I was walking back from the library alone when I saw Elara, she was standing near the old oak tree at the edge of the courtyard, standing there like she belonged, like she had never left, as if the last few weeks had not happened at all.
But she looked different. Elara had always been beautiful, now she just looked tired, her hair was down and unstyled. Her clothes were simple, dark jeans and a plain jacket.
She was thinner than I remembered, like whatever she had been doing since she disappeared had stripped something away from her.
She saw me before I could turn around. "Selene," she said.
I stopped walking, every instinct in my body was telling me to keep moving, to find Kael, to not stand here alone with someone who had manipulated everyone around her for months, but something abo
