I see Erin move as if to stop me, but she hesitates. She remembers how distraught I was over my kelpie last year. I’ve always had my suspicions that she was nearly as devastated by the death as I was, but she never let it show.
“Who cares?” Piers says flippantly, waving me away. This time, he pulls his foot back, and I know he’s about to aim a swift kick at the creature’s side.
I’ve had enough. I launch myself over my hedge and into their enclosure. Behind me, Erin flees.
Piers stumbles back, but I grab him by the shirt and yank him toward me. He tries to push me away to no avail. My fist is balled so tight up in his shirt, only maybe Bennett could loosen my grip.
Here, so close to Piers that I can feel the hot kiss of breath on my face, I see red again.
I wind back my arm and punch him in the same eye that’s swelling, blackening it further. He stumbles back, nearly falling and impaling himself on the agitated monster behind him.
Hands grab the back my shirt and yank me away from Piers before I can lunge at him again. I claw at him, raking my fingernails down the side of his neck.
“Let me go!” I scream, knowing it’s Sawyer that has me.
“BLACK! ALMAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Everything freezes. Erin and Professor Rodriguez are standing just outside Piers’ enclosure. I let my hands drop, and I feel Sawyer release me.
Erin has to look away. I purse my lips. This is her doing.
“Looks like more detention for you, Black,” Rodriguez says stiffly. “I would’ve thought your last one would teach you your lesson, but I guess I’d be wrong. And you too, Alman.”
Sawyer’s mouth falls open. “What—but I—”
“I saw you trying to attack her,” Rodriguez says dismissively.
“I was trying to pull her off Piers!”
“No excuses. You’ll be getting detention, too. Both of you come see me after class.”
I glance at Sawyer, and he stares back at me, enraged. He says nothing else until the professor walks away.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he snaps in a whisper.
“About what?”
“You know I didn’t attack you. You should’ve defended me.”
“How do I know that? You were behind me.” With a smirk, I slip through the gate of their al mi’raj’s enclosure and head back into mine. Before I close it, I pause and look back. “And why would I defend you when you didn’t defend me?”
He looks stricken, and I like it.
Erin follows, and we both sit down cross-legged on the ground. “You’re in trouble again,” she sighs at me.
I shoot her a look. I should be mad at her for fetching the professor, but I just can’t.
“You’ve got to channel this into something less physical. Please. At this rate, you’ll be expelled by the end of the week,” she says.
“I’m not getting expelled, though. Just another detention.” Across the enclosure, the al mi’raj sniffs the air curiously, having lost interest in the meat bucket now that it’s full. It takes a few tentative steps toward us.
“That’s how it starts,” she says.
I don’t reply, and we both watch the al mi’raj come back over to us. It sniffs around our legs. I can hear Piers and Sawyer whispering angrily nearby.
“What was your pet rabbit’s name?” I ask to change the subject.
“What?”