift.

But of course, Ms. Clearwater didn't care.

Alex did pretty much nothing but eat, shower and sleep. He even refused to leave the room for mealtimes since kids had stared at him weirdly on the first day he'd come with me. Ever since then, I'd been bringing back food to him in the dorm between classes like his babysitter.

The kid didn't so much as thank me for it but I let him be.

I hadn't seen much of the others since we'd all gotten back. Cassius was spending time with his pack. Azriel was busy writing out the reports for our mission and re-establishing his wide social circle that had apparently 'suffered' in his absence.

And of course, Desmond didn't need an excuse to avoid social gatherings.

I knocked nervously on Rafia Hamilton's door. A voice from inside called for me to enter a beat later. She didn't sound too angry but I still felt like I was entering a lion's den as I pushed the door open.

I was struck with a startling moment of déjà vu as Cassius, Desmond and Azriel looked back at me.

Azriel seemed to sense my train of thought. With a sly grin, he pulled out the chair next to him like he'd done when we'd first met. I sat down with a wide smile on my face despite the terrifying woman that sat across the desk from us.

It had only been a week, but I realized that I'd actually missed them, even Desmond. We barely knew each other but I'd gotten attached. How could I let this happen?

"I've had time to look over your mission report," Rafia started.

Immediately, my smile vanished and my wandering thoughts ceased. Her voice was cold, eyes narrowed on each of us individually with blatant resentment. It took everything in me not to bolt out of the room as her eyes locked with mine.

But I forced myself to meet her gaze and hold it.

"From what I've gathered, you blew your cover on this mission, forcing me to intervene to subdue the pack, losing thousands of dollars in the process as compensation and losing lives. All of this was because Cassius here was reckless enough to get captured, and you three broke field service rules and decided to break him out instead of letting him be," she said coldly.

Her eyes were fixed on Cassius who squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. I could almost see the steam coming out of Desmond's ears. Before he could explode, Azriel interfered hastily.

"With all due respect ma'am, we needed to infiltrate the pack to save the hostages anyway. In fact, it was Cassius who actually found and rescued the hostages," Azriel said.

"The moment someone is caught in an undercover mission such as this one, what is the protocol you're supposed to follow Azriel," she asked simply.

"We're supposed to leave them behind for the sake of the mission," he said quietly.

"Now, onto other matters, I also gathered from this report that you were unconscious for the majority of the mission, Azriel," she said.

"That was my fault actually. He healed me," I butted in.

"What should you have done instead Azriel," Rafia asked.

Her eyes hadn't strayed from Azriel at all, like I hadn't even spoken. I felt anger pouring through my veins. It took everything in me not to reach across the desk and punch her in her stupid pretentious face.

Azriel, as if sensing my intentions, reached out and intertwined our fingers.

"I should have admitted her to the hospital, or called on the Academy to provide medical assistance," he said lowly.

I hated the fact that Azriel was now looking down at his shoes, cheeks flaming. I hated the smug look on Rafia's face. I hated the fact that I couldn't do anything about either of those things.

"By draining yourself of magic and then putting yourself in the line of fire, I hope you know you endangered both yourself and your teammates Azriel. That's another violation," Rafia said.

"Okay you know what enough is enough," Desmond shouted.

Rafia looked alarmed as Desmond shot out of his seat, sending the chair flying back. It hit the wall behind us and broke. His eyes were black, fists clenched, breathing heavy.

He pinned Rafia to her seat with a glare that carried the weight of a thousand knives.

"If Azriel hadn't healed Catherine she would have died. If we hadn't gone in to save Cassius, Cassius would have died alongside your precious hostages. This mission was a technical failure, yes but if you're looking for people to blame you can blame it on all of us. We weren't equipped for a field mission as dangerous as this one and if that's anyone's fault, to be honest, it's yours for assigning us to it in the first place," he raged.

He stepped around the desk slowly, still livid. Azriel and Cassius looked too stunned to try and stop him. I just didn't want to stop him.

Screw the consequences, there were far more frightening things happening in the world than expulsion.

"You're treading on dangerous waters Desmond," Rafia said icily.

