RubyAt the end of my last class for the day, I run to my locker to get ready. Nancy shows up a few minutes later as I’m hurriedly fixing my hair and primping my uniform.“Wow, got a hot date or something?” she says. She’s wearing her cheer uniform and opens her locker to braid her long red hair in the mirror.“I’m… I’m auditioning for the school play,” I say. I can’t explain why, but I’m both excited and nervous at the same time.Nancy spins around to look at me and bounces excitedly on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands together.“Oh my gosh, really?!” she says, loud enough for the surrounding students to look at us.“Shh,” I mutter, feeling my face flush with embarrassment.“I have to come with you to your audition. Are you going right now?” Nancy says, this time much more quietly.I look at my watch. “It’s in fifteen minutes.”“Okay,” she says, grabbing her bag and slamming her locker shut. “I’ll meet you there. I have to, um, meet with someone really quick.”Smirking, I lo
AtwoodAfter my encounter with Ruby in the main entryway of the school, two things become abundantly clear to me: for starters, she definitely has a hunch about my involvement with Ethan’s injury, which means that I need to either come clean or find a way to diffuse the situation more properly if she brings it up again. I’m leaning toward the latter.Second, and more importantly, Ruby’s plan to join the drama club comes as a surprise to me. I didn’t know that she had an interest in acting; in fact, now that I think about it, I don’t really know what her interests involve at all.Truthfully, I’ve barely spent any real quality time with Ruby aside from our one outing to Greenwood the other day. Perhaps that could explain her aloof nature with me as well as some of her misbehavior lately. How can I honestly expect her to want to marry a man who hasn’t taken even five minutes to discover her interests? I feel like a terrible mate.That’s why tonight, I decide to join Ruby and her sister f
RubyI don’t waste any time taking advantage of the library. First thing Saturday morning, I pop out of bed and hastily brush my teeth before throwing on my robe and slippers and running off to the library.The library smells like mahogany and old books. It’s quiet and peaceful, and without Alice or anyone else here, I finally feel like myself for the first time since I’ve come to this castle.I easily spend an hour scouring just one bookshelf and come away with a stack of novels to read. With a smile on my face and my arms heavy with books, I waddle over to the seating area beneath the large window with the stained glass rose at the top and plop myself down to read.The first novel I pick up is the first in a series about a young female detective who is working on a murder case. It’s a page-turner, and within half an hour I’m already several chapters in and completely enthralled.Unfortunately, my peace is broken by the sound of the library door opening. I poke my head up over the ba
RubyAtwood takes away my phone for the week and makes me clean up the mess I made in the bedroom, which is a fair punishment for my behavior. I’m thankful that he doesn’t restrict my newfound access to the library, although as I wake up on Monday morning I’m terrified to think of the brutal punishments that will come from Alice and the Queen this week.Alice’s punishments begin with her usual routine of ripping me out of a peaceful slumber and forcefully combing my hair and dressing me before school. She gives me nothing but an apple for breakfast and sends me on my way with a glare.When I arrive at school, Nancy is waiting for me by the door. After the events this weekend, it’s nice to see a friendly, smiling face.“Good morning, bestie,” Nancy says excitedly. She immediately grabs me by my hand and drags me off before I have a chance to get my bearings.“The cast list is here!” she says as she pulls me along down the hallway. “I waited for you to get here so we could look at it to
RubyEver since my interaction with Atwood in the entryway the day of the auditions, I’ve been pretty certain that he had something to do with Ethan’s accident. That’s why I’m terrified when Atwood says that he’ll “take care of it” after I tell him about what Earl said after play practice.Despite the fact that Earl said awful things about me and called me a dirty mutt for being a hybrid, I still don’t want to see him get hurt. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt; I didn’t even want Ethan and Donna to be punished beyond something as simple as a suspension from school.Still, I know that there’s nothing I can do about Atwood’s actions. When I enter the school on the morning after Earl’s outburst, I fully expect there to be some new, horrible thing that “mysteriously” happened to him during the night.Instead, I’m met with Nancy’s usual smile and hug. The other students mill about in the entryway and at their lockers, looking at their phones and laughing with their friends.Nancy notice
AtwoodRuby emerges from her hiding spot looking rather embarrassed. I’m not upset with her for snooping, though -- how could I be? She’s a naturally curious girl, and besides, after what happened in the auditorium, I can’t blame her for wanting to follow when she saw the headmaster and I storming off with my men at my heels. I just hope that she didn’t overhear too much.My suspicions are confirmed, however, when we get into the back of the car to go back to the castle and the first thing out of her mouth has to do with the Bears.“Why are we going to be attacked?” she says. Her voice quivers a bit. She sounds frightened, rightfully so.I sigh as Kayne pulls out of the school parking lot. There’s no beating around the bush or trying to hide this now. The girl deserves to know the truth.“They want to overthrow me,” I say, matter-of-factly.She looks confused.“But… why?”“Because,” I answer, “the Bears… don’t agree with my method of rule. They’ve never sided with the Lycans.”Ruby lo
RubyThe night that I asked about Luna, Atwood gave me a cold and distant answer and then promptly sent me to bed. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn’t help but toss and turn all night wondering just who Luna was and why Atwood was being so strange about it.That night, as I lay in bed, I had another vision. Truthfully, I’m not sure if it was a vision or a dream, but even now, two weeks later, it burns inside my mind.In the vision, there was a beautiful woman with long, dark hair staring at me.Not a real woman, not really.A painting.I was standing in that same dark room from that day I had been running around the castle. I don’t know how I had gotten in there, or the events leading up to it, but there I was, holding the white sheet that covered the painting in my hand.Was this Luna?I looked down.There was blood on my hands.I haven’t stopped thinking about that vision.It seems as though Atwood forgot about my question -- or at least, he’s pretending that he forgot, be
AtwoodI wanted to go to Ruby’s play. It was really, truly all I wanted.As I limp through woods with my blood dripping into the snow, she’s all I can think about.Tamara and I were both dressed and heading out the door to go to Ruby’s play when they came in. Tamara looked so cute in her little blue dress and matching peacoat, holding a big bouquet to give Ruby after the play.When they came in, however, I immediately ushered Tamara away so she wouldn’t have to see the blood.“They came out of nowhere,” my pack member, Noah, said. “Ambushed us. We… We didn’t have time to shift.”“Medics!” I screamed down the hallway. Frightened servants frantically ran to and fro. I don’t even think some of them knew where they were going in all of the commotion.I ran up to Noah and helped him to lift Kayne onto the stretcher.Kayne’s face… My best friend from childhood…There was so much blood.The medics rushed him away to the infirmary. Noah wasn’t so badly injured, but still needed to hold onto m