The campus was silent as Avery, still reeling from Calder's warning, strolled alone through the dark hallways. Calder's words resounded in her mind: a monster, a source of chaos. It sounded like a twisted nightmare, in which she became everything she detested. Even as she tried to throw it off, a calm anxiety crept into her coronary heart.
Her smartphone suddenly buzzed in her pocket, interrupting the silence. It transformed into Lucas.
"Avery, wherein are you?" His voice sounded strained, as if he had been protecting something weighty.
"I'm on my way back." Why?"
There was a delay on the other end, and then she heard it—the controlled part in his tone. "Simply get returned. Now."
