Free Night School by Mari Mancusi Page B

eyes at me, pursing her lips together in a deep frown. At first I think she’s going to say something, but then she seems to change her mind. She shakes her head and points up the hill.
    “Very well,” she says. “But get inside immediately. And don’t let me catch you out after dark again.” She pauses, then adds in a menacing voice, “Or else.”
    I don’t try to argue and head up the hill double time. As I go, I can feel her hard stare behind me. In fact, if eyes could really burn holes in someone’s back I’m pretty sure I’d be Swiss cheese right about now.
    I pull open the dorm room door and slip inside, not able to resist the urge to take one last peek down the hill before I close it again, even though I’m pretty sure it’ll turn me into a pillar of salt if the headmistress catches me doing so. Luckily, Roberta has evidently tired of watching my retreat and is back to dragging the large bag down the street toward the sanitation building at the very end of the road.
    I squint at the bag. Is that what I think it is? And did it really just ... move?
    I bolt into the dorm, not caring as the door slams behind me, probably waking half of Slay School. Leaning against the wall, I suck in a shaky breath, my thoughts whirling like crazy in my head.
    ’Cause that bag she was carrying? It looked a lot like a body bag. And whatever was inside? It didn’t seem all that dead.
    What the hell is really going on at Night School?
    9
    Argh, my back! I wake up the next morning, feeling like two knives are simultaneously stabbing me between my shoulder blades. Seriously, I’m starting to think there’s some kind of Princess and the Pea thing going on with my mattress. (Since I technically am a fairy princess, after all!) I mean, sure, I’ve worked out a lot lately on the training field, but I’m also in pretty good shape from being a cheerleader. There’s no way I should be this sore.
    I glance over and see Sunny is already awake, lying in bed, staring at her useless cell phone, probably flipping through old texts from Magnus. “Hey, Sun!” I call to her. “Will you take a look at my back for a second? Tell me if I have any weird bruises?” I climb out of bed and walk over to her side of the room, turning around and lifting my shirt over my head so she can get a good look.
    “Oh my God!” she shrieks. I whirl around, just in time to see her stumble backward onto her bed, trembling hands covering her wide open mouth, her eyes as big as saucers.
    “Come on, they can’t be that bad,” I say, trying to twist around to see for myself.
    “They’re ... they’re ...” Sunny stumbles. I see her hard swallow. “Rayne, what did you do?” she asks finally, her voice barely a hoarse whisper.
    “I just sparred a few times with Corbin. But I totally won. So I don’t see—”
    “I’m not talking about that,” she interrupts. “I’m talking about ...” She shakes her head, as if in disbelief.
    “What?” I cry, fear starting to creep through me. “Just spit it out!”
    “Did you go and kiss your elbow or something?”
    I stare at her, suddenly remembering the ritual I performed in the library last night, horror slamming through my insides. Leaping from my bed, I dive for the full-length mirror I installed behind my closet door. Twisting around, I try to catch a glimpse of ...
    My wings.
    Well, not wings exactly. Not yet. But there’s definitely some kind of growth going on back there. Two large lumps, protruding from my shoulder blades ...
    Covered in white feathers.
    My head spins and I force myself to return to my bed, sinking down onto the mattress, a combination of fear and excitement whirling through my brain.
    It worked. It actually worked. I can’t believe it.
    “Rayne! Why would you do that?” Sunny cries in an anguished voice. “After all Mom and Dad have done, you just, willingly ... UGH!” She buries her eyes in her pillow. “I can’t even look. It’s so grotesque.”
    “Nice, Sun,” I