"No I'm trying to make you see that the important part of that mission was what we learned. That pack is trying to start a chemical revolution, and we need to stop them so if you could just focus on that instead of trying to attack us for the mistakes that we can't undo, I'll gladly shut up," he finished.

The room became deadly silent as the two of them glared at each other. Any second now, she'd tell us we were expelled. I had no home outside of this institution, no family, but I'd figure it out.

Everything Desmond said had needed to be said so if I was homeless as a result, then so be it.

The silence turned suffocating. Desmond refused to back off. It was Rafia who finally broke the stalemate.

"The four of you can return to your dorms. I'm assigning another, more capable unit, to the leads your mission gathered. You will not be going on any missions until I see fit. Is that clear," she reproached.

Even Desmond looked stunned. Cassius was first to recover and grabbed Desmond's hand to lead him out. Azriel and I followed suit without a word. Rafia's door closed behind us with a loud bang.

We looked at each other with absolute shock and disbelief.

"I can't believe she didn't expel us," Cassius said, astonished.

"Especially after the way Desmond screamed at her," Azriel said.

He let out a disappointed sigh as he looked at Desmond, who just rolled his eyes in response.

"She was acting like a bitch," he said clearly.

"Desmond! She's still head of the academy," Azriel said in shock.

"So what? She knows we did our best on this mission given the circumstances. She read the reports. It was unfair of her to expect the mission to go flawlessly considering it was our first," Desmond said.

"Still, you probably shouldn't have screamed at her that much Des," Cassius said softly.

I noticed with no small amount of joy that Cassius' hand was still firmly locked around Desmond's and neither of them looked like they were going to let go any time soon.

"She had it coming," I said simply.

Desmond looked pleasantly surprised. I shot him a small, proud grin. He seemed to be fighting it, but I saw the edges of his lips turn up in the faintest of smiles.

He looked so much more approachable when he smiled a little. It was a shame he didn't do it more often. I was about to tell him as much when my phone rang.

I pulled my hand out of Azriel's to answer it. It was Tara, the girl who lived across from my dorm. We didn't know each other very well but I picked up the call anyway.

"You need to come quick. I don't even know how to explain this over the phone," she said.

She sounded frazzled. Her words were punctuated by heavy breathing. I didn't know her very well but she'd never seemed like the kind of girl who got worked up over nothing.

"I'm coming," I said and hung up.

"What's wrong," Cassius asked.

"I don't know. I'll text you guys later though," I said hurriedly.

They seemed to want to follow me but as I rounded the corridor, I didn't hear their footsteps. Taking the stairs two at a time, I arrived at my dorm with my heart in my throat. This mission had made me more high strung than I'd ever been before.

"I don't know how it happened. I was just coming back from my class," Tara said.

My door was wide open. Inside, it looked a tornado had hit the entire room. Bed sheets and clothes littered the floor, the nightstand had been knocked over and the bed looked like it had been broken in half.

Alex was nowhere to be seen.

"Did you see a boy, around twelve anywhere around here," I asked worriedly

It didn't look like a little boy could survive such a mess. I could only pray he'd made it out. He'd always seemed like a sharp kid.

Unless he was the one who'd created this mess in the first place.

"No I haven't seen any boy. The room was a mess though by the time I got here so maybe he managed to escape," Tara explained.

"Oh god," I muttered.

Tara was asking, begging for some kind of explanation as I sunk against the wall across from my mess of a dorm room. Other girls had now exited their rooms as well, a few snapping pictures, while some came forward to offer me half-hearted comfort. I barely heard any of them.

That kid had been my responsibility and now he was gone.

A thousand explanations for what just happened ran through my head, each more terrifying than the last.

A new chapter! It's a bit of a filler until the end. So Alex has gone missing. I know some of you liked him. Let me know what you think happened in the comments below. 

On another note, we're almost at 1K reads! Thank you thank you thank you for every single person that's read and commented on this book so far. You guys are absolute gems. I'm so glad you're liking this book. 

If you liked this chapter don't forget to vote and comment down below. The next chapter will be up soon!

Until then, 

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ASH 

Also, I was planning on doing shout outs at the end of each chapter for anyone who wants me to. So if you're writing a book/story and need ideas, don't hesitate to message me and if you want a shout out in the next chapter comment down below and I'll be sure to include your name